Jurassic World Evolution 3: Prehistoric East Is Out September 29

Frontier has spent the year feeding Jurassic World Evolution 3 a steady diet of paid packs, and this one is a looker. Prehistoric East releases today, September 29, on all platforms the game is on, with a recommended price of $14.99, £11.99 or €14.99. It brings five new family units, a set of East Asian inspired scenery and a first for the game: holographic dinosaur statues you can place around your park.

If you are not buying anything, there is still a reason to boot the game up. Update 1.5 lands at the same time and costs nothing. It adds the Walkway Attraction, which lets you run walkways over land, enclosures and water, lagoons and aviaries included, and it brings the Carcharodontosaurus back as a full family unit.

Video: Jurassic World Evolution 3 on YouTube

Five species with very different needs

The roster leans on dinosaurs from East Asia, and Frontier has picked a nicely mixed group. On the gentle side, the Nanshiungosaurus is a feathered therizinosaur with a long neck, a big bushy tail and curved claws for foraging, and Frontier calls it a gentle giant among other species. The Gobisaurus is an armoured ankylosaur with a heavy club tail, described as a walking tank that is still peaceful enough to use at the dinosaur encounter where guests feed the animals.

The carnivores are where park managers will earn their pay. The Tarbosaurus, the Asian cousin of Tyrannosaurus rex, arrives as a full family unit, and Frontier warns it grows to around 10 metres and five tonnes, so your enclosure and security need to be ready. The Yangchuanosaurus was an apex predator of the Late Jurassic, with tusk like teeth jutting from the sides of its mouth and several pattern and colour options. At the other end of the scale sits the Sinosauropteryx, a tiny fluffy carnivore that needs little cover. Frontier's own advice is that guests should admire it from afar, and that you should spot it easily, unless it has escaped.

Holograms, lanterns and a free walkway

The scenery half of the pack is aimed squarely at builders. You get bronze dragon statues, marble guardian lions, paper lanterns, glowing lotus flowers, and new wall, roof and trim pieces for walled gardens and themed guest areas. Frontier's expansion page counts 15 blueprints, with ready made pagodas, gates and gardens among them. The holographic statues are the novelty. You can place them one by one or build them into your own blueprints, and each statue comes with a choice of dinosaur animations.

Update 1.5 is the part everyone gets. Walkways that cross enclosures and water should open up viewing routes that simply were not possible before, and a returning Carcharodontosaurus family is a welcome addition for anyone who likes large theropods but not paying for them.

Our take: $14.99 for five species and a big scenery set is a fair ask, and the lineup mixes easy herbivores with two genuinely demanding predators, which keeps it from feeling like filler. If you only care about gameplay changes, the free update is the bigger deal this time. And if you want Jurassic World on a smaller scale, the franchise also turned up this month in a Jurassic World event in Brookhaven on Roblox.