Animalkind has transitioned from a hardcore survival game to a charming town-builder focusing on creative construction, where players take on the role of a corgi mech pilot. This dramatic shift in design occurred during its development phase, as the team, led by Steven Jian, sought to enhance collaborative gameplay experiences. Initially inspired by the success of survival games such as Valheim, the need to retain player engagement led them to refine the game toward base-building mechanics, stripping away combat to focus on community-building elements.

“We were super into survival games, but we found that the power curve started to separate players, causing challenges in keeping everyone engaged together,” Jian explained during a recent game developer conference.

This evolution presents players with a focus on crafting, exploration, and resource management, emphasizing player creativity over competition. The game’s environment boasts a voxel-based world where players can manipulate the landscape, all while nurturing adorable forest creatures throughout their building journey. Animalkind’s alpha is set to be released soon with further updates planned for later in the year.