The Isle

they shuld work more on the avrima game. Not enough content!

Add this game to a long list of steam games that you buy and you'll never be able to play because you'll never be able to find servers or fix the problem. Contacting the game developer or steam will result in absolutely nothing. If you do happen to buy this and you can't connect to servers make sure you ask for a refund in the first 24 hours or you'll be denied.

Game refused to load, alerts and crashed trying to load the game. When I managed to enter the game, the server list was so bugged, I couldn't even read the screen. Then I spent 10 minutes waiting for the game to load. I'm really bummed, I saw videos of gamers enjoying themselves and wanted to see what the hype was all about :(

I feel like it could be a good game it is just that I feel like I am constantly just wondering around not finding anything to eat or kill. The game is boring to play because it just feels dead and I could walk around the map for an hour just to not find anyone and then die. I just don't feel motivated to play when all I do in the game is wonder around and die of starvation because I have not seen a soul in game

I started playing this game in the legacy mode but kept starving to death so i switched to evrima. You can't even live long enough to get a full grown dino, can't even eat without other dinos dropping out of the sky and killing me and when i could find food which took forever to do, and the herbivore players are more dangerous than the other carnivores. Herbi players are more aggressive and just all around dickheads. Don't get me wrong the game looks beautiful and is fun but it's the toxic players that ruined it for me and made me uninstall the game, and this all applies to the official and unofficial servers but unofficial is worse. None of the players will even let you just chill without straight up impaling or charging you, and a side note for future players watch out for the triceratops looking dinos and the carnotaurus as they are the worst two...don't ever trust them or be near them. YOU WILL DIE UNLESS YOU ARE THE SAME SPECIES

This shit was tragic lmao, honestly one of the most buggy and just horrible games I've ever played. The graphics are great and all but the Devs are dogshit and have 0 output on new things. They dont know how to balance anything, and its just useless to play anything other than Herb, Carnivores are just a waste of time since every Herb is just overpowered like crazy. The game is also just ruined by the community when its full of mixpackers and just degenerate losers. This game has like nothing going for it in the future and fails to make any progress besides baiting people into a good looking dino game, till they play it and figure out that the animations are dogshit, the hitboxes are horrible and the gameplay is just terrible in General. If you want a good dino game, this def aint the one you want.

THIS GAME DEVELOPERS AND THE TEAM WORKING ON IT ARE SO CHILDISH WITH HOW THEY DEAL WITH FEED BACK, instead of fixing their game wand dealing with hackers they are pushing out broken dinos and not fixing any glitches.... instead of dealing with ppl hacking and and fixing broken coding they want to focus on protecting ppls feelings in discord and drawing gothic dinos. this game is cooked and i hope it dies off

The game is fun for about 3 hours. Once you get the hang of surviving, there really isn't much else to do. Yes, you can explore but there is nothing to find. There is no story line. No "hidden treasures". You can team up with people but once you've done that, that's pretty much end game. Definitely not worth $20. I know the developers spent time on it and bla bla bla but there are games with story line, hours and hours of entertaining gameplay, base building, crafting, and survival... and they're the same price or less. This seems more like a free version of an online multiplayer game than one you would buy.

The development staff for this game, does not give a single shyt what you have to say, only that they have your money.

Conceptually this game is amazing.. but sadly after talking to the development staff & experiencing how little they care for their players, firsthand.. I Cannot recommend it & stand on this: Do not buy, until full release. as the entire sales pitch (Dino vs dino w/ a sustainable ecosystem) Vs whats available to enjoy, is night & day & not worth the dollar amount they are asking.

AT ALL.

sometimes I love the game sometimes I hate it.
Lots of bugs and slow devs, but somehow the best Dino game out there

Great fun game other than the no life people who play a dino for 6+ hours just to hide in a bush and attack freshspawns, if you get this game please be aware i havent made it past 50% growth

Highly recommend.

The Isle is a unique survival experience. To stay alive, you need to eat and drink—just like a real dinosaur. This mechanic leads players to start thinking and behaving like dinosaurs, which makes the gameplay feel incredibly immersive and different from typical survival games. You can even find a mate, lay eggs, and then players with a code you can give them can hatch from them instead of spawning in a random location.

There’s no hand-holding here—not even an in-game map. You're thrown straight into the wild and have to figure things out for yourself. Each dinosaur has depth, not so much in terms of combat moves, but in how you use your species' strengths to survive in the world. For example, a raptor can team up with others and coordinate attacks to take down larger prey. And that larger prey, controlled by a human player, will in-turn have its own strengths, weaknesses, and tactics, just like you.

Food and water can be scarce at times, and with a player cap of 100 on official servers, other players might be spread out. But remember—all dinosaurs need water. So rivers and lakes are natural hotspots where you're likely to run into others. You can also copy in-game coordinates into online maps (just search for "The Isle map") to help you navigate and find others more easily. It is not hard to find other players if you know where to look.

Make sure you're playing on Evrima, not the Legacy version. Evrima is where the (slow) active development and best experience is happening. The graphics and performance are good, but are typical of more demanding Unreal Engine 5 games. The sound is incredible as is the way the dinosaurs move. The view distance is almost infinite. I have experienced no crashes, server disconnects, or hackers (although I have seen others complain about them in the official Discord).

My dislike are sometimes the NPCs (small animals for food) don't spawn enough and they're too limited in variation. The world can feel a bit empty when other players are not around. Additionally, the health and stamina regeneration rates can be painfully slow. But I appreciate that this is a hard survival game. I would also love there to be another map.

System Specifications: 5700X3D, 32 GB, RTX 4070 Ti Super.
Settings: 4k max settings dlss balanced.
Frame-Rate: 60-100 (average 85).

ALL OF THE THINGS BELLOW ARE MENT FOR THE EVRIMA BRANCH!

Before we get into it..

Just know I love this game with all my heart. I've spent years on it, and I've devoted SOO much of my time to this game. So much in fact, I could be fluent in GERMAN. I still play it, purely out of hope, But im kind of done. And its sad to see one of the best games go down. I personally think its because Of the developer, who doesnt even play his own game, But still thinks hes entitled to making changes to it. To each their own.

The Over-all

Prefomance

Tons of people state that the game is hard to run on their GOOD Pc. Which is sad. In my own experance, My top FPS is 23. if im lucky, 32-35. Red dead redemption runs better on my PC then this game. and it looks better then it too. The "rubber banding" is a problem. If you ever in combat, well.. Rest in peices. Because you wont even be able to tell whats going on. If the game crashes, and people get in before you, They can kill you. and you cant do anything about it. The game looks nice, But if you cant have a game that can run on a PC with good looks, then just dump the realistic looks, and focus on getting it even playable.

Looks

While the game looks lovely, and somtimes, it can be, those momments are rare. Because the preformance is so bad, you cant enjoy the game NEARLY as much as it was made to me enjoyed. DOnt get me wrong, it looks amazing on a BRAND NEW HIGH END PC with a 700 DOLLAR GRAPHICS CARD, but if you have anything bellow that, sorry.

The dinosaurs

The dinosaurs are not very well balanced. And a lot of the stysems they have in place to help imsersion, just get old, and annoying. not to mention the time to grow. If your not on a public server, then.. oh well. it takes hours to grow a dinosaur. All different times of course. its rewarding, if you can stay alive. Most of the time, the second you hit adult, you die. Soon. and most games will have it in place so you just loose some of your progress, and start from there. not in this one. You die, then you start ALL OVER. The looks of the dinosaurs are nice, and creative, but its not worth it if you cant even live to enjoy the game.

The DEV team

The lack of communication is just sad. Sure, all DEV teams have lack of communication, but if you can SEE it, then thats where its a problem. The Lead DEV, Does not even play his game, and thinks he can make changes, that nobody asked for. One time, out of the blue, he decided he wanted to try camera changes...Nobody asked for a change of that, they where content, and he just came in and decided "why not?" luckly, those where stopped. The rest of the team is okay, and they work well, But if the DEV team cant have communication with their players, the people who are giving them money, then thats an issue. They dont listen to the issues, such as the people who struggle to even play the game, or the LARGE ammount of people who are annoyed with stupid changes they put in without anyone asking for them. Its just a mess, and they refuse to fix it.

Lack of updates.

The updates come slower then my grandma who has a fake knee and fake hip going up the stairs. Sure, it takes a bit to put out updates, but they mention things way before they come, and then suddenly everyone is expecting it, and expecting it, and expecting. Its like watching your food in the microwave, but the only differance is that it comes out 1 year later, and you have already moved out of your house. Im tired of waiting for the good dinosaurs. and im also tired. I should go to bed soon lol.

Closing

I was exited for the game. I was. I played it for a long time, but theres just too many issues. The ones ive put up above, are just the main things. And honestly, its ripping the game in half. Its sad to see it falling appart, but then again, they grabbed the yarns string, and pulled. now its everywhere. Their issues where their own undoing. And I honestly dont see a way out of it for them. I honestly dont know how I held up hope for this game for 4 years. maybe because I blinded myself thinking that if the updates came out, it would be fixed, and that the devs would start to listen! But..No. Sadly, No.

people are very toxic in this game, you can hardly survive there is no food to survive on barely any food, i just don't recommend this game.

this game is so full of hackers its not funny, the only time something ever got done was 1 single game wide hack so, play at your own risk. be worth it if it was a free game.

Mix packing and hacking destroying the game. This game has potential but the Devs seem to not care about balancing the dinos. Needs a serious overhaul from someone who actually plays the game.

Omniraptor mechanics are bugged and you just die from try to make plays, which sucks because its the only carnivore worth playing.

Alright, so out of my short, but long enough play amount, one thing is for certain...

Cheaters: god mode, damage modifiers, range to hit modifiers, unlimited stamina... Rarely have I seen any ESP/Xray as it would be too obvious... unlike getting 1-2 shot by a juvenile Ceratosaurus from 30yds isn't obvious, or when it's you and another raptor with it pinned running out of full stamina before you knock off and it merks you unscathed...

Whereas a full grown Carno with 3 raptors with 2 pinning and damaging with the other as chase bait drops in 5 sec (not a cheater).

This isn't a balancing issue, it's a TOS and EULA issue not being enforced that makes you WANT to cheat so you can enjoy the game at the same advantage as the cheats. Fun game, if you manage to avoid grief by cheaters... Not sure the status of the game's development, returned after a long while and it's BAD. Worse than ever. Fix it if you're still around?

Maybe just add a little more to the kill screen, with the name of the player and a report button... look at that, you're employing the community to keep the servers monitored.

Also, I understand their desire to be the heroic dino, who employs cheats, to take on a raptor pack of 6 adults and comes out of it alive... They had a rough game in CoD and needed validation, that's all.

The game has been in Early Access for.....10+ years....and it will probalby stay EA for another 10+ years...

I played well over 150+ Hours of legacy content, most fun i ever had with this game.

Then i played evrima, from rubberbanding issues, bugs that either kill your dino or break the whole game so you have to start from scratch, to server/connection issues, shadows so intense that you can't see anything anymore, to removing/nerfing food sources(ai) so you basically starve to death in 7/10 cases, tweaking the stamina system so you have to play even more bush/sitting around simulator and with the stamina tweaks some dinos become absolutely unplayable.

The Map design is also heavily flawed. From sudden cliffs hidden behind bushed, high enough to instantly kill you from falling down, to removing vital rivers which makes certain water dinos a pain in the ass to play.

I've often waited several months for updates that fix existing problems, only for new ones to instantly arise. A perpetual cycle.....

Just frustrating overall. Toxicity in this community is also a HUGE problem. (In legacy i almost encountered no toxicity at all - evrima on the other hand is the complete opposite it feels like, same goes for their offical discord server)

The game Devs (for some weird reason) monitor their Discord server more closely than their game, so you often encounter cheaters, which doesn't make the gaming experience any better. Instead of fixing their game, the devs get into petty arguments with ppl on discord.....

The original vision for the game seems to have been lost ages ago. The game Devs often times add things to the game no one has asked for. And the things the community asks for, are skillfully being ignored and pushed aside.

The Isle tries to be many things at once, and in doing so, nothing really works or feels like its finished or polished.

The biggest problem with the isle is - that there is not really anything to do - besides growing your dino (which mostly consists of sitting around in bushes until you are big enough, which takes from 2-6hours depending on what kind of dino you play)- fighting other dinos, then dying within 5 minutes and repeat the proccess.
If you point this out to the developers, they'll tell you that you're playing the game wrong...

I really wanted to give this game a thumbs up, but the way it looks now, it really doesn't deserve it, imo.

I could go back to Legacy, but i probably wont.

IF this game ever comes out of EA - I will give it another chance, until then, I unfortunately cannot recommend it.

Game is super boring and there is no tutorial. I couldn't figure anything out, and graphics we overall poor even for a 2015 game.

This game gives me cancer every time I open it but it's very fun and addictive with friends. If you're new, you should definitely watch some guides how to play otherwise you'll have bad experience. It has a lot of potential but for now it's laying in trash can. I hope it will change with newer updates

Whoever made this POS game has a special spot in hell reserved for them, early game a shit show of either of starving to death or getting fucked by every other player, followed by med game (if you can survive the CBT of early game) where you'll get one tapped by any creature just for you to need to restart from the beginning with no progress saved!!! so the last 40 min of you playing this dogshit was a waste!!! I'd Love to see the future of the game! Somewhere in hell where it belongs

Played this game for years, have so many memories. Good game, very unique, there's nothing really like it. Other dino games never caught me like The Isle did.
Updates are pretty slow, proven by the 10 years this game has been in early access but.. the updates when they come are good. They show that the game is moving forward which is a positive. Thousands of hours can be had in this game, with that in mind it's worth the price.

Herbavore's are overpowered in this god forsaken video game. They do way too much damage and have way too much health. Playing carnivore or anything that is not herbavore for that matter is like looking into a meat grinder and going "hmmm" that seem's like a great place to put my nut's. This game is unplayable hopefully the carnivoric dino's they add in the future will somewhat balance the game out, but for now. Herb's op nerf pls.

The Isle is one of those games that just feel so special, and the game has brought me so many amazing moments. Genuinely scary at times.

There is enough variety in the dinos to keep it feeling entertaining. There are still a lot of glitches, but hopefully those get worked out in our lifetime lol. Good game to play with friends if you have a lot of time on your hands. Playing it as PVP is fun, playing it as dino simulator is fun. Would play again.

It would be nice if this game wasn't made by the dumbest people around. This dev team does not give a shit and hasn't even looked at their steam page in years.
they literally did not like that players in a pvp game gather up so they can fight and changed the map so players won't meet each other as much anymore which leads to people starving a lot more after not seeing another player for an hour.
Deinosuchus (Crocodile) can according to the dev team never see underwater at night even tho it was nocturnal oh and you also can't see when it rains so you get blocks of 20 minutes where you can't play the game as Deino. the devs see no issue with this, neither do they consider it bad that a crocodile can't swim more than 100 meters before being out of stamina and that it needs to wait 15 minutes to swim faster than 5 km/h again. IRL Deinosuchus reached speeds of 60 km/h but Dondi knows better ofc. i hope someone buys this studio and kicks everyone out, even if it's EA because the devs are this incompetent.

worst game ever designed for any type of survival the devs are trash cant get a game right dont recommend this game to anyone

Good game if you're looking for combat. Legacy is currently decent in terms of being newbie-friendly, good servers to start on. Albeit Evrima is a very good side as well in terms of graphics and performance, looking forward to seeing more additions to Evrima's side. Only downside is the grow times for dinos, especially in legacy. Be prepared to wait 6-8 hours if you're growing an apex.

This game is nothing but a challenge.

-=It doesn't respect the new player experience and hours of tutorials are required before you have enough knowledge to not let your first dinos die of starvation)
-=Official servers aren't moderated sufficiently -- and cheating is rampant.
-=Adversarial and combative discord admins.
-=The game is riddled with unfixed bugs that just don't seem to be fixed.
-=There is no ingame penalty for mixpacking(Carnivores playing with Herbivores)
-=The Evrima map Gateway is too large for 100 players on official. You can play for hours without encountering another dino, and leads to players only ever congregating in a few locations, ignoring the rest of the beautiful map.
-=Coastal Biomes are still a absent -- as of writing this-- with no sign of them being added on the development roadmap. There's literally NOTHING of interest that spawns in the ocean, no reefs, fish, dynamic waves, nothing. Not even sea grass. It's just a barren underwater texture.
-=Performance issues, crippling FPS drops when you encounter other dinos by a river.

If you can overcome these challenges and play on unofficial servers you will have fun with this game.

This game needs help its rife with hackers and mixpackers worse then any other dino game Ive seen. What crazy is that i believe the isle is way older then both of these dino games (POT/BOB). Runs worse and has less content.

Alright lets talk for starters why i gave this game a no,

The game itself, you don`t get told there the new branch of the isle The Evirma branch, Its not new player friendly, the map in the current branch is dogshit, oh yeah did i tell you there was a Pdf file on the team and they didn`t got fired only on the wiki they let go, Meanwhile the guy who did the whole game in the steam page got fire because the lead dev was brining random women to their shared Aparment and soon the guy who code the whole damm game got fired because of that.

If you want more of my option on the game this fella right here have all the answers to it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQ2b01yemCY&t=5s&ab_channel=Zenny

Been playing this game for years and you can't even play for 5 minutes nowadays without coming across a hacker, Developers don't appear to give a damn about them and their easy anti-cheat is rubbish.

While there are certainly a few areas that need improvement mainly the relatively limited number of playable species in the Evrima branch, I can say with confidence that this is currently by far the best dinosaur survival game experience on the market, just by the core gameplay loop and mechanics alone.

P.S.: The dinosaurs also look cool af so thats always a +

Worst game i've ever played.

Only public servers (private ones cause crashes)
join public server
gets spawn killed
respawns
grows for 5 hours
gets one tap killed
Fun?
no.

I spawned in as a cerato, found a friend and we did a lot of stuff. We go to drink and I watched him get snatched by a croc and eaten. Then it ate me. 10/10 game

This is a review of Evirma, not the legacy version of The Isle. I highly prefer Evirma and recommend you play that version.

In its current state, it's not the human v. prehistoric Ark-like game some people want, but to me it's a super fun survival sim. Play as dinosaurs and other prehistoric reptiles, alone, with friends, or with strangers. I've actually really enjoyed playing with strangers and have found the in-game community on public servers nice and many people role-play really well.

It is a whole other level of fun being hunted, and hunting, actual players who can intelligently track, stalk, and evade you instead of playing against an AI which becomes predictable.

So good! just met a random bloke on the game named "Chee", proper laugh unfortunately i died. RIP. But i hope that "Chee" is living the best Carnotaurus experience!!!
i would tots recommend this amazing game in hope that you all meet a person such like Chee.

For me, this is the best survival game ever made where you can play as an animal. The game looks fantastic in the new Unreal Engine 5. The dinosaur models and the surrounding world are excellently designed. I like that even the biggest dinosaur isn’t invincible, and with skill, it’s possible to defeat anyone when it comes down to it. Aside from the occasional bugs, the game is very fun and is currently one of my favorite games on Steam.

You got my recommendation!

Rating 9 of 10 (just because of some bugs...)

Dinos cool 10/10. Ability play 0/10. Not player friendly. No food, anywhere. Hours of nothing.

I had some decent experiences playing this. I really like the concept and the idea of what the game is supposed to be: open world survival horror dinosaur simulation with pvp.
I don’t recommend it. It isn’t worth the $20, or even $10 when it’s on sale. It’s been early release for like a decade, it’s janky, buggy, and ultimately wastes your time. I mean it, I have a lot of hours and 75% of the game is walking. 20 % is AFK waiting for a storm to blow over or the sun to come up. (The game is borderline unplayable during rain and/or night for some/all of the dinosaurs.) and then about 5% pvp.
The player base is toxic filled with discord clicks who cheat constantly. Hackers/cheaters will insta-kill you if you defeat them (new hack where every player in the area gets tossed into the air and then slammed to the ground killing all affected) because they have no skill, rely on cheats, and have weird ego problems. It doesn’t seem like the devs or admins care at all. If you research the devs and their drama you’ll find an interesting story.
I played this game a lot, I regret it.
I enjoyed becoming good at it and learning the oppressive terribly-designed map, but I will never play this game again. I get the vibes that the devs don’t like their player base, and most of the players hate the devs too! It’s a really weird situation that leaves a bad taste in your mouth, and no matter what dinos they add later it just isn’t worth the time/energy or the effort.
The devs and toxic player base deserve each other, truly.
I look forward to when an actually talented dev team (with a good leader) creates a game like this, and does it right.
Until then, there’s so many other games to play, why bother with this garbage?

Unfortunately at this point, the game is full of hackers and I tell myself this all the time. If only they put in the effort like they do in monitoring their discord, they'd have no issues at all.

Step 1: Log onto official server
Step 2: Spend Hours growing dinosaur and surviving (fun)
Step 3: Entire official server gets launched into the air by a hacker and everyone instantly dies (not fun)

Do not recommend unless you like role playing as the meteor from the extinction event

The Isle is a truly unique experience—both meditative and thrilling at the same time. There’s something oddly satisfying about just being a dinosaur, roaming the world, surviving, and interacting with others. The mechanics of different dinosaur species add a lot of depth, making each playthrough feel distinct. One of the most impressive aspects of the game is how the world shifts in perspective depending on the size of the dinosaur you play. A dense forest might feel like a safe haven as a small herbivore but a mere snack stop for a towering apex predator.

However, one major issue stands out—there should be an option to self-kill at least in Early Access. If you spawn in the southern swamp, you're practically doomed. The area feels like a barren wasteland with no food or resources, making survival nearly impossible. The only way out is to painstakingly starve or drown yourself, just to hopefully respawn in a better location. In its current state, the swamp shouldn’t exist in the game.

Despite this frustration, The Isle remains an immersive and engaging survival experience, and I look forward to seeing how it evolves.

Cheaters never get dealt with no anti cheat nothing

Very good game. I played it for +500h and I liked it a lot.
Big problem though: Cheaters are really annoying in this game.
Sometimes randomly dying by "magic"?
This time, I just got killed as deino by a baby cerato landing me only two bites!
Sad to be patient and grow during 2h to finish like this...
I would play more this game but I don't have that much time to lose dying by cheaters like that.
Let's hope devs will do something...

I play Evrima and I love the game, unfortunately I have friends. I can barely play with them because it's such a beach to find them. Add a good grouping system like in the old version of the game and I'll give a thumbs up immediately. I don't want to track down the one person I'm trying to play with for hours at a time only to die and have to hunt eachother down again and again.

Game is sound, I have not experienced any hackers, one bug with the food stuck in the mouth. It is fun even when you get eaten by another player. I have had so many laughs and good times. I would recommend this to others. Play with a friend on discord is a great way to have many laughs.

I've put a lot of hours into this game, it probably consumed most my life during the pandemic. 99% of my hours went into its Legacy mode. It was fun, a little dull at times, but I met a lot of nice people. The presence of community servers definitely makes the game better, as I would not touch officials with a thousand foot pole.

The Evrima recode looked promising at first, but between the yearly updates and horrible optimization and frame rate, I eventually grew tired of waiting and couldn't be bothered to reinstall. It was worse before, times between updates may be a bit better now, but it's not enough of a difference to keep me interested.

The playerbase of this game (especially officials and FFA-based servers) suffers from the classic "animal simulator" stereotype, ie. most players are toxic, rude and extremely petty. We're talking CoD lobby levels of rage. It may boil down to the fact the only thing in the game is PvP which leaves people itching to kill anything, but the attitudes of the players is something else entirely. This alone has made me shelve this game for good.

Overall, I wouldn't recommend this game to people looking to have a good time. I wouldn't take back the time I spent playing The Isle (although I wish I didn't play as much as I did), but I enjoyed it at the time and it got me through some tough bits of my life and reopened my love of dinosaurs, and for that I'm thankful for it. But I will not come back.

More hackers than players, more bugs than hackers, more time in queue than ingame...

Don't trust anyone, not even yourself.
Playing with pals? I wish you luck. More than a Thanksgiving Monopoly game, The Isle will put your friendships to the test. Starting with a small pack, you will all swear allegiance to one another. An hour later, you're stuck in a bush sobbing while a ceratosaurus sniffs around for you, someone has left the group because they became impatient, and a ceratosaurus is pursuing another friend.

Additionally, avoid making an effort to be friendly with strangers. They will betray you more quickly than a soap opera villain once you think you've found a cool player to hang out with. "Friendly" in this world means "I'll wait five more minutes before eating you." Recommend you should try the isle Evrima