I hope that it does help fuel ambition to work on a sequel. Not simply because of Prehistoric Kingdom, but also the changes the gaming space will be like in 2021 when the next movie comes out.
If a sequel does indeed come out, it has the new console platforms to work with that would allow for more content to be rendered at a time. Likewise, Frontier's current Cobra engine has been optimized to have Planet Coaster to work on consoles, even the PS4 and XBO. So it would be harder to imagine a supposed JWE2 to face similar limitations to JWE due to console limitations, as that should be an issue of the past.
Common major complaints I hear are:
• Lack of micro management
• Lack of baby dinosaurs
• Lack of map space/customizable personal island
• Lack of advanced A.I. (like hunting, advanced combat, peaceful interactions, different escapes for dinosaurs.)
• Lack of dinosaur differentiation within a species (scars, slight size differences, potential genetic mutations).
• Lack of individual guest A.I.
• Lack of decorations / customization
• Lack of more specialized buildings.
• Lack of a proper first person experience.
• Unengaging campaign mode story
I do not believe all of these things would be addressed, but they are elements that could be added in a more advanced engine that JWE is currently running that fans would really like. I do not think Prehistoric kingdom would be that big of a competition, as both games would cater to different audiences. Where Prehistoric kingdom has a bigger focus on scientific accuarcy, creativity, and a more dinosaur documentary like setting. Jurassic World Evolution 2 has the Jurassic Park/World movie IP and would be more brand heavy because of it (Movie dinosaurs, movie focused, JP/W lore heavy), which could hinder the creativity level a bit, but has a rich lore with the novels and movies to work with. Plus Frontier are more adapted to porting their games to other consoles at this point, so JWE 2 would have a larger audience to access to compared to Prehistoric Kindgom.
That being said, I do hope JWE 2 would wow us into getting the game over JWE. I do feel like that Frontier has grown tremendously with their business sim games. They have Planet Coaster, Jurassic World Evolution, and Planet zoo in their resume, and I did notice that they do learn with their previous games and apply the potential updates to their next titles. I recalled how fans wished the dinosaurs had more elements in early times of JWE like scars from fights, aging, mutations, and size variations, which were elements later included in planet zoo. And if JWE2 is going to happen, they have the movie hype, an updated engine, and a larger audience to impress. JWE is fun, and I wish for it to be a stepping stone to JWE2, and introduce new gameplay options to wow us in, and deliver something that would only be possible with the Jurassic Park IP.
At this point I am curious what is happening. The complete edition of JWE is coming to the switch, and I do not know if they would do the same for consoles and PC so new players do not buy the entire game and DLC when a complete version is available for a price similar to the Deluxe edition of JWE. Especially with Covid-19 I do not think we would hear about JWE soon. Also, as a hunch, I think we may not get JWE 2 when the movie comes out, and it could be like JPOG where the game could be released way after the movie, so as to deliver a more optimized experience and allow for a more streamlined gaming experience, but also allow for easier updates and implementations.
What do you think with all of this? I was hoping to expect at least a patch update to launch alongside the switch version to fix some bugs the game has and do stuff like allow all dinosaurs to be used in Jurassic Park era challenge mode. Prehistoric will be gettting more traction once it is out of early acess, and I am looking forward to both releases when they are going to happen.
