NEW ON STEAM
Dinotica
At a glance
Dinotica game facts
Steam store information checked 2026-08-26。- Studio
- XA Studio Published by Celestial Studio
- Release
- Aug 12, 2026 Released
- Official genres
- Adventure · Casual · Indie · RPG · Simulation · Strategy
- Play mode
- Single-player · Multiplayer · Local co-op
- Desktop platforms
- Windows
- Steam Deck
- Playable Some controller prompts do not match Steam Deck controls.
- Controller
- Full support
- Steam features
- Cloud · Family Sharing
- Languages
- 6 listed languages Simplified Chinese, English, Traditional Chinese, Japanese
What that means for your setupDinotica is developed by XA Studio and published by Celestial Studio, releasing on Steam for Windows on August 12, 2026, in its current form. The store page lists it across Adventure, Casual, Indie, RPG, Simulation, and Strategy genres, with single-player, online multiplayer, and local co-op modes. Steam Deck is marked Playable, though the developer note warns that some controller prompts do not match Deck controls, so handheld players should expect occasional button-label friction rather than a broken experience; full controller support is confirmed for standard pads. Supported features include Cloud saves and Family Sharing. Languages with full audio support cover Simplified Chinese, English, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Russian, and German, with the Steam page listing those as the supported UI and audio set, so players outside those languages should plan for text-only menus. The badge on the store currently reads "NEW ON STEAM," and at the time of writing the title sits at a 94% positive review score across 113 user reviews, the great majority written during the early access window, which is useful context for tempering expectations about late-game polish.
If the idea of riding a dinosaur into a roguelike run and then coming home to a bustling settlement of hungry, sleepy, occasionally dung-spreading prehistoric friends sounds like your kind of evening, Dinotica earns an early spot on your wishlist. From what players are actually writing on Steam, the strongest hook is the way the game splits your time between a tight, ability-swapping combat loop and a surprisingly warm little base where your companions plant, harvest, and grow over time. Reviews describe a medium-paced shooter with mount-driven attacks, perk-swapping mid-run, and a cozy city-builder loop that asks you to balance food, beds, and decorations for creatures with personalities of their own.
What the game actually feels like
The core gameplay loop alternates between biome-based roguelike runs and settlement building, which players describe as the part that holds the whole package together. You pick a biome, choose a difficulty, take starting perks, and move through rooms that are usually combat but sometimes a light puzzle or a shop, with a visible boss counter at the end, so each run has a clear shape rather than drifting aimlessly.
Combat leans into a medium pace rather than twitch reflex, with your character riding a dinosaur while up to two companions fight alongside you, and the key twist is that your mount defines your attack pattern. Reviews note melee multi-hit dinosaurs feel meaningfully different from fan-spray shooters or rock-lobbers that crave bounce perks, and you can swap equipped perks between team members or even mid-fight, which lets you adapt to a room that is not going your way.
On failure you keep a portion of what you collected, so a bad run is a setback rather than a wipe, which keeps the roguelite loop approachable. Between runs you spend upgrade currency earned from bosses on general character progression and on individual dino stats, plus a star-level system for duplicate species, and the city-builder portion turns those rewards into a settlement your creatures will inhabit.
The base side is more than a passive upgrade screen: your dinosaurs plant, water, fertilize, and harvest crops for you, you lay down beds and decorations, and you research technology tiers that gate how many creatures, eggs, and buildings you can sustain. Reviews specifically call out that this is a step up from a simple menu-based town, with light farming, dino happiness, and even dung management as small but real concerns.
What early players are seeing
What is landing
- Several positive reviews land on the comparison "Cult of the Lamb meets Palworld," with one player writing that the mix "works" and that they got into Dinotica more easily than they expected, while another called it "kind of like Cult of the Lamb but with Dino's" and gave it a 9/10 for the art style and feel.
- A longer review from a player with around nine hours logged calls it an 8.5/10, praising the medium-paced space-shooter combat as a welcome change from high-stress roguelikes, calling the dinos "pretty different in how they attack," and describing shared-screen couch co-op as good fun that worked well with their kid once they unlocked the second battle slot.
- One of the more enthusiastic reviewers, who logged roughly 60 hours and finished the current hardest single-player challenge mode, said they would recommend the game even in its early access state, calling the boss design varied, the story and tech progression smooth and polished, and the systems mostly intuitive without much hand-holding.
- A Chinese-language review highlights that the two halves of the game feel meaningfully different from the obvious Cult of the Lamb comparison, noting that the dinosaurs keep working even when hungry and that the skill arrangement system makes battle feel exciting and complicated rather than routine.
What still needs watching
- Several reviews flag that the combat and base activities can feel repetitive, with one player calling the maps cramped and saying roguelike mechanics need to be expanded, while another warns that progress becomes grindy once the main story is done, which is worth knowing if you are the kind of player who burns out on a loop without fresh content.
- A high-hour reviewer notes that the suggested power level for the hardest mode is not accurate and that certain dino plus totem combinations can spawn so many particles that the game crashes, which is the kind of edge case that mostly matters if you like stacking visual-heavy builds but is still a real stability note rather than a vague impression.
Is Dinotica worth buying now?
Current decision
Worth tryingDinotica sits at a 94% positive review score across 113 user reviews, with the strongest and most consistent praise landing on the way its roguelike runs and its settlement-building loop feed each other, the personality of the dinosaur companions, and the approachability of its medium-paced combat for players who find higher-stress roguelikes exhausting. The criticisms worth taking seriously are repetition in the combat and base activities, grind after the main story, and occasional crash-causing particle overload on certain builds, but these read like rough edges rather than dealbreakers, and a 60-hour reviewer still recommends the game in its current state. For a creature-taming, base-building, couch-co-op-friendly experience that respects your time between runs, the supported evidence points to a title worth trying, especially if you can take advantage of local co-op with a partner or child.
Who this is for
A good fit if you…
- Players who love creature-taming and want dinosaurs as the centerpiece rather than a cosmetic skin, with breeding that meaningfully changes your team's abilities
- Anyone who enjoys a roguelite that does not demand frame-perfect reflexes and would rather experiment with perk-swapping mid-fight on a medium-paced shooter
- Settlement-building fans who want more than a passive town menu, including crop tending, decoration, dino happiness, and even dung management as light logistical concerns
- Couch co-op players, especially parents or partners introducing a child to the genre, since local co-op unlocks once you have your second battle slot and reviews describe it as good family fun
- Collectors who like mixing and matching abilities across a roster, since perks can be swapped between dinosaurs and even re-equipped during a fight
Wait if you…
- You strongly prefer fast, leaderboard-chasing roguelike runs, because multiple players describe the combat as deliberately medium-paced and not for high-stress challenge seekers
- You burn out quickly on grind-heavy loops and are not interested in post-story progression, since reviewers flag that things can feel repetitive and grindy once the main content is wrapped up
- You are sensitive to instability on heavy visual effects, because certain dino plus totem combinations have been reported to crash the game through particle overload
- Your Steam language is outside the listed audio-supported set of Simplified Chinese, English, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Russian, and German, since the page lists those as the languages with full audio support
If Dinotica is not quite your game
SIMILAR OPTION
Cult of the Lamb
Choose it ifChoose Dinotica if you want breeding, dinosaurs, and a medium-paced shooter, and choose Cult of the Lamb if you want ritual management, a darker tone, and a more curated release
How it comparesRoguelike meets base-building and cult-management loop with cute companions who handle chores between runs Cult of the Lamb centers a single hero with ritual-driven cult duties and a darker, more satirical tone, while Dinotica leans into dinosaur riding, ability-swapping combat, and a lighter, more kid-friendly presentation with breeding and farming as the long-term hooks
SIMILAR OPTION
No Rest for the Wicked
Choose it ifChoose Dinotica if you want something casual and family-friendly with breeding and settlement building, and choose No Rest for the Wicked if you want challenging Souls-like combat and a larger online co-op group
How it comparesCo-op action RPG with build variety and meaningful progression through runs and a hub No Rest for the Wicked is a Souls-like action RPG set in a hand-crafted world with challenging combat and up to four-player online co-op, while Dinotica is a more casual roguelite about dinosaur companions, base building, and local couch co-op
SIMILAR OPTION · 50% OFF
Ravenswatch
Choose it ifChoose Dinotica if dinosaurs, breeding, and a settlement-builder are what you want, and choose Ravenswatch if you want folk-tale hero runs with online co-op and a darker fantasy tone
How it comparesRoguelike action with creature or hero variety and co-op play Ravenswatch is a roguelike action game based on folk-tale heroes with online co-op and a strong dark-fantasy atmosphere, while Dinotica keeps the action medium-paced, focuses on taming and breeding dinosaurs, and supports local couch co-op in a brighter prehistoric setting
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