Prehistoric eco-aware educational sim Dino Hab is now available for Meta Quest and we went hands-on for some impressions.
Dino Hab aims to be a full ecosystem building tool blended with entertainment, containing a heavy emphasis on learning aimed toward younger explorers and dinosaur fans.
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After an intense opening scene that has a T.Rex charging toward you full speed, Dino Hab tasks players with raising various dinosaurs from infancy to adulthood while carefully overseeing their habitats. Throughout Dino Hab's gameplay, you gain the fundamentals of ecological relationships in a fun and interactive way, although some of it can be repetitive and feel more like a grind as the experience progresses.
Balancing plant life and managing resources leads to a better understanding of how even small environmental changes can impact animal welfare and devastate entire ecosystems. After playing the first hour of the game, I can see potential in this experience for younger children to understand how habitats keep animals alive. There’s delight to be found in caring for these prehistoric hatchlings.
Dino Hab's visual presentation looks good but the overall presentation lacks polish. Animations seem fluid, but environmental details are on the sparser side with simple texturing. The various habitats I've experienced so far in the game feel basic and the overall effect dulled my sense of immersion.
The repetitive nature of building and repairing ecosystems might turn gameplay into a grind, and potentially lose impatient players. As noted in one of the reviews on the Meta Store, the game could really use a sandbox mode for players who might just want to play with the dinosaurs without the grind of the ecosystem construction.
We’ll be on the lookout for updates to Dino Hab, so let us know if you have more dinosaur-themed experiences. Dino Hab could be a great way to experience a world lost in time, and learn a little something while there.
Be sure to check out more of Dino Hab and also Ian Hamilton's coverage of Encounter Dinosaurs on Apple vision pro in the video below.
