#yes I bought the deluxe bundle I have no regrets

[avaruusmarsu]

this game is ruining my life I love it so much

[soloplaying]

Jurassic World Evolution DLC

There are four basic DLCS for JWE. Or, rather, three gameplay DLCs and a bunch of cosmetic and element DLCs that added a few dinos or dino color patterns each that I consider collectively as a single DLC, because they all do essentially the same thing. Add more dinosaurs.

All of the DLCs build on the basic game, though only one actually integrates with it.

My thoughts on each one:

Cosmetic/Dino DLCs: (This includes the raptor squad, herbivore, cretaceous, carnivore, and Deluxe DLCs) I thought I’d regret buying more dinosaurs, I really did, but then they all went on sale and I decided to go for it and...I was happy I did. Some of the new dinosaurs are now my absolute favorites. I never would have bought them at full price, but they were on sale for 50-85% off (each) during the winter sale. The new critters aren’t necessary at all, but...*shrug*. I had fun.

Claire’s Sanctuary DLC: This gameplay DLC was the least impressive. It was okay. I’m glad I played it. But I won’t play it again. Essentially, the plot is that you’re trying to save the dinosaurs on an island separate from the archipelago in the main game from a whole host of things. Only, after you’ve ‘saved’ all of the dinosaurs and prepped them to be transferred to ‘Sanctuary’, you find out you can only take a certain number with you. If you choose highly social herbivores at this point, you’re pretty much screwed once you reach Sanctuary. I didn’t; I’d played enough of the main game to know the basic natures of each animal so I picked the most...hm...sustainable choices. Carnivores and the least picky herbivores. Then there was this whole thing with paleobotany, population management, and limited funding...I honestly don’t remember how it ended, just that the ending was pretty weak.

Secrets of Dr. Wu DLC: My favorite DLC! It’s the only one that actually integrates with the core game and ramps up the difficulty. The fake dinosaurs it introduces are also pretty cool (ankylodocus, stegocerotops (I think?), spinoraptor). The the unmodified spinorapter is a ridiculously expensive and picky critter. If you can’t manage its social needs, you pretty much fail. I enjoyed how you unlock bits and peices of the DLC as you play through the main game and how the difficulty seems to scale with what you’re doing on the other islands. This is the only gameplay DLC that I played through more than once.

Return to Jurassic Park DLC: This one was fine. I enjoyed it more than Claire’s Sanctuary and it hit me right in the nostalgia which kept me pretty happy. Most of the time, this game felt like a mid-range difficulty island in the core game rather than its own thing. It was nice to see the old cast, though. The aviary and raptor pen were nice additions, too. I don’t remember the plot very well beyond ‘it’s the original cast trying to do Jurassic Park right’, but that was enough. Also, I think it’s kind of hilarious how the game keeps using random screenshots from the  movies instead of character images at times because they clearly don’t have the rights to display the actors in every part of the game. It’s not so noticeable when you’re mostly interacting with new characters created for the game, but when they lean towards using the actors...yeah, it’s obvoius. Especially when you scroll through the character list they provide.

In conclusion: I’m glad I bought the DLC. Yes, all of them. I probably wouldn’t have if they weren’t on sale, but for 50-85% off...? Even if I never play them individually again, I still enjoyed the experience and the various additions each DLC made to the main game.

For my own reference, I paid $43.41 for everything added together. That’s the core game, three gameplay DLCs, and five cosmetic DLCs. When not on sale, the same bundle would have been $122.91.