The world design and affecting melodrama of Cyberpunk 2077. The deep, painstakingly crafted strategy of XCOM 2. The humanistic musings of Death Stranding or Disco Elysium. Videogames can be high art – equal to great books and movies, they have the potential to spark introspection, or to invite you to reflect on the nature of our reality. They can also be about dinosaurs fighting one another with swords. Having started life as a dare, an upcoming RPG that blends a Final Fantasy-inspired aesthetic with Elden Ring-style boss battles has been wishlisted on Steam 10,000 times in a single day.
This is Dinoblade, the esoteric passion project of solo developer Jean Nguyen. An experienced animator, in 2022 Nguyen shared a short sample of their work, a 3D rendering of a spinosaurus picking up the Buster Sword from Final Fantasy 7 in its mouth, and then spinning it around as if in combat. Nguyen’s followers challenged the animator to turn the video into a full game, and Dinoblade is the result.
A hack-and-slash action RPG, Dinoblade takes place after a near-extinction event has transformed the prehistoric world. You play as that same plucky spinosaurus, and must travel the land defeating the ruling dinosaurs that preside over their individual biomes. For every regal dino that you wipe out, you acquire new weapons and skills. Despite your enormous frame, you can parry, jump, and dodge roll, and the swordfights resemble something between FF16 and the balletic brutality of Elden Ring or Metal Gear Rising.
The Dinoblade Steam page went live on Wednesday January 15. Nguyen says that the game has since been wishlisted 10,000 times – indeed, of the 3,431 upcoming games tracked on SteamDB, Dinoblade is already the 941st most wanted. If you want to add it to your own wishlist, just head here.
Otherwise, take a look at some of the other best indie games, or maybe the best survival games on PC.
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