Theropods is a mute adventure game about dinosaurs and spacemen

Theropods' trailer got me all in a lather before I realised it only exists in the purgatory of Kickstarter at the moment, and now you're all going to have to suffer along with me. It looks neat! Maybe we'll see it one of these days. 

Set in a prehistoric world where people and dinos live side by side, though not always as friends, Theropods is a pixel adventure game where a hunter must rescue her tribe from a bunch of arsehole barbarians, all with the help of a stranded fella from the stars. 

While the trailer shows off a bit of action, being an adventure game it's brains rather than brawn that will save the day, with the hunter needing to use the environment to overcome enemies and solve conundrums. There will still be chases and action sequences, however, and they won't be trapped in cutscenes. 

The hunter and her pals haven't developed language yet and communicate mostly through grunts and gestures, which won't be translated into text. Inspired by the likes of Machinarium, the devs—a pair of animators and filmmakers—wanted to tell a story without words, relying on animations and visual cues instead. 

Theropods has been in development since it was conjured up during a two-week game jam in 2015. It's expected out in 2021, but with Kickstarters you never really know. The team's looking for $22,543, just over $6,000 of which has been pledged over a few days. 

Fraser Brown
Online Editor

Fraser is the UK online editor and has actually met The Internet in person. With over a decade of experience, he's been around the block a few times, serving as a freelancer, news editor and prolific reviewer. Strategy games have been a 30-year-long obsession, from tiny RTSs to sprawling political sims, and he never turns down the chance to rave about Total War or Crusader Kings. He's also been known to set up shop in the latest MMO and likes to wind down with an endlessly deep, systemic RPG. These days, when he's not editing, he can usually be found writing features that are 1,000 words too long or talking about his dog.