Dino Frontier

Dino Frontier
Information
VR/AR	Virtual Reality
Developer	Uber Entertainment
Publisher	Uber Entertainment
Platform	PlayStation VR
Device	PlayStation VR
Operating System	PlayStation 4
Type	Game
Genre	Strategy, Simulation
Input Device	PlayStation Move
Game Mode	Single-player
Release Date	August 1, 2017
Price	US$29.99
App Store	PlayStation Store

See also: VR Apps and VR Games

Dino Frontier is a virtual reality settlement-building and management game developed and published by Uber Entertainment for the PlayStation VR headset on PlayStation 4. The player is the "Big Mayor" of a frontier town in a world where the Wild West meets the Jurassic era, seen at tabletop scale, and directs settlers to gather resources while capturing and taming dinosaurs. It was Uber Entertainment's second major VR game after the PlayStation VR launch title Wayward Sky.

The game was revealed at PlayStation Experience 2016 and released digitally on the PlayStation Store on 1 August 2017 at US$29.99. It requires the PlayStation VR headset, the PlayStation Camera and two PlayStation Move motion controllers. Critics liked its motion controls and tabletop presentation but found it short and shallow; it holds a Metascore of 65 ("mixed or average") on Metacritic from 9 critic reviews.

Reviewed 13 October 2026. Developer, publisher, reveal, pre-order and release dates, price, PS Store listing details and required peripherals, gameplay and development statements, all quotes, Metacritic/OpenCritic aggregates and each review score against the cited PlayStation Blog, Road to VR, UploadVR, Destructoid, Push Square (archived), TheSixthAxis, Metacritic and OpenCritic pages; no PC VR or other-platform release found. About review dates.

Gameplay

The player oversees the settlement from above, at tabletop scale, and can zoom, pan and rotate the view. With a PlayStation Move controller in each hand, the player picks up settlers and drops them onto buildings or objects to give them jobs, and uses both controllers to pan, rotate and zoom the view. Destructoid compared the resizing of the world to "pinch-to-zoom controls applied to VR".

Uber Entertainment described the game as a light simulation in which settlers act semi-autonomously: when they are hungry, tired or hurt, they stop working to deal with it, and a visit to the saloon can lift their spirits. Settlers gather resources such as wood, meat and berries, and each has gauges for happiness, hunger, health and tiredness. In UploadVR's hands-on at E3 2017, objectives were shown on a watch on the player's left hand. Buildings are not built by settlers; the player places each one and strikes it with a hammer a set number of times, and the hammer is also used to upgrade buildings. According to Push Square, only one of each building can be built, although each can be upgraded.

The game has no horses or bison. Its animals are dinosaurs, including velociraptors, ankylosaurs, triceratops and Tyrannosaurus rex; they start as threats but can be domesticated, so that hunters can ride raptors and the sheriff can patrol with a protoceratops. Push Square described placing lures to stun, capture and tame dinosaurs, which then collect wood, gather food or raise settlers' happiness, with one dinosaur of each type. The town must also survive bandit attacks. Later in the game, the Bandit King's lair is a wave-survival mode in which settlers mine iron and gold while defending against attackers. Push Square likened this part to tower defence, with defensive structures built from stone and gold and 20 waves to clear.

Development

Uber Entertainment's earlier PlayStation VR game, Wayward Sky, was a launch title for the headset in 2016. Announcing Dino Frontier, Chandana Ekanayake and Forrest Smith wrote: "With Dino Frontier, we're building on our experience to make a second-generation VR game." In December 2016, UploadVR reported that the game was being made by the same seven-person team that made Wayward Sky. Co-director Forrest Smith wrote that the team "strived to push the boundaries of VR interaction" and called the camera controls "both powerful and comfortable".

Release

Dino Frontier was revealed at PlayStation Experience 2016 with a 2017 release window. UploadVR's E3 2017 hands-on described it as a timed exclusive for PlayStation VR. On 11 July 2017, Uber Entertainment announced the 1 August release date and opened pre-orders for PlayStation Plus members at a 20% discount.

Platform	Release date	Notes
PlayStation VR (PlayStation 4, PlayStation Store)	1 August 2017	Digital only; US$29.99; requires PlayStation Camera and two PlayStation Move controllers

As of October 2026, the US PlayStation Store still lists the game at US$29.99, rated Teen by the ESRB, for one player. No version for another headset was found in the sources consulted.

Reception

On Metacritic, the PlayStation 4 version has a Metascore of 65 ("mixed or average") from 9 critic reviews. On OpenCritic it has a Top Critic Average of 69, and 56% of critics recommend it.

Publication	Score	Notes
Metacritic (aggregate)	65/100	9 critic reviews
OpenCritic (aggregate)	69	Top Critic Average; 56% recommend
Destructoid	8/10
TheSixthAxis	8/10
Push Square	6/10
UploadVR	50/100	Score as listed by Metacritic
Metro GameCentral	4/10	Score as listed by OpenCritic

Jordan Devore of Destructoid said the game had "some of the best PlayStation Move controls I've used" and enjoyed the light approach to simulation, but wrote that the game "has too strong of a concept to end so soon". Jim Hargreaves of TheSixthAxis estimated the main game at about ten hours and wrote that with more longevity "it would be a must-have for PlayStation VR". Sammy Barker of Push Square praised the moment-to-moment interaction but found that the game "seems to run out of steam about midway through" and ends after "just four or so hours", calling it "a prototype for a much bigger and better game".

Jamie Feltham of UploadVR wrote that it "feels like a concept demo for a much bigger and better experience". He found it too easy, reported three to four hours of content, and hit repeated crashes near the end that forced him to restart. Metacritic's excerpt of Metro GameCentral's review praises the VR immersion and setting but calls the game a "trumped-up tech demo" with no depth or challenge in its gameplay.