Jurassic World Evolution 2's follow-up should also look to Netflix's animated series for inspiration
The Jurassic franchise is much bigger now.
After stumbling late last year with Warhammer: Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin and following some side projects that didn't pay off, Frontier Developments announced they were refocusing on sim games for the foreseeable. The British video game developer has excelled over the years with titles such as Planet Zoo and Planet Coaster, but the two Jurassic World Evolution games performed well above expectations, so of course a third one is coming.
The announcement dropped out of nowhere last week and came straight from Frontier, who acknowledged how much of a huge win the ongoing collaboration with Universal had been so far. Mind you, the press release didn't outright confirm their next game is Jurassic World Evolution 3, but given their recent strategy shift and how well that series has sold so far (including DLCs), it's hard to imagine the developer suddenly starting to work on a Jurassic World game in another genre.
While the first Jurassic World Evolution had a number of shortcomings — many of which were ironed out over time through free updates and paid DLC — and lacked many key features such as flying and marine prehistoric animals, it established a solid foundation to build upon, and Jurassic Park/World fans were more than happy with it after waiting for a spiritual successor to Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis for 15 years.
Evolution 2 marked a big step forward with the introduction of non-terrestrial animals, further customization options for parks as well as terrain, more game modes, and tons of new content based on all six movies, plus later content drops even brought in stuff from the underrated Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous animated series on Netflix. Its follow-up, Chaos Theory, is right around the corner, and it could hold the key to making the third Evolution game stand on its own alongside the movie set to release in 2025.
Frontier isn't even done updating Jurassic World Evolution 2 yet (we've just received the freakin' Megalodon!), but the most dedicated players and Jurassic fans, myself included, had been wondering for a while where the studio could take things next. I mean, the current build of the game, if you own all DLCs, already contains pretty much everything we could want from a management sim adaptation of the franchise and then some. Not every systemic change was for the best though (everyone hates the scientists layer of management). Is the fourth movie, to be directed by Gareth Edwards, enough of a creative excuse to rebuild the entire thing?
The answer is probably negative, yet Universal's plans for the mighty franchise don't stop there, and we've already heard in the past that 2022's Jurassic World: Dominion was just the end of an era and the start of another. With dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals now out in the wild, being moved around by shady people, and created in the labs of more companies than just InGen and Masrani, the possibilities are endless... as long as there's a story worth telling. For video games, however, the franchise has just become a perfect playground, and it looks like gamers are into more Jurassic games, the next of which should be Saber Interactive's Jurassic Park: Survival.
Many casual viewers and even fans may choose to skip Chaos Theory, writing it off as a simple animated show aimed at kids, yet Camp Cretaceous already exhibited some pretty mature traits amidst all the adventurous action, and some bits were downright intense. Unless there's a twist coming, Chaos Theory is already upping the ante by killing off one of the previous series' main teenage characters, and the previews paint a darker picture. The thing is... those that have experienced Netflix and DreamWorks Animation's work on the franchise know that it adds quite a lot to the larger saga, and Evolution 2 already used some of it. This shouldn't be overlooked.
Right now, the general feeling is that Jurassic World Evolution 2 is the definitive Jurassic Park/World game when it comes to content and options, and while tech improvements (leaving last-gen hardware behind) and a big engine refresh could add a lot to the creative systems and AI simulations, the most demanding fans and players will be looking for exclusive content that isn't just a retread of the previous six movies.
While all that will, no doubt, remain a big part of the package, I believe that Evolution 3 needs to embrace the franchise's present and future to make a strong case for its existence instead of simply resurrecting the well-trodden past. Also: Please don't add more busywork, thanks.