Its unique feature is that the armies used in gameplay are all created by the player, and involve combining two animals to make a new super creature with various abilities.

There is an extensive single-player campaign as well as online multiplayer functionality with different game modes, add-ons, custom maps, mods, and scenarios.

[2] The Steam version includes all patches and expansion packs released in the past, the IC Online servers re-implemented through Steam's cloud service and the game's modding software development kit included in the package alongside the Mission Editor originally available within the game's files.

This mode consists of 15 different missions, spanning over a group of islands in the South Pacific known as the Isla Variatas, indicating the variety of environments presented to the player, ranging from jungles, deserts, or Arctic regions.

Dr. Eric Chanikov was one of the brightest scientific minds in history, but after a failed experiment causes the Tunguska Event and kills his wife, he goes into willing exile at a chain of remote islands.

[5] The development of the 2015 remastered edition involved recreating much of Relic's postlaunch work on the SDK and Insect Invasion add-on, as well as rewriting the multiplayer networking for Steam and modern firewalls.

Before and after the Steam re-release, the Tellurian mod—which adds many creatures, maps, and balancing tweaks—became a large focal point for the game's community.

[5] In fact, fixes made by the Tellurian mod developers were integrated back into the base game in an official patch.

[6] Maxim gave it a score of eight out of ten, saying that "Once you get past all the gamesmanship, you can concentrate on bitch-slapping Mother Nature by creating twisted beasts that would make Jack Hanna brown his khakis.

"[18] Entertainment Weekly gave it a "C", saying, "If most real-time strategy titles are elaborate versions of rock-paper-scissors, Impossible Creatures is the world's most sophisticated game of rock.