Paleo Pines - A Relaxing Dinosaur Farming Simulator Coming to Steam Next Fest!

Have you ever wanted to take a step back in time to when the dinosaurs roam and work with them to live out being a farmer? Well of course you have, who hasn't, but now we can live out that dream in Paleo Pines. Developed by Italic Pig and published by Modus Games, this cozy game will see you fixing up a ranch and befriending dinos to help you create a beautiful ranch and sanctuary for your new friends.

We were lucky to get an early sneak peek to the upcoming Next Fest demo that will be available on the 19th and play around with it a bit, as well as check out performance on the Steam Deck so far! So, let's dive right in and see how Paleo Pines is shaping up to be.

Paleo Pines - Dinosaurs + Farming = Efficiency

At first, I didn't think much of Paleo Pines, but after playing it, I was left more optimistic than before. The game has all the makings of a more modern farming game. You have your tools, use them to till the field, plant and water crops, harvest, sell, and buy more seeds to get more money! Like other farming sims, you also have limited stamina, so you have to pick and choose wisely how you travel and which actions to take.

You will be able to sell crops in town, where you will meet the townsfolk who will not only trade with you, but give you extra quests to get some currency, resources, or seeds. There is also a message board there where the locals can leave missions to get more stuff. All of this while traveling around in an open-world filled with different biomes, collecting and buying materials to design your ranch the way you want to.

Then we have the dinosaurs. Befriending the creatures will help you in a multitude of different ways. Each dinosaur has their use too. The dinosaur I started out with helped me clear debris and travel around very fast, while the triceratops helps hoe the land much quicker.

This does highlight how important using Dinos are, but it also takes away many reasons to use your character by themselves. Even with the tools, running around and doing any activity takes longer than it should. I do understand that the individual should be a bit slower than the dinos to make it feel more worthwhile to use them, but it feels a bit too slow regardless.

I do, however, really like the idea behind the game. I enjoy the slowed down pace, making me feel more relaxed and really able to get into it. With games like Street Fighter 6 and Diablo 4 that just came out, it is nice to play something more calm. I did also get lost a couple times roaming around the world, so maybe a better navigation system would be helpful, but it wasn't terrible.

Performance on Steam Deck

As of right now, performance on the Steam Deck can feel a little spotty. First, the game says it will have native Linux support, which is awesome, but it doesn't launch correctly out of the box as the Linux build isn't ready. You will need to force compatibility to make sure it plays the Windows version. I forced compatibility to Proton GE 8-4, which you can get from our guide, but Proton 8.0-2 or Proton Experimental should also work.

With that in mind, the game isn't fully optimized just yet, so I had to lower some settings to make sure it was working. With 1152x720 resolution, medium settings, a lower resolution scale, and no upscaling, the game was able to stick to 40 FPS at a TDP limit of 9. There are some camera angles in the open areas that can drop to 32 - 35, but they aren't common.

Overall though, the game feels really smooth when it is sticking to the 40. The lower render resolution makes the game a little sharper, but the lowered resolution without upscaling balances it out. As of right now, I felt this was the best way to enjoy other than just swapping to 30 FPS lock.

Paleo Pines looks to be a really interesting game and if you're a fan of a calm, farming games where character and farm customization is your thing, this will definitely be the game for you. Luckily, a demo will be out starting on June 19th for the Steam Next Fest and you can try for yourself!

Paleo Pines can be wishlisted on Steam right now!

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