SHADOWBOX: Mausoleum of Natural History

SHADOWBOX: Mausoleum of Natural History

Parent-Teacher Guide to Paleontology · January 1, 2025 · Free to Play, Dinosaurs, Education, Early Access, Dark

SHADOWBOX: Mausoleum of Natural History is free to play — no purchase needed. We track it so you know if that ever changes.

PC
Positive81% · 26
This game is free to play. Get it on Steam →

Screenshots

SHADOWBOX: Mausoleum of Natural History price

SHADOWBOX: Mausoleum of Natural History is free to play — there is no purchase price, on Steam or anywhere else we track. We keep watching it, so if it ever stops being free the price history on this page will show when that happened and what it changed to.

About SHADOWBOX: Mausoleum of Natural History

✦ AI summary

SHADOWBOX: Mausoleum of Natural History is a free interactive museum where you explore photogrammetric scans of real fossils across geological time periods, examining extinct species up close while running, jumping, and collecting audio logs to uncover Earth's natural history. It stands out by letting you physically interact with meticulously detailed fossil exhibits while learning genuine paleontological science through immersive exploration.

Experience the story of life on Earth like never before with SHADOWBOX: Mausoleum of Natural History, a virtual, interactive, and free-to-play museum.Explore exhibits that detail the life, death, anatomy, and ecology of extinct species containing photogrammetric scans of real fossils. Examine fossils up close, and learn how to identify long-lost species in real life. Scan QR codes to read more about the science behind SHADOWBOX. Collect songs and audio logs to listen to as you explore. Run, jump, and climb on the exhibits, if you please!As of the current version, Beta 2.3.0, the following exhibits are open to visitors:
  • Burgess Shale (Cambrian Period)
  • Maquoketa Formation (Ordovician Period)
  • Louisville Formation (Silurian Period)
  • Winnica Formation (Silurian Period)
  • Martin Formation (Devonian Period)
  • Silica Formation (Devonian Period)
  • Onondaga Limestone (Devonian Period)
  • Naco Formation (Carboniferous Period)
  • Westerville Formation (Carboniferous Period)
  • Kaibab Limestone (Permian Period)
  • Coconino Sandstone (Permian Period)
  • Dunedoo Formation (Permian Period)
  • Moenkopi Formation (Triassic Period)
  • Thaynes Group (Triassic Period)
  • Chinle Formation (Triassic Period)
  • Blue Lias (Jurassic Period)
  • Turney Ranch Formation (Cretaceous Period)
  • Moreno Hill Formation (Cretaceous Period)
  • Menefee Formation (Cretaceous Period)
  • Fort Crittenden Formation (Cretaceous Period)
  • Fruitland Formation (Cretaceous Period)
  • Kirtland Formation (Cretaceous Period)
  • Nacimiento Formation (Paleocene Epoch)
  • Green River Formation (Eocene Epoch)
  • Kerch Basin (Miocene Epoch)
  • The Geological Eras Tour
  • Real, False, & Phony Fossils
Your input will help the SHADOWBOX development team create the most accessible, informative, and engaging experience possible. If you have suggestions, feedback, or would like to report a bug, head on over to the Steam forums.

SHADOWBOX: Mausoleum of Natural History — game info

Platforms
Windows
Player modes
Single-player
Controller
Full controller support
PC Game Pass
Not included

What Steam players say

Recent verbatim reviews from Steam — separate from playze.io community reviews below.

Recommended Jul 10, 2025
⠀
11 found this helpful
Recommended Sep 7, 2025
This game has so much cool content about dinosaurs, fossils, and history. You walk around these dark exhibits and they're all lit up really neatly - you can tell the creator was really thoughtful with the placement and lighting of the exhibits. There's TONS of very detailed 3D scans of all sorts of fossils and they're sorted into exhibits geographically and chronologically. It's like being able to go to a museum but better because it's free and at home, and you can get a closer look at everything, even jump around on top of the fossils. All of the exhibits are lit up to match the official color associated with the era the fossils are from, and there are cool maps to show you what the world looked like while these animals were living all that time ago! There is a separate examination menu, and a free camera mode. It just really utilizes the freedoms it has of being able to mess with scale and placement to create such a unique and engaging educational experience. 🦊🦖
2 found this helpful
Recommended Nov 5, 2025
A vivid blend of science, education and exploration manifested as a text-rich (and object-heavy) walking simulator awaits you here! If you like museums, virtual exhibitions, natural history and/or dinosaurs, such an experience is definitely not to be missed. It is truly a virtual museum like no other – quite literally, as you won't find it in the real world... And guess what? If you ever had that itch to get impermissibly close to a museum piece (say, a dinosaur bone or just any fossil) and rotate it in your hands, now is your chance to go wild (albeit virtually, of course)! 100/100 prehistoric teeth fossils!
1 found this helpful
Recommended Jun 30, 2026
That's a wonderfull idea to make a digital museum of prehistory for everyone around the world to enjoy! I know it's still in developement but I ould love one day to see the translation to other languages as not everyone knows english that well. Right now I rate this at 9/10
Not recommended Sep 7, 2025
"SHADOWBOX: Mausoleum of Natural History" is not a game. Games contain meaningful gamelike interaction and game loops, which are absent in this software. Instead of being a game, "SHADOWBOX: Mausoleum of Natural History" is a software application that presents a virtual paleontology museum, but it's incomplete. I mean, when a developer doesn't even understand the difference between a software app and a game, what chance is there that they'll be competent enough to finish what they started or abide by their commitments under the Early Access requirements? Yeah, none. For those unfamiliar with what actually makes something a game, a "game loop" describes the interaction and feedback a gamer has when playing a game. Tetris, for example, has a game loop where a random block appears, the gamer interacts with the block to position it, and then the game decides if that finishes a row or not, increases the players score if any rows were completed, then gives the gamer another block to position. Counter-Strike has a game loop where a player seeks another player, tests their skill against that player by shooting them or being shot, the computer rewards the player if they win, and then…
Not recommended Aug 5, 2025
crashfest just turn it on and it will crash. superfun.....

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