Update 2 is now just a few days from release, so before the forums is taken by storm over the new content, I wanted to discuss the overall gameplay of Jurassic World Evolution 2 (JWE2). Over time I have made numerous threads about a variety of subjects pertaining to improving gameplay and trying to pinpoint that lacking feeling. For their part, Frontier has been remarkably receptive to feedback and has dramatically improved JWE2 over Jurassic World Evolution (JWE) and this trend continues with Update 2. These are extremely positive developments and I have been very happy to see the game improve by leaps and bounds, so I wanted to have a discussion and analyze the two games and try to voice the underlying problems fans have had with the games and how Frontier ultimately appears to be on track to address these concerns.
I am going to reference a lot of my old threads in this analysis, so here are some links. Please note that a considerable number of these were written prior to JWE2 launch, so many of them are now out-of-date:
Other miscellaneous threads referenced:
So, immediately anyone who reads the linked threads or is familiar with the concerns I have with the game will know that it all has to deal with management systems and immersive gameplay. I have frequently referred to this desire for deeper mechanics as organic or dynamic gameplay in the aforementioned threads. Part of this is my personal preference, but my concerns have been shared with others in the community over the years which has had me thinking for a very long time what are the common strands that tie together our concerns? I tried to break down these issues piece by piece in these various threads, but neglected to define what the overarching issue was and why in spite of our best efforts it always felt like we fell short.
I believe I have that answer, it is all about progression and replayability. Even just reviewing all of my own thoughts on various aspects of the game it always comes down to those two things. The things I praise and the things I decry have to do with how it improves or detracts from these two areas.
Looking back to JWE this will be the beginning to understanding player expectations and why JWE struggled so much. For the sake of arguments let's say we got two groups of people, dedicated fans coming into the game with high expectations and a background playing Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis (JPOG) and a more casual audience with familiarity with the Jurassic IP without much knowledge beyond the films. Visually people are impressed, but pretty quickly we start to see the dedicated fans become pretty unhappy whereas the game doesn't bother the more casual audience that much since its pretty, and easy to pick up and play without the frame of reference of other Jurassic Park Builders like JPOG. So, let's take a look at some of those complaints and see how Frontier responded with updates and later with JWE2.
Jurassic World Evolution
Technical and aesthetic issues aside, the moment-to-moment gameplay and variety of options and activities you are doing really hampers the experience. The actual park building and guest management aspect of the game are pretty simple. Meet your species variety baseline, don't allow too many to be sick and just keep churning out dinos and you'll get a 5 star Dinosaur Rating in no time and be half way to a 5-star park. The Facility Rating is trickier requiring various amenities for coverage of guest needs, monorails for transportation, hotels for capacity, and generally just not having guests being eaten is enough. What it amounts to generally is just spamming lots of structures until the game decides you meet a sufficient threshold. Add in some transparency issues that are not immediately apparent, and there you go. Combine these two aspects and you have the basis of the game which is to achieve a 5-star island rating to complete the Campaign and that leaves you with Sandbox to toy around with and experiment as you please.
There isn't a whole lot of decision-making going on, its just a matter of trial and error on the players part to figure out you just need to spam dinos and amenities to win essentially. The game's economy is also way off balance with money being given to you in spades rendering itself moot. Dinosaur behavior is pretty robotic, so enjoying them is difficult for those more laidback players and this becomes a serious issue in post-game where players migrate to Sandbox Mode. Yet, despite these complaints most people generally have a decent time getting through the Campaign save for a handful of complaints along the way like the relatively repetitive and unfair Division missions/sabotages that force animals into becoming uncomfortable and breaking out.
From my analysis and from player feedback I surmise this is largely because JWE has a proper progression system in place. As in, it behaves like a proper game, you have a starting point and an objective you work to meet that is made known to you up-front. Get your star rating up and at 3 stars the game will direct you to advance to the next island to further the story and it'll unlock new upgrades, dinos, and buildings for you to use. The Divisions, in spite of sabotage, also create ample incentive for the player to be committed to trying to raise their reputations with lucrative rewards that are not necessarily attached to overall game progression. It's the carrot-on-a-stick for the player as you are constantly given some reason to progress with a Division and move onto the next island. Each new island offers a new twist or challenge to gradually increase the difficulty for players who have learned the basic mechanics of the game so far whether it be storms, short on cash, or narrow building area.
The fact you can return to prior islands and are rewarded for achieving 5 stars on each and maxing out the reputation with each division is great for replayability. Even after the main narrative is complete you can return to unlock the remaining items you missed initially, and your research/unlocks are carried over between islands including finds in the Fossil Centre. These unlocks then apply to Sandbox Mode which itself is a 4-star unlock on Isla Matenceros. JWE is very very good with this progression even if the substance of that gameplay loop is often found lacking.
Post-Launch Content
Here Frontier begins to factor in player feedback and make changes. Technical fixes are a given, but we see some quality of life and minor aesthetic fixes as well. These are among the easiest to address right away and are a result of the accelerated development schedule JWE was made on. The dinosaur resizing issue---I vividly recall---was among the most demanded things at this time and a very negative chapter in the playerbase's history. The game had not met expectations among the more experienced players who were hoping for a more solid foundation that built upon JPOG, it lacked depth and lots of conveniences were taken with the Ranger & ACU teams to get the game technically functional. This was also in spite of some great quality of life improvements such as being able to create more dynamic fencing.
The free addition of a new gameplay mode in the form of Challenge Mode became a game-defining change. Replayability took a sharp spike upwards giving the player more to do and what amounted to more of a free mode experience without the narrative constraints of the Campaign which up to this point had been the only alternative to Sandbox Mode's limitless creation. Gradually changes to Sandbox such as the option to have limited money also took steps in the right direction. More options, more freedom to simply play the game ala JPOG proved tantalizing to many players, and players appreciated the challenge of building parks under more punishing conditions in Challenge Mode, but left many day-to-day gameplay issues unanswered.
Dinosaur lifespan, sauropod forest requirements, and cohabitation issues continuously hounded the playerbase and Frontier tackled these in a big way with JWE's first major DLC pack: The Secrets of Dr. Wu. This introduced the much requested Troodon, but more importantly it came with a free update that introduced a Day/Night cycle, and overhauled the genetics system and introduced some upgrades the playerbase had long requested such as faster transport copters. In the blink of an eye, the game's tiresome comfort issues began to disappear, the visuals were enhanced with the range of lighting from the day/night cycle, and retroactive application of the DLC's research to the main campaign further enhanced the base game with new dino and feature unlocks that smoothed out the gameplay and made the game a much more pleasant experience.
Frontier was on the right track, but struck a bit of a miss with the next major DLC, Claire's Sanctuary. The addition of new larger maps was welcomed and more first-person gameplay from the Jeep was a nice idea, but wound up feeling too much like a slog that put it on the backfoot. Sanctuary island the second-half of the DLC; however, was much well-received and the Paleobotany system added some much needed depth particularly as it pertained to herbivore management. The mission objectives and limited available building options; however, served to undermine it despite the similarly appreciated Jurassic Tour attraction being introduced and scenery items such as ndividually placeable rocks & trees.
Slowly, each DLC reduced the negativity among the playerbase; however, sentiments lingered that the game was appealing too much to the new Jurassic World crowd. The long requested demand for Jurassic Park was finally answered with the final major DLC of JWE with the addition of Return to Jurassic Park. An entire new building set, a large expansive map, new skins turned the reviled Velociraptor into one of the most beloved, the return of the original voice cast to voice their characters, and the addition of pterosaurs and decorative items made players feel on top of the world. After this, however, new content ceased and without new content long-standing issues resurfaced and the playerbase started to go dormant and rely upon community modding to pass the time.
Outstanding Issues Persist
Frontier did well to listen to their customers and JWE was vastly improved from its initial release. However, the game was only able to stave off its underlying issues for so long and without new shiny toys to occupy players, the game's flaws started to bury it. Players held out hope for a long rumored sequel, but turned to their own devices to artificially prolong the game's life in a manner similar to what they had done for JPOG for so many years. More astounding was how Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis continued to hold relevance alongside Jurassic World Evolution this entire time. The cracks went to JWE's foundations and because of that JPOG still managed to hold on. All that Frontier had done to improve JWE was surface level, the core of the game needed reworking if it were to remain relevant in the years to come.
Dinosaur behavior remained unfulfilling and outclassed by the more than 15 year-old JPOG, customization continues to lack, guest management was shallow and nebulous, marine reptiles never appeared despite incessant demand, and even the introduction of an Aviary failed to capture the dynamic reptiles the community had been expecting.
Jurassic World Evolution 2
The announcement of Jurassic World Evolution 2 was met with excitement and confirmation of the playerbase's suspicions. Jurassic World Evolution had foundational issues that Frontier could not readily rectify without breaking the game; however, they did not abandon their prehistoric management simulator. Frontier had quietly shifted work to building a more solid foundation to build upon with JWE's sequel. Goals shifted to making the dinosaurs more life-like, and modifications enabled the more free-form pterosaurs and long-awaited arrival of marine reptiles.
Taking a look at what JWE2 has done compared to JWE there is a laundry list of improvements that make the game smoother and overall more interesting. The new biomes add some badly needed variety, Campaign has shifted quite drastically to more first-person content and more wild animals building off of the initial premise of Isla Sorna in the base game that was widely viewed as a missed opportunity. Chaos Theory sort of occupied a middle ground of a more traditional park builder like the Campaign of JWE, and many QoL improvements. Some of these included a dedicated transport icon, Ranger Posts to collect data on animal comfort, multi-hatchery releases, sturdier fencing, etc.
New customization for amenities helped alleviate the frustrations of some more static buildings from the base game, new guest types paying homage to JPOG diversified guest management ever so marginally. The introduction of a research tree did a considerable deal to introduce something of a progression system equivalent in place of the island unlocks from JWE. Backup generators, vaccinations, and the MVU helped to define roles more clearly and gave players more tools to take control. Contracts were made more generalized and less frustrating and illogical while sabotage has found an ideal place and its own new variants. Scientists, territorial, and genetics systems have deepened the gameplay and made decisions more interesting and come with more trade-offs, the new paleobotany system has allowed for more natural herbivore grazing, and finally the new Challenge Mode lives up to its namesake.
Post-Launch Content
The dinosaur packs continue to expand an ever growing roster of prehistoric creatures, and here we are post-Update 1 and just over a day off from Update 2 landing. Just comparing JWE & JWE2 after each game's first update and the contrast couldn't be more stark. Both games are/were plagued by technical issues, unusual decisions and missing QoL features which were addressed in the first few updates. This pattern is nearly identical between both games... and yet, JWE2 is most certainly looking healthier than JWE ever did. JWE2 simply requires less work overall to address its outstanding issues; however, it is not without its own blemishes.
Missing skins and decorative pieces from JWE particularly Return to Jurassic Park remain elusive and dumbfounding. Unless the notes for Update 2 specifically address this I have my concerns that JWE2 is still going to be missing a couple of decorations. The JP Restroom & Bunker are notable omissions even though the Raptor Pen is due to make its return, the fancy paths are a very overlooked omission as well, and I certainly hope the JP pylons aren't forgotten, the immersion is damaged a bit having to use JW pylons in the JP era. Beyond these aesthetic changes; however, JWE2 will see the return of individually placeable trees, and most crucially some much requested QoL features and changes that might really push the game further than its predecessor ever could.
More dynamic hunting behavior, MVU's can be assigned to Ranger Posts to automatically to identify and treat minor injuries, the species viewer, the Sandbox options and finally the first-person camera indicate to me a shift that the game's depth is now more of a priority. JWE to its very end had some clear QoL issues whereas with JWE2 after Update 2 I am having a hard time thinking of anything obvious the game needs. This is a positive development that more active development with new additions is on their radar with the game maturing to a state it no longer requires as much maintenance.
JWE2 VS JPOG
Now we at last come to a critical juncture, a question asked since the original JWE. Does JWE2 surpass JPOG? Before we can answer that we have to know why JPOG is so timeless to so many people. Nostalgia? A little. Lack of a JP alternative? Not since 2018 at least. Then why? JPOG is objectively worse graphically than JWE or JWE2 by a mile, it doesn't have as many iconic callbacks to the films or novels as the Jurassic World Evolution series, and it most certainly doesn't have anywhere near as many features or dinosaurs, but why has it defied all odds and outlasted even when newer competitors were available?
It comes down to the gameplay loop ultimately. JPOG is outclassed no matter what way you look at it in virtually every other department including budget. Even despite the long history of modding that extended the life of JPOG well past its limitations, JWE was just about as mod friendly by the end of its lifespan and yet continued to live in JPOG shadow. JPOG didn't have much next to the behemoth of JWE which has all the traditional and modern conveniences afforded to it, but it did have satisfying gameplay to help elevate it. JWE was very shallow and its dinosaurs mindless compared to JPOGs few but more dynamic roster. JWE2's mission was to correct JWE's mistakes and taken more inspiration from its spiritual predecessor JPOG.
The verdict, I feel confident that after another update or two---technical issues not withstanding---that JWE2 will have finally and irrevocably taken the crown from JPOG and the passing of the torch will have finally come to pass. JWE2 simply has more features, some features in which Blue Tongue wanted to implement but never got the chance to do such as the veterinarian and flying and aquatic reptiles. The behavior and animations have finally caught up to the graphics to exceed JPOG's dinos, the decorative pieces will soon be far more diverse than JPOG ever had, and gameplay systems are deepening in JWE2, so that it can stand beside JPOG even as modders have finally moved onto JWE2 which has shown them the potential they always desired JPOG to have.
Lessons for the Future
However, there are some important lessons in here for Frontier. The one remaining thing JWE has that people still enjoy and wish JWE2 had, its progression system. I still read comments from people on these very forums talking about how much they enjoyed progressing from one island onto the next and using their gains to go back and unlock more items on prior islands. JWE2 has nothing on par with this even post-Update 2. Even if people can't really articulate what they mean, it all ties back into more progression and replayability.
Why were people so adamant that they wanted everything unlocked by default for Sandbox? Because it was a gameplay option, it contributed to user engagement and some people really just want the endless replayability by creatively exercising themselves through park design after park design. Scientists in Sandbox were such an issue because it actively interrupted players who either exclusively played Sandbox Mode or who just wanted a break from the system in other modes. It inhibited and deprived players of the full potential of a creative outlet. Task time is a QoL people have asked for since JWE, combine 10% task time with 3x time controls and you can skip the down time of waiting for all the dinosaur incubations for Battle Royales and Site B builds.
More decorations and scenery items increases playtime aka user engagement, more investment in your product thereby increasing long term support. A request I and many others made was for Research & Expeditions to make a return for either Sandbox or as its own game mode. Free Mode, Custom Game, Arcade, whatever you know it by this change to Sandbox settings makes a different group of people happy and keeps us engaged longer. Now we have Cash, Research, Expeditions, & Contracts and Narrative Events in Sandbox for use on any map. We have the power to just build a park free of constraints or impeding on other gameplay experiences. This translates to even more user retention and engagement and all these options when viewed collectively contributes to overall replayability of JWE2 this is good for Frontier given its investment and good for the players who will receive more content updates.
In the end, we all want the same thing literally, developer or player what is good for one is good for the other. JWE2 could now be said to have 5 game modes after Update 2: Campaign, Chaos Theory, Custom Game, Challenge Mode, & Sandbox. This is the overarching picture and from here you'll start to see where all my threads start to address things at a micro-level to support these gameplay as well as some of the anticipated impacts of the changes Frontier is introducing.
Dynamic Gameplay & Emergent Replayability
From here I am going to take apart my own suggestions and note how they fit into that overarching picture. I am also going to note that my own gameplay experiences and those I have spoken to and read on these forums inspired some of my proposals as we want the same thing. I think Dinosaur AI is pretty self-explanatory and I will omit dwelling on that topic much, so feel free to read my threads if you are so inclined. Suffice it to say, Frontier giving herbivores more agency when being hunted to escape or charge predators makes the animals feel more alive and helps breakdown the game-like feeling which makes it easier for suspension of disbelief. AI is kind of this subject that will support the other topics I am to discuss, its an important complementary role from here on out.
Let me skip right to weather and disasters as a better starting point. Much like there was a desperate plea for new biomes for variety's sake, weather conditions are just the same. Frontier has listened to this and added more weather phenomena to the game; however, I must reiterate a little more variety on all the maps and not restricting 1-2 weather conditions to a single biome type is still desirable. This is just ambient conditions that are more immersive and helps break up the monotony. Disasters or catastrophes are much more important and I really wanted these to increase badly after seeing how few JWE had. Disasters are raw gameplay mechanics, they force the player to respond and leap into action, taking charge in conditions that would otherwise be tame. Sometimes your parks are just working a little too fine like a machine and you need something to mix up the gameplay here and there.
Disasters are 1 per biome right now, like weather its a shame but a step forward. The Heat Wave from JPOG would be my #1 desire on this front to add to the game, it matches the Desert and Tropical biomes perfectly and you could even slide it into the Temperate biome without batting an eye. This just gives you a little more randomness and variety, you know inevitably you will have a disaster sweep through your park but you aren't sure which one it will be so you need to think about it and prepare yourself for any outcome. A tiny bit of controlled RNG goes a long way to making sure every park build feels unique and it makes the game infinitely replayable.
This system can also be expanded by the return of the Storm Defense Station for weather forecasting again placing the onus on the player to prepare. This kind of decision making and empowering the player by giving them the tools they need is what makes games engaging. If you get absolutely ravaged by a storm because you failed to build or check your weather forecast at the station, its on you. Fair difficulty is rewarding and encourages you to get better by identifying what you did wrong, unfair difficulty is introducing uncalled for events and imposing unwarranted restraints that rob the player from feeling they had the power to change the outcome.
Part 3 of my threads about the Divisions is completely outdated, but the ideas are still valid. This was more about addressing an issue with the JWE Campaign in that it introduced a lot unfair difficulty and it was extremely repetitive. Missions requiring the player to release animals that will be below their comfort thresholds on the regular in order to induce difficulty feels cheap. It's not fun and you typically had timers (5 minutes was common) to raise their comfort all while these nasty things would keep trying to break out. This was an epidemic in JWE since Security Ratings for fencing weren't a thing yet, and the fences were tantamount to tissue paper quite the opposite of JPOG impregnable ramparts. So, I proposed making more creative use of the tools at our disposal to revamp mission objectives for narrative modes.
I still think it would be an absolute blast if you had to manually control the Ranger Team and use all the tools at your disposal to complete an objective. My favorite was a proposal that you had to use flares to lure a T-Rex to a poacher camp to teach them a lesson. Making use of your horn and radio as tools to shoo away unwanted dinos on the way or using them as live bait to lure the Rex further in the right direction is such a unique and cool idea. This could be done entirely using the tools available in JWE alone! Another mission options was having random teleportation points in the form of a cave system that raptor packs would use to assault your facility as you attempted to build it up or to collect samples from an abandoned genetics lab. Basically, there are a lot more innovative and fun solutions to create missions similar to how the Spinoraptor in Secrets of Dr. Wu forced you to use another dinosaur to stop it because of its immunity to tranquilizers.
The genetics system is one I poured my heart and soul into, I went all out with conceiving of a system that would generate unique behavioral abilities for certain species, but would also introduce hidden variables with negative consequences. Frontier's genetics system in JWE2 feels a lot closer to my proposal than the first game and I think it adds so much variety to the game. I still think this system if fleshed out would lead to an untold amount of replayability as players try to find out what all of the hidden variables and synergies each animal has.
When it came to the digsites I kept with a theme of more random events, these were just something a little more frequent than disasters to mix things up a bit. I also took some inspiration from JPOG with a fossil marketplace to give the player more control over collecting specific genomes and unlocking access to new animals altogether based on a reputation system integrated into the fossil market. It is arguably a little too ambitious, but the idea of random events seems like something Frontier agreed was easy enough to implement and has the desirable effect of keeping gameplay a little more interesting without taxing the player too much.
Further, those dinosaurs unlocks from the fossil market would tie into a revamped hybrid system to make it more of a game-long progression system in which you need to gather all these parts and do all these tasks in order to create an Indominus Rex. In the future, I can see a DLC having a theme like this and fulfilling on that promise more than Secrets of Dr. Wu could.
Deeper Gameplay & Guest Management Systems
The Vehicle Maintenance Depot (VMD) & MVU improvements are for the sake of deepening gameplay and diversifying what you actually do moment to moment. There is a lot of click and forget gameplay that isn't memorable or particularly fun to do that I want to erode. The VMD is famously a cut building from JPOG, the idea is just pure gold and something I absolutely will talk about any chance I can. As dinosaur behavior and guest interactions increase, people will start to appreciate and realize the usefulness of such a building more as time progresses. Right now a vehicle breaks and you just buy another for next to nothing, the VMD gets rid of that video game trope and introduces a consequence for careless vehicle care. Right now dinosaurs can just ram into your Ranger Teams and Tour vehicles all day long without a care in the world, but if you have limited slots at a VMD with scaling costs and cooldowns for repairs, you might design your park a little more intelligently and consider staff access to enclosures and how guest safety could play into things.
Jeeps, Tour trucks, Gyrospheres, MVUs, even helicopters could wind up in the VMD if pterosaur-helicopter and storm interactions could be added. It scales from very easy to very challenging and requiring multiple depots in late game, so there is a natural easing into the system. The MVU improvement I mainly had in mind was for transportation of small dinosaurs (Compy - Velociraptor) in terms of size. Makes no bloody sense to have to airlift a small little dino to the medical facility when a short cooldown on an MVU to load it up would suffice. This is mainly for immersion purposes more than anything I admit, but airlifting Compies is a bloody meme at this point!
Disease & Injury iterations are part of my continual struggle to somehow figure out how to make these more distinct and I think people would enjoy the added gameplay elements this could add, this is a recent thread so details are left at your discretion.
Finally, this brings us to the most overlooked aspect of JWE2, the guests. JWE2 in many way struggles to even be what you might call a game. To be a game you need a victory condition and a loss condition. At present the loss condition is very obscure and not so obvious. I believe this is one thing that helps JPOG so much, you can go bankrupt; there is a clear cut-off whereas in JWE2 you just spiral into debt until everything shuts down. JWE2 makes you suffer rather than sparing you the misery and making it clear you failed and should give it another go. JPOG had financial reports to keep track of this so obviously a calendar system is necessary which it had as part of a weather forecasting system, JWE2 could really do with borrowing this concept from JPOG too.
A Game Over screen in the form of a Park Closure for failing profitability for an extended period of time or too many guest fatalities sounds reasonable for Chaos Theory & as a Sandbox option for us interested in a Custom Game scenario. From the start, I think JWE2 like JWE needed more guest management options to make it feel more like a park. Right now we can make parks or facilities, but we simply don't have the tools to make either properly. The incoming decorations make the park aspect a little more realistic, but we lack some of the fundamentals besides the loss condition, not being able to set an entrance fee to the park or an attraction feels asinine.
Further, the lack of guest type integration in any meaningful way is really hurting the game. Right now it feels like your amenities are exclusively bothered with your guest types, and this just isn't enough for this system to have a role like it does in JPOG or to add any depth to your guest management. If I could regulate prices and if certain attractions had built-in appeal for certain guest types I would have more tools to attract guests of my choosing which in turn gives me replayability as I target specifics guests for a park build or I challenge myself to balance 2 or more with 4 being nearly impossible.
Staff-only paths or some sort of security designation for an area would also do wonders for building facilities and creating more delineation in parks. In fact, outside of the random events, the game doesn't even make an effort to acknowledge a difference between staff and guest. As the game ages, this lack of guest management is going to metastasize like it did with JWE and will always feels shallow and like something is missing that no one can quite put their finger on. The guests are the heart of the Jurassic Park & Jurassic World experience and we have a dearth of content and systems surrounding them, but as the dinosaurs become less and less needing of attention this is only going to become more obvious.
We can decorate our parks to death, but it will still empty and soulless like a ghost town if the guests continue to have next to no role whatsoever. They are visual husks guided by an algorithm and even without generating individualized guests, the suggestions I made are still possible to incorporate and breathe life without such a guest revamp. Make no mistake individualized guests would still be the absolute best for the game, but I can understand the limitations of consoles having on performance of the game were such a system implemented.
Community Content Creation
The mark of a thriving game lies within its playerbase. Sometimes if you do things right and provide the tools, you don't even need to feel the pressure to make content at all. JPOG modders jumping over to JWE2 is a great sign of community forming and sustaining itself. However, I specifically wanted to highlight First-Person View coming in Update 2 here. Players have long requested this and for good reason, it changes how you play the game given the interactive nature Frontier has presented it to us. Half the fun of a park simulator is being able to experience your creation after you've completed building it. This makes for relaxing walkthroughs to show off Sandbox parks... and it can be used to experience first-person survival horror!
Bestinslot already seems rearing to go to make a horror-themed park because of the nature of this view. This is a prime example of a tool that allows the playerbase to make its own content. This prolongs the life and appeal of the game. Many Jurassic fans have been dying for years for a survival horror game in the series, you can do them the next best thing by letting them make the park and letting them loose in the chaotic scenario you create for them. The only gripe I have with the system is that you cannot be attacked or killed in First-Person View, if you could it would be perfect and allow for some real stakes. You could even add a flare or some other basic tools if you really wanted to hone in on this vibe.
People will entertain themselves if you let them, this engages people for longer, more retention again leads to more investment and more loyal, returning customers. Everyone benefits from this relationship. Replayability and in-depth game systems allows for content creators to generate more varying content that keeps people interested and occupied between updates & DLCs creating a positive feedback loop with the game entering a virtuous cycle of constant improvement leading to more engagement, more content, more sales, etc.
Conclusion
I recognize this thread is half-recap and is bloody colossal arguably among my longest ever. However, there are so many aspects to this game I feel cannot be ignored and there is potential everywhere behind every tiny little system in the game. It has real potential to one day be the ultimate Jurassic Park simulator not a simple Jurassic Park builder, but we need to constantly think about progression and replayability and all the ways that comes about.
I am optimistic seeing the speed Frontier has acted and how JWE2 has fared better, so much quicker than its predecessor. The game has more time to add content rather than correct its mistakes even if it shares a similar lifespan to its predecessor though we all hope this game receives continual support for years to come. Update 2 will get me back to playing the game more regularly and hopefully to spend less time talking about it on these forums. However, the game has two major areas desperately needing improvement: the Lagoon, and Guest Management. I neglected to discuss the Lagoon and marine reptiles as I have another thread I mean to cover it soon, but if Frontier can manage to get these two areas into great shape by adding more depth, I can't see why this game will fail to become the best Jurassic Park Simulator ever made.
I am going to reference a lot of my old threads in this analysis, so here are some links. Please note that a considerable number of these were written prior to JWE2 launch, so many of them are now out-of-date:
- Digsites & Fossil Excavation
- Weather & Randomized Events
- Divisions & Gameplay Features
- Dinosaur AI & Behavior
- Genetics System & Dinosaur Behavior
Other miscellaneous threads referenced:
- Guest Attractions
- Vehicle Maintenance Depot
- MVU Functionality
- Diseases, Injuries, & Scars
- Consolidated Feedback Thread
So, immediately anyone who reads the linked threads or is familiar with the concerns I have with the game will know that it all has to deal with management systems and immersive gameplay. I have frequently referred to this desire for deeper mechanics as organic or dynamic gameplay in the aforementioned threads. Part of this is my personal preference, but my concerns have been shared with others in the community over the years which has had me thinking for a very long time what are the common strands that tie together our concerns? I tried to break down these issues piece by piece in these various threads, but neglected to define what the overarching issue was and why in spite of our best efforts it always felt like we fell short.
I believe I have that answer, it is all about progression and replayability. Even just reviewing all of my own thoughts on various aspects of the game it always comes down to those two things. The things I praise and the things I decry have to do with how it improves or detracts from these two areas.
Looking back to JWE this will be the beginning to understanding player expectations and why JWE struggled so much. For the sake of arguments let's say we got two groups of people, dedicated fans coming into the game with high expectations and a background playing Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis (JPOG) and a more casual audience with familiarity with the Jurassic IP without much knowledge beyond the films. Visually people are impressed, but pretty quickly we start to see the dedicated fans become pretty unhappy whereas the game doesn't bother the more casual audience that much since its pretty, and easy to pick up and play without the frame of reference of other Jurassic Park Builders like JPOG. So, let's take a look at some of those complaints and see how Frontier responded with updates and later with JWE2.
Jurassic World Evolution
Technical and aesthetic issues aside, the moment-to-moment gameplay and variety of options and activities you are doing really hampers the experience. The actual park building and guest management aspect of the game are pretty simple. Meet your species variety baseline, don't allow too many to be sick and just keep churning out dinos and you'll get a 5 star Dinosaur Rating in no time and be half way to a 5-star park. The Facility Rating is trickier requiring various amenities for coverage of guest needs, monorails for transportation, hotels for capacity, and generally just not having guests being eaten is enough. What it amounts to generally is just spamming lots of structures until the game decides you meet a sufficient threshold. Add in some transparency issues that are not immediately apparent, and there you go. Combine these two aspects and you have the basis of the game which is to achieve a 5-star island rating to complete the Campaign and that leaves you with Sandbox to toy around with and experiment as you please.
There isn't a whole lot of decision-making going on, its just a matter of trial and error on the players part to figure out you just need to spam dinos and amenities to win essentially. The game's economy is also way off balance with money being given to you in spades rendering itself moot. Dinosaur behavior is pretty robotic, so enjoying them is difficult for those more laidback players and this becomes a serious issue in post-game where players migrate to Sandbox Mode. Yet, despite these complaints most people generally have a decent time getting through the Campaign save for a handful of complaints along the way like the relatively repetitive and unfair Division missions/sabotages that force animals into becoming uncomfortable and breaking out.
From my analysis and from player feedback I surmise this is largely because JWE has a proper progression system in place. As in, it behaves like a proper game, you have a starting point and an objective you work to meet that is made known to you up-front. Get your star rating up and at 3 stars the game will direct you to advance to the next island to further the story and it'll unlock new upgrades, dinos, and buildings for you to use. The Divisions, in spite of sabotage, also create ample incentive for the player to be committed to trying to raise their reputations with lucrative rewards that are not necessarily attached to overall game progression. It's the carrot-on-a-stick for the player as you are constantly given some reason to progress with a Division and move onto the next island. Each new island offers a new twist or challenge to gradually increase the difficulty for players who have learned the basic mechanics of the game so far whether it be storms, short on cash, or narrow building area.
The fact you can return to prior islands and are rewarded for achieving 5 stars on each and maxing out the reputation with each division is great for replayability. Even after the main narrative is complete you can return to unlock the remaining items you missed initially, and your research/unlocks are carried over between islands including finds in the Fossil Centre. These unlocks then apply to Sandbox Mode which itself is a 4-star unlock on Isla Matenceros. JWE is very very good with this progression even if the substance of that gameplay loop is often found lacking.
Post-Launch Content
Here Frontier begins to factor in player feedback and make changes. Technical fixes are a given, but we see some quality of life and minor aesthetic fixes as well. These are among the easiest to address right away and are a result of the accelerated development schedule JWE was made on. The dinosaur resizing issue---I vividly recall---was among the most demanded things at this time and a very negative chapter in the playerbase's history. The game had not met expectations among the more experienced players who were hoping for a more solid foundation that built upon JPOG, it lacked depth and lots of conveniences were taken with the Ranger & ACU teams to get the game technically functional. This was also in spite of some great quality of life improvements such as being able to create more dynamic fencing.
The free addition of a new gameplay mode in the form of Challenge Mode became a game-defining change. Replayability took a sharp spike upwards giving the player more to do and what amounted to more of a free mode experience without the narrative constraints of the Campaign which up to this point had been the only alternative to Sandbox Mode's limitless creation. Gradually changes to Sandbox such as the option to have limited money also took steps in the right direction. More options, more freedom to simply play the game ala JPOG proved tantalizing to many players, and players appreciated the challenge of building parks under more punishing conditions in Challenge Mode, but left many day-to-day gameplay issues unanswered.
Dinosaur lifespan, sauropod forest requirements, and cohabitation issues continuously hounded the playerbase and Frontier tackled these in a big way with JWE's first major DLC pack: The Secrets of Dr. Wu. This introduced the much requested Troodon, but more importantly it came with a free update that introduced a Day/Night cycle, and overhauled the genetics system and introduced some upgrades the playerbase had long requested such as faster transport copters. In the blink of an eye, the game's tiresome comfort issues began to disappear, the visuals were enhanced with the range of lighting from the day/night cycle, and retroactive application of the DLC's research to the main campaign further enhanced the base game with new dino and feature unlocks that smoothed out the gameplay and made the game a much more pleasant experience.
Frontier was on the right track, but struck a bit of a miss with the next major DLC, Claire's Sanctuary. The addition of new larger maps was welcomed and more first-person gameplay from the Jeep was a nice idea, but wound up feeling too much like a slog that put it on the backfoot. Sanctuary island the second-half of the DLC; however, was much well-received and the Paleobotany system added some much needed depth particularly as it pertained to herbivore management. The mission objectives and limited available building options; however, served to undermine it despite the similarly appreciated Jurassic Tour attraction being introduced and scenery items such as ndividually placeable rocks & trees.
Slowly, each DLC reduced the negativity among the playerbase; however, sentiments lingered that the game was appealing too much to the new Jurassic World crowd. The long requested demand for Jurassic Park was finally answered with the final major DLC of JWE with the addition of Return to Jurassic Park. An entire new building set, a large expansive map, new skins turned the reviled Velociraptor into one of the most beloved, the return of the original voice cast to voice their characters, and the addition of pterosaurs and decorative items made players feel on top of the world. After this, however, new content ceased and without new content long-standing issues resurfaced and the playerbase started to go dormant and rely upon community modding to pass the time.
Outstanding Issues Persist
Frontier did well to listen to their customers and JWE was vastly improved from its initial release. However, the game was only able to stave off its underlying issues for so long and without new shiny toys to occupy players, the game's flaws started to bury it. Players held out hope for a long rumored sequel, but turned to their own devices to artificially prolong the game's life in a manner similar to what they had done for JPOG for so many years. More astounding was how Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis continued to hold relevance alongside Jurassic World Evolution this entire time. The cracks went to JWE's foundations and because of that JPOG still managed to hold on. All that Frontier had done to improve JWE was surface level, the core of the game needed reworking if it were to remain relevant in the years to come.
Dinosaur behavior remained unfulfilling and outclassed by the more than 15 year-old JPOG, customization continues to lack, guest management was shallow and nebulous, marine reptiles never appeared despite incessant demand, and even the introduction of an Aviary failed to capture the dynamic reptiles the community had been expecting.
Jurassic World Evolution 2
The announcement of Jurassic World Evolution 2 was met with excitement and confirmation of the playerbase's suspicions. Jurassic World Evolution had foundational issues that Frontier could not readily rectify without breaking the game; however, they did not abandon their prehistoric management simulator. Frontier had quietly shifted work to building a more solid foundation to build upon with JWE's sequel. Goals shifted to making the dinosaurs more life-like, and modifications enabled the more free-form pterosaurs and long-awaited arrival of marine reptiles.
Taking a look at what JWE2 has done compared to JWE there is a laundry list of improvements that make the game smoother and overall more interesting. The new biomes add some badly needed variety, Campaign has shifted quite drastically to more first-person content and more wild animals building off of the initial premise of Isla Sorna in the base game that was widely viewed as a missed opportunity. Chaos Theory sort of occupied a middle ground of a more traditional park builder like the Campaign of JWE, and many QoL improvements. Some of these included a dedicated transport icon, Ranger Posts to collect data on animal comfort, multi-hatchery releases, sturdier fencing, etc.
New customization for amenities helped alleviate the frustrations of some more static buildings from the base game, new guest types paying homage to JPOG diversified guest management ever so marginally. The introduction of a research tree did a considerable deal to introduce something of a progression system equivalent in place of the island unlocks from JWE. Backup generators, vaccinations, and the MVU helped to define roles more clearly and gave players more tools to take control. Contracts were made more generalized and less frustrating and illogical while sabotage has found an ideal place and its own new variants. Scientists, territorial, and genetics systems have deepened the gameplay and made decisions more interesting and come with more trade-offs, the new paleobotany system has allowed for more natural herbivore grazing, and finally the new Challenge Mode lives up to its namesake.
Post-Launch Content
The dinosaur packs continue to expand an ever growing roster of prehistoric creatures, and here we are post-Update 1 and just over a day off from Update 2 landing. Just comparing JWE & JWE2 after each game's first update and the contrast couldn't be more stark. Both games are/were plagued by technical issues, unusual decisions and missing QoL features which were addressed in the first few updates. This pattern is nearly identical between both games... and yet, JWE2 is most certainly looking healthier than JWE ever did. JWE2 simply requires less work overall to address its outstanding issues; however, it is not without its own blemishes.
Missing skins and decorative pieces from JWE particularly Return to Jurassic Park remain elusive and dumbfounding. Unless the notes for Update 2 specifically address this I have my concerns that JWE2 is still going to be missing a couple of decorations. The JP Restroom & Bunker are notable omissions even though the Raptor Pen is due to make its return, the fancy paths are a very overlooked omission as well, and I certainly hope the JP pylons aren't forgotten, the immersion is damaged a bit having to use JW pylons in the JP era. Beyond these aesthetic changes; however, JWE2 will see the return of individually placeable trees, and most crucially some much requested QoL features and changes that might really push the game further than its predecessor ever could.
More dynamic hunting behavior, MVU's can be assigned to Ranger Posts to automatically to identify and treat minor injuries, the species viewer, the Sandbox options and finally the first-person camera indicate to me a shift that the game's depth is now more of a priority. JWE to its very end had some clear QoL issues whereas with JWE2 after Update 2 I am having a hard time thinking of anything obvious the game needs. This is a positive development that more active development with new additions is on their radar with the game maturing to a state it no longer requires as much maintenance.
JWE2 VS JPOG
Now we at last come to a critical juncture, a question asked since the original JWE. Does JWE2 surpass JPOG? Before we can answer that we have to know why JPOG is so timeless to so many people. Nostalgia? A little. Lack of a JP alternative? Not since 2018 at least. Then why? JPOG is objectively worse graphically than JWE or JWE2 by a mile, it doesn't have as many iconic callbacks to the films or novels as the Jurassic World Evolution series, and it most certainly doesn't have anywhere near as many features or dinosaurs, but why has it defied all odds and outlasted even when newer competitors were available?
It comes down to the gameplay loop ultimately. JPOG is outclassed no matter what way you look at it in virtually every other department including budget. Even despite the long history of modding that extended the life of JPOG well past its limitations, JWE was just about as mod friendly by the end of its lifespan and yet continued to live in JPOG shadow. JPOG didn't have much next to the behemoth of JWE which has all the traditional and modern conveniences afforded to it, but it did have satisfying gameplay to help elevate it. JWE was very shallow and its dinosaurs mindless compared to JPOGs few but more dynamic roster. JWE2's mission was to correct JWE's mistakes and taken more inspiration from its spiritual predecessor JPOG.
The verdict, I feel confident that after another update or two---technical issues not withstanding---that JWE2 will have finally and irrevocably taken the crown from JPOG and the passing of the torch will have finally come to pass. JWE2 simply has more features, some features in which Blue Tongue wanted to implement but never got the chance to do such as the veterinarian and flying and aquatic reptiles. The behavior and animations have finally caught up to the graphics to exceed JPOG's dinos, the decorative pieces will soon be far more diverse than JPOG ever had, and gameplay systems are deepening in JWE2, so that it can stand beside JPOG even as modders have finally moved onto JWE2 which has shown them the potential they always desired JPOG to have.
Lessons for the Future
However, there are some important lessons in here for Frontier. The one remaining thing JWE has that people still enjoy and wish JWE2 had, its progression system. I still read comments from people on these very forums talking about how much they enjoyed progressing from one island onto the next and using their gains to go back and unlock more items on prior islands. JWE2 has nothing on par with this even post-Update 2. Even if people can't really articulate what they mean, it all ties back into more progression and replayability.
Why were people so adamant that they wanted everything unlocked by default for Sandbox? Because it was a gameplay option, it contributed to user engagement and some people really just want the endless replayability by creatively exercising themselves through park design after park design. Scientists in Sandbox were such an issue because it actively interrupted players who either exclusively played Sandbox Mode or who just wanted a break from the system in other modes. It inhibited and deprived players of the full potential of a creative outlet. Task time is a QoL people have asked for since JWE, combine 10% task time with 3x time controls and you can skip the down time of waiting for all the dinosaur incubations for Battle Royales and Site B builds.
More decorations and scenery items increases playtime aka user engagement, more investment in your product thereby increasing long term support. A request I and many others made was for Research & Expeditions to make a return for either Sandbox or as its own game mode. Free Mode, Custom Game, Arcade, whatever you know it by this change to Sandbox settings makes a different group of people happy and keeps us engaged longer. Now we have Cash, Research, Expeditions, & Contracts and Narrative Events in Sandbox for use on any map. We have the power to just build a park free of constraints or impeding on other gameplay experiences. This translates to even more user retention and engagement and all these options when viewed collectively contributes to overall replayability of JWE2 this is good for Frontier given its investment and good for the players who will receive more content updates.
In the end, we all want the same thing literally, developer or player what is good for one is good for the other. JWE2 could now be said to have 5 game modes after Update 2: Campaign, Chaos Theory, Custom Game, Challenge Mode, & Sandbox. This is the overarching picture and from here you'll start to see where all my threads start to address things at a micro-level to support these gameplay as well as some of the anticipated impacts of the changes Frontier is introducing.
Dynamic Gameplay & Emergent Replayability
From here I am going to take apart my own suggestions and note how they fit into that overarching picture. I am also going to note that my own gameplay experiences and those I have spoken to and read on these forums inspired some of my proposals as we want the same thing. I think Dinosaur AI is pretty self-explanatory and I will omit dwelling on that topic much, so feel free to read my threads if you are so inclined. Suffice it to say, Frontier giving herbivores more agency when being hunted to escape or charge predators makes the animals feel more alive and helps breakdown the game-like feeling which makes it easier for suspension of disbelief. AI is kind of this subject that will support the other topics I am to discuss, its an important complementary role from here on out.
Let me skip right to weather and disasters as a better starting point. Much like there was a desperate plea for new biomes for variety's sake, weather conditions are just the same. Frontier has listened to this and added more weather phenomena to the game; however, I must reiterate a little more variety on all the maps and not restricting 1-2 weather conditions to a single biome type is still desirable. This is just ambient conditions that are more immersive and helps break up the monotony. Disasters or catastrophes are much more important and I really wanted these to increase badly after seeing how few JWE had. Disasters are raw gameplay mechanics, they force the player to respond and leap into action, taking charge in conditions that would otherwise be tame. Sometimes your parks are just working a little too fine like a machine and you need something to mix up the gameplay here and there.
Disasters are 1 per biome right now, like weather its a shame but a step forward. The Heat Wave from JPOG would be my #1 desire on this front to add to the game, it matches the Desert and Tropical biomes perfectly and you could even slide it into the Temperate biome without batting an eye. This just gives you a little more randomness and variety, you know inevitably you will have a disaster sweep through your park but you aren't sure which one it will be so you need to think about it and prepare yourself for any outcome. A tiny bit of controlled RNG goes a long way to making sure every park build feels unique and it makes the game infinitely replayable.
This system can also be expanded by the return of the Storm Defense Station for weather forecasting again placing the onus on the player to prepare. This kind of decision making and empowering the player by giving them the tools they need is what makes games engaging. If you get absolutely ravaged by a storm because you failed to build or check your weather forecast at the station, its on you. Fair difficulty is rewarding and encourages you to get better by identifying what you did wrong, unfair difficulty is introducing uncalled for events and imposing unwarranted restraints that rob the player from feeling they had the power to change the outcome.
Part 3 of my threads about the Divisions is completely outdated, but the ideas are still valid. This was more about addressing an issue with the JWE Campaign in that it introduced a lot unfair difficulty and it was extremely repetitive. Missions requiring the player to release animals that will be below their comfort thresholds on the regular in order to induce difficulty feels cheap. It's not fun and you typically had timers (5 minutes was common) to raise their comfort all while these nasty things would keep trying to break out. This was an epidemic in JWE since Security Ratings for fencing weren't a thing yet, and the fences were tantamount to tissue paper quite the opposite of JPOG impregnable ramparts. So, I proposed making more creative use of the tools at our disposal to revamp mission objectives for narrative modes.
I still think it would be an absolute blast if you had to manually control the Ranger Team and use all the tools at your disposal to complete an objective. My favorite was a proposal that you had to use flares to lure a T-Rex to a poacher camp to teach them a lesson. Making use of your horn and radio as tools to shoo away unwanted dinos on the way or using them as live bait to lure the Rex further in the right direction is such a unique and cool idea. This could be done entirely using the tools available in JWE alone! Another mission options was having random teleportation points in the form of a cave system that raptor packs would use to assault your facility as you attempted to build it up or to collect samples from an abandoned genetics lab. Basically, there are a lot more innovative and fun solutions to create missions similar to how the Spinoraptor in Secrets of Dr. Wu forced you to use another dinosaur to stop it because of its immunity to tranquilizers.
The genetics system is one I poured my heart and soul into, I went all out with conceiving of a system that would generate unique behavioral abilities for certain species, but would also introduce hidden variables with negative consequences. Frontier's genetics system in JWE2 feels a lot closer to my proposal than the first game and I think it adds so much variety to the game. I still think this system if fleshed out would lead to an untold amount of replayability as players try to find out what all of the hidden variables and synergies each animal has.
When it came to the digsites I kept with a theme of more random events, these were just something a little more frequent than disasters to mix things up a bit. I also took some inspiration from JPOG with a fossil marketplace to give the player more control over collecting specific genomes and unlocking access to new animals altogether based on a reputation system integrated into the fossil market. It is arguably a little too ambitious, but the idea of random events seems like something Frontier agreed was easy enough to implement and has the desirable effect of keeping gameplay a little more interesting without taxing the player too much.
Further, those dinosaurs unlocks from the fossil market would tie into a revamped hybrid system to make it more of a game-long progression system in which you need to gather all these parts and do all these tasks in order to create an Indominus Rex. In the future, I can see a DLC having a theme like this and fulfilling on that promise more than Secrets of Dr. Wu could.
Deeper Gameplay & Guest Management Systems
The Vehicle Maintenance Depot (VMD) & MVU improvements are for the sake of deepening gameplay and diversifying what you actually do moment to moment. There is a lot of click and forget gameplay that isn't memorable or particularly fun to do that I want to erode. The VMD is famously a cut building from JPOG, the idea is just pure gold and something I absolutely will talk about any chance I can. As dinosaur behavior and guest interactions increase, people will start to appreciate and realize the usefulness of such a building more as time progresses. Right now a vehicle breaks and you just buy another for next to nothing, the VMD gets rid of that video game trope and introduces a consequence for careless vehicle care. Right now dinosaurs can just ram into your Ranger Teams and Tour vehicles all day long without a care in the world, but if you have limited slots at a VMD with scaling costs and cooldowns for repairs, you might design your park a little more intelligently and consider staff access to enclosures and how guest safety could play into things.
Jeeps, Tour trucks, Gyrospheres, MVUs, even helicopters could wind up in the VMD if pterosaur-helicopter and storm interactions could be added. It scales from very easy to very challenging and requiring multiple depots in late game, so there is a natural easing into the system. The MVU improvement I mainly had in mind was for transportation of small dinosaurs (Compy - Velociraptor) in terms of size. Makes no bloody sense to have to airlift a small little dino to the medical facility when a short cooldown on an MVU to load it up would suffice. This is mainly for immersion purposes more than anything I admit, but airlifting Compies is a bloody meme at this point!
Disease & Injury iterations are part of my continual struggle to somehow figure out how to make these more distinct and I think people would enjoy the added gameplay elements this could add, this is a recent thread so details are left at your discretion.
Finally, this brings us to the most overlooked aspect of JWE2, the guests. JWE2 in many way struggles to even be what you might call a game. To be a game you need a victory condition and a loss condition. At present the loss condition is very obscure and not so obvious. I believe this is one thing that helps JPOG so much, you can go bankrupt; there is a clear cut-off whereas in JWE2 you just spiral into debt until everything shuts down. JWE2 makes you suffer rather than sparing you the misery and making it clear you failed and should give it another go. JPOG had financial reports to keep track of this so obviously a calendar system is necessary which it had as part of a weather forecasting system, JWE2 could really do with borrowing this concept from JPOG too.
A Game Over screen in the form of a Park Closure for failing profitability for an extended period of time or too many guest fatalities sounds reasonable for Chaos Theory & as a Sandbox option for us interested in a Custom Game scenario. From the start, I think JWE2 like JWE needed more guest management options to make it feel more like a park. Right now we can make parks or facilities, but we simply don't have the tools to make either properly. The incoming decorations make the park aspect a little more realistic, but we lack some of the fundamentals besides the loss condition, not being able to set an entrance fee to the park or an attraction feels asinine.
Further, the lack of guest type integration in any meaningful way is really hurting the game. Right now it feels like your amenities are exclusively bothered with your guest types, and this just isn't enough for this system to have a role like it does in JPOG or to add any depth to your guest management. If I could regulate prices and if certain attractions had built-in appeal for certain guest types I would have more tools to attract guests of my choosing which in turn gives me replayability as I target specifics guests for a park build or I challenge myself to balance 2 or more with 4 being nearly impossible.
Staff-only paths or some sort of security designation for an area would also do wonders for building facilities and creating more delineation in parks. In fact, outside of the random events, the game doesn't even make an effort to acknowledge a difference between staff and guest. As the game ages, this lack of guest management is going to metastasize like it did with JWE and will always feels shallow and like something is missing that no one can quite put their finger on. The guests are the heart of the Jurassic Park & Jurassic World experience and we have a dearth of content and systems surrounding them, but as the dinosaurs become less and less needing of attention this is only going to become more obvious.
We can decorate our parks to death, but it will still empty and soulless like a ghost town if the guests continue to have next to no role whatsoever. They are visual husks guided by an algorithm and even without generating individualized guests, the suggestions I made are still possible to incorporate and breathe life without such a guest revamp. Make no mistake individualized guests would still be the absolute best for the game, but I can understand the limitations of consoles having on performance of the game were such a system implemented.
Community Content Creation
The mark of a thriving game lies within its playerbase. Sometimes if you do things right and provide the tools, you don't even need to feel the pressure to make content at all. JPOG modders jumping over to JWE2 is a great sign of community forming and sustaining itself. However, I specifically wanted to highlight First-Person View coming in Update 2 here. Players have long requested this and for good reason, it changes how you play the game given the interactive nature Frontier has presented it to us. Half the fun of a park simulator is being able to experience your creation after you've completed building it. This makes for relaxing walkthroughs to show off Sandbox parks... and it can be used to experience first-person survival horror!
Bestinslot already seems rearing to go to make a horror-themed park because of the nature of this view. This is a prime example of a tool that allows the playerbase to make its own content. This prolongs the life and appeal of the game. Many Jurassic fans have been dying for years for a survival horror game in the series, you can do them the next best thing by letting them make the park and letting them loose in the chaotic scenario you create for them. The only gripe I have with the system is that you cannot be attacked or killed in First-Person View, if you could it would be perfect and allow for some real stakes. You could even add a flare or some other basic tools if you really wanted to hone in on this vibe.
People will entertain themselves if you let them, this engages people for longer, more retention again leads to more investment and more loyal, returning customers. Everyone benefits from this relationship. Replayability and in-depth game systems allows for content creators to generate more varying content that keeps people interested and occupied between updates & DLCs creating a positive feedback loop with the game entering a virtuous cycle of constant improvement leading to more engagement, more content, more sales, etc.
Conclusion
I recognize this thread is half-recap and is bloody colossal arguably among my longest ever. However, there are so many aspects to this game I feel cannot be ignored and there is potential everywhere behind every tiny little system in the game. It has real potential to one day be the ultimate Jurassic Park simulator not a simple Jurassic Park builder, but we need to constantly think about progression and replayability and all the ways that comes about.
I am optimistic seeing the speed Frontier has acted and how JWE2 has fared better, so much quicker than its predecessor. The game has more time to add content rather than correct its mistakes even if it shares a similar lifespan to its predecessor though we all hope this game receives continual support for years to come. Update 2 will get me back to playing the game more regularly and hopefully to spend less time talking about it on these forums. However, the game has two major areas desperately needing improvement: the Lagoon, and Guest Management. I neglected to discuss the Lagoon and marine reptiles as I have another thread I mean to cover it soon, but if Frontier can manage to get these two areas into great shape by adding more depth, I can't see why this game will fail to become the best Jurassic Park Simulator ever made.
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