As someone from the north east of England, there’s a good chance my genetic makeup’s some mix of old school celt and one of the many Scandinavian invaders who sailed across looking to conquer back in a time when blokes called Cnut roamed northern Europe. I offer that background in case it helps you understand why, even though I’m not part t-rex as far as I know, the premise of Dinolords very much gets my blood pumping.
It’s a hybrid of medieval strategy and action RPG which injects rideable t-rexes into a war between the Danes and the English, and a closed alpha test of it starts on October 31st, ahead of an early access release next year.
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For those who gain entry, this alpha’ll start with a three-part tutorial to get you up to speed with the game’s funky mix of medival siege tactics and dino action. Then, four maps and two game modes will open up to offer a proper taste and test what developers Northplay call your “hack’n’strat skills”. There’s also the chance to have a crack at setting up a stronghold to try out the likes of base building, combat strategy, and unit control before you get the siege engines rolling.
“Dinolords is our chance to bring a unique blend of genres to players, and with the Closed Alpha Test, give them a taste of what to expect when the Early Access release launches next year,” said Northplay boss Michael Flarup. “We are excited to hear what our player base thinks of the game and look forward to the feedback received to help shape Dinolords into the best possible title it can be.” As such, there’ll be a questionnaire to fill out in the name of feedback.
If you want an idea of what Dinolords is like to play beyond the quirky premise, James was intrigued by what he saw of it at Gamescom last year:
Enemy raptors can also scale the walls of your town, munching on archers as they go, while Danish T-rexes are apparently bred to specialise in destroying static defences. They’re not just here for laughs, in other words: each dino breed presents a distinct tactical challenge that you’ll need to plan for and counter in different ways, and while your lord is strong, he’s also not quite enough of a Diablo-tier godkiller that you can ignore your more traditionally RTS-y units.
Sign-ups for Dinolords’ closed alpha kick off today, October 8th, via the game’s Steam page.
