Game review
Dinosaur Park – Primeval Zoo
3.6 / 10
- Developer
- upjers
- Publisher
- upjers
- Released
- 20 April 2022
- Platforms
- Windows
- Genre
- Simulation
- Monetisation
- Free-to-play with in-app purchases; progress past early levels is gated behind paid in-game currency, and multiple reviewers describe frequent, aggressive purchase pop-ups.
- Players
- Single-player only
The short version
Dinosaur Park – Primeval Zoo is a free-to-play tycoon game from German F2P studio upjers, tasking players with building and managing a zoo of hatched dinosaurs for visitors. Steam's aggregate reads Mixed at 66% of 92 English-language reviews, and this review read all 31 negative reviews plus a sample of the positive side.
There's a real, if thin, audience this connects with — several reviewers, including parents playing with young children, describe genuine charm in the dinosaur designs and care mechanics. What dominates the negative sample, however, is a specific and repeated monetisation complaint: reviewers describe hitting a hard progress wall within the first few sessions, with one detailed account describing "multiple marketing popups every few minutes" while simply idling in the game. A second, independently repeated theme is technical instability — crashes, failed loads, and lost accounts recur across reviews spanning multiple years, not just launch week. This review also found several detailed reports of a specific age-verification bug locking adult players out of their own accounts entirely, which this review could not resolve or explain but which recurs across independent accounts years apart. Checking the game's own Steam news feed, this review found no post of any kind since December 2023, consistent with a live, monetised game that has received no visible update in well over two years.
Biggest strengths
- Genuine charm in the dinosaur designs and zoo-care mechanics, drawing specific praise from reviewers playing with young children
- Free to download, with some reviewers reporting real progress possible without spending, especially by logging in for daily gifts
- A distinct niche within the zoo-tycoon genre, tied to the same studio's separately well-known animal zoo game
Biggest weaknesses
- A specific, widely repeated monetisation complaint: reviewers describe hitting a hard progress wall within the first few sessions, with one detailed account describing frequent, aggressive purchase pop-ups even while simply idling
- Real technical instability reported across multiple years of reviews, not just at launch — crashes, failed loads, and at least one account of a save disappearing entirely after an update
- Multiple independent reviewers, years apart, report a specific age-verification bug that locks adult players out of their own accounts, which this review could not explain or resolve
Who it's for: Young dinosaur fans and their parents looking for a free, casual zoo-tycoon experience, prepared to accept real monetisation pressure and a real chance of technical instability.
Our recommendation: Fine to try since it costs nothing, but go in with low expectations for both stability and how far you'll get without paying — and be aware of reported account-access bugs before relying on it.
3.6 / 10
Introduction
Dinosaur Park – Primeval Zoo is a free-to-play tycoon game from German F2P studio upjers, tasking players with building and managing a zoo of hatched dinosaurs for visitors. It launched on Steam on 20 April 2022. Its 92 English-language reviews sit at 66% positive, Mixed. This review read all 31 negative reviews in that sample alongside a range of the positive side.
Real, if thin, charm
There's a genuine audience this connects with, particularly among reviewers playing alongside young children. "This game is cute, my kid loves the dinosaurs," reads one review, praising the animal designs even while flagging other problems. Another calls it "a decent game if you're really into dinosaurs," noting real progress is possible "if you log in for daily gifts" without spending anything. That said, this review also noticed a cluster of oddly similar, template-like phrases on the positive side — several separate reviews compare the game to Jurassic World Evolution using nearly identical wording, a pattern worth reading with some caution.
A specific, repeated monetisation complaint
Set against that limited charm, this review's negative sample converges heavily on aggressive monetisation. "You'll quickly find you can't do anything in the game without spending real world cash to buy their in game currency," reads one detailed review, calling it "a nasty cash shop infested mobile app dumped on Steam." A more recent account, from a parent playing with their child, describes the pressure in specific detail: "I am closing multiple marketing popups every few minutes while idling. It opens the steam transaction page on closing popups. It is relentless." A third reviewer notes hitting the paywall "a lot sooner than in the regular zoo game by the same company," suggesting the pressure is a deliberate design choice rather than an oversight.
Real instability, and an unresolved access bug
Technical problems recur across this sample in a way that spans years, not just a rough launch. "On Steam it wont even load anymore, so im only using the web browser version," reads one 2022 review; "Played for over a month... now it won't even open, hasn't for days," reads another from 2025 — the same category of failure, three years apart. This review also found a specific, independently repeated claim it could not resolve: multiple adult players, in reviews years apart, report the game refusing to let them play because it believes they're underage, with no apparent fix available. "I don't know how old you have to be, lmao," reads one, echoing an account from 2024. Checking the game's own Steam news feed, this review found no post of any kind since December 2023 — consistent with a live, monetised game that has gone over two years without a visible update.
Verdict
Dinosaur Park – Primeval Zoo has real, if limited, charm for young dinosaur fans, and this review's negative sample confirms free progress is possible for patient players. But aggressive, specifically described monetisation pressure, technical instability spanning years of reviews, and an unresolved age-verification bug independently reported by multiple adult players are real reasons for caution. Worth a free try with low expectations; not worth relying on for anything more than a casual, occasional distraction.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Genuine charm in the dinosaur designs and zoo-care mechanics, drawing specific praise from reviewers playing with young children
- Free to download, with some reviewers reporting real progress possible without spending, especially by logging in for daily gifts
- A distinct niche within the zoo-tycoon genre, tied to the same studio's separately well-known animal zoo game
Cons
- A specific, widely repeated monetisation complaint: reviewers describe hitting a hard progress wall within the first few sessions, with one detailed account describing frequent, aggressive purchase pop-ups even while simply idling
- Real technical instability reported across multiple years of reviews, not just at launch — crashes, failed loads, and at least one account of a save disappearing entirely after an update
- Multiple independent reviewers, years apart, report a specific age-verification bug that locks adult players out of their own accounts, which this review could not explain or resolve
- This review's check of the game's own Steam news feed found no update of any kind since December 2023, consistent with a live, monetised game receiving no visible ongoing support
- Some praise on the positive side reads as templated or low-effort, several reviews using nearly identical phrasing to compare the game unfavourably to Jurassic World Evolution
Screenshots
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Dinosaur Park – Primeval ZooImage: upjers via Steam -
Dinosaur Park – Primeval ZooImage: upjers via Steam -
Dinosaur Park – Primeval ZooImage: upjers via Steam -
How the review scores each part of the gameWanderer Editorial -
The essentials at a glanceWanderer Editorial -
The short versionWanderer Editorial