Polymer clay and modeling clay have very different properties compared to play dough. Play dough is something that kids grow out of in the first year or two of Elementary school.
Yep, my kid is into making very detailed little animal sculpts that endure. Playdough fails on both of those dimensions. We've switched to air dry clay (Crayola Model Magic), which is closer to the polymer clay, but still doesn't work quite as well for fine-detail, and is far less durable.