WDR Studios will release Terrible Lizards, a first-person horror platformer about escaping dinosaurs, on October 29. Studio Director and Game Director John W. Gelardi laid out the thinking behind the game in a post on the PlayStation Blog on October 27.

What the game is

The studio calls it a 3D first-person platformer, and also uses the word “parkour” for its focus on moving through spaces. You can also think of it as an action horror game in which you run for your life from dinosaurs.

Movement covers runs, jumps, slides, wall running, bounces and ledge grabs, plus tools that change levels and environments. Gelardi says the controls are tight and built on the movement style of popular first-person shooters, with a balance between floatiness and control.

Speed is fixed at the maximum whenever you move, and momentum carries through jumps. According to Gelardi, that makes the flow predictable and rhythmic, and aerial control lets players fix an over jump or shift side to side.

Story and setting

The story is set in the early 1990s. You play a college student road tripping on Route 66 whose car breaks down, so you walk into a roadside attraction called Dalton’s Dinos looking for help and find something much worse.

Gelardi says the team drew on the indie mascot horror niche, which twists familiar imagery into something new. Roadside attractions with goofy dinosaur statues were popular in the 1990s, he explained, and the name itself nods to the meaning of “dinosaur”, terrible lizard.

Gematsu lists the game for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series, with a worldwide release on October 29 and publishing by Digital Pajamas. The same listing says there are no weapons, so you must outmaneuver whatever hunts you, and that tapes, notes and recordings tell the story. A Digital Pajamas press release describes WDR Studios as an independent team based in Raleigh, North Carolina.

What it means for you

Gelardi describes the team as first-time game developers, many coming from online video, and says the game is made by the community, for the community.

The sources do not give a price, so check the PlayStation Store listing for Canadian and US pricing before you buy. Canadian availability has not been spelled out beyond the worldwide release date. If you like fast platforming with a horror hook and no combat, this is a launch to watch on Thursday.