This game is called ARK: Survival Evolved. It's on a few platforms but I play on steam on the PC. It's a sandbox adventure game that's very minecraft-y, but somewhat more task focused and less build cool things focused. It's definitely my favorite game and has been for a long time.
The tl;dr short short version is that it's minecraft but you get to tame and raise prehistoric creatures (mostly dinosaurs), breed them, and use them to fight or accomplish tasks.
The longer version is it's a sci-fi game. You wake up alone and naked on a deserted island with mysterious technology around you and have to figure out how to survive and thrive. As you level up you get access to new technology and building materials - you start out with like stone spears and end with automatic assault rifle turrets strapped on the backs of brontosaurs as you wander the map killing everything in your path with your living tank. XD
It's like 80% realistic on the first map - the VAST majority of creatures are real, even if they're not totally realistic representations, and can teach you a surprising amount about their real world counterparts. (Theres a lot of creatures you can ride for example that you would never be able to IRL, some things are bigger than they should be or have unrealistic abilities, etc.)
Later maps introduce a lot of fantasy creatures - wyverns, elemental monsters, robots, etc.
There's a story told through scattered journal entries and research notes made by former residents of the world. And there's a few boss monsters to fight that unlock story moments in the game and new abilities. Currently my partner and I are preparing to fight some of those boss monsters - something we've never done before because it's a kind of a lot of effort.
You can see some pictures of he and I working to tame a Gigantosaurus a few posts back from a couple months ago Here.
And here's a screenshot I took of some of the animals and beautiful graphics in the game, even though I play on lower settings. (You can clearly see, T-rex, raptor, and in the background a giant eagle called an Argentavis).;
Upsides, if you like this kind of sandbox adventure loose solve the mystery story type of game OR if you like dinosaurs it's probably one of the best experiences around. It's a totally valid 1P experience, but is better with pals.
Downside, the game files are HUGE, there's some very real wonkiness to the clipping in very specific parts of the map, and the official servers are just a trash heap. Local LAN style gameplay has everyone on a tether to the host so you can't split up. (Unofficial is hit or miss but more hit than miss IMO, it's not the best community I've been in but MOST people are chill.)
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Almost all the creatures have their scientific names, and research notes about them that talks about their (sometimes fictional, often real) behavior and role in the ecosystem, and there's a huge variety of weird creatures not just the big famous ones (though most of those are there too). My favorite bit is the Therizinisaur which has a research note saying it's a carnivore, but when you feed it it actually only eats veggies. That's a mistake real paleontologists made when they first discovered it - thinking it was a carnivore but then 100 years later discovering it is an herbivore. It's pretty clear the devs loved weird prehistoric animals enough to do their research and do them justice and make them as cool as possible.
Good, classic games.
