What happened to it all?
Mass extinction?
I've noticed birds, giant bat thingies,various bugs and those dragons on Venus, but not once have I seen, say a Deer burst through a field after I've landed on the planet, or fish in the water or streams.
And certainly no predators.
If they added things like that I think it'd really make the "destroyed and abandoned" style of this game pop.
On a side note, creating a vast tundra or plains region filled with slightly evolved versions of Rhinos, lions, elephants,bears, etc would be a rather emersive experience.
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Part of it, in my opinion, is the fact that you have high order predators in the places that you are actively looking at - at least on Earth. With the number of Guardians and enemies in any given area, there is not a place for natural life to take/retain a foothold, any more. Constant loud noise, persistent presence, etc. In the real world, you do get scenarios where larger wildlife will venture into a city - but that is generally due to scarcity of prey. If humanity has been pushed back, as far as it sounds that it has, then there is no reason for them to venture anywhere near the currently "populated" areas.