Terra Nil Review (Nintendo Switch OLED)
For our Terra Nil Review, we play an intricate environmental strategy game about transforming a barren wasteland into a thriving, balanced ecosystem. Bring life back to a lifeless world by purifying soil, cleaning oceans, planting trees, and reintroducing wildlife, then leave without a trace.
Terra Nil Review Pros:
- Decent graphics.
- 836MB Download size.
- 3 save slots/profiles.
- Four gameplay presets – Custom, gardener, ecologist, and environmental engineer.
- UI scale slider.
- Gameplay settings – starting resources slider, base building cost percentage, recycling when out of resources, building unlock objectives, tutorials, Zen mode, and contextual hints.
- Can rebind controls.
- Opening tutorial then ongoing pop-ups.
- A game where you are building structures and crafting the land so it can be rejuvenated and flourish in its own.
- It has an almost puzzle game feel as you work out the most efficient way of achieving your goals as power grids only stretch so far then you need to be near a resource for other parts to work and so on.
- World map level selects where it gives you an overall completion percentage.
- You can replay levels.
- Optional side tasks will be generated within a location.
- You can restart a location at any time and create a new random map.
- The controls are very good and the controller is well implemented and you have handy shortcuts on the d pad.
- Everything has its place so you need stones to place power, power to build fertilises to cleanse the land so it is then inhabitable for other structures.
- Manipulate the land with structures and tools.
- Watch the game play out by itself.
- Leaves are the representation of currency as it were, You use these to buy the structures.
- Unlocking the next entry in the build menu will show a progress bar and what needs to be done.
- Zen mode takes away all the currency aspects and lets you just go on and on.
- As you advance through the game you unlock new areas which bring new biomes and structures.
- Create wildlife and watch as they live in your world.
- At the end of a level, you can go into an appreciative view and scan around watching your creation.
- The animations are really good.
- Gets very addictive.
- A very laid-back experience.
- The music is not as impactful but the sounds of the animals, the rain, and the thunder bring it all to life.
- Has you learning without realizing.
- Simple controls along with shortcut keys on the keyboard.
- Time just evaporates.
- The grid system that appears around structures shows their radius and is clear and very handy when placing.
- Play how you want.
Terra Nil Review Cons:
- No touchscreen support.
- Cannot rebind controls.
- The performance is not always great and can have a lot of slow slowdown and stuttering.
- I found the main story loop to be difficult as it bombarded me with information whereas Zen mode allowed me to take the game on at my own pace.
- No in-game achievements.
- Feels a lot like I’m placing things to fill bars rather than how I want the world to be.
- Not always the fastest loading time.
- A checklist game is more than a creative game.
- So much to take in.
- I found I had to go out of the game a lot to find information.
- The game doesn’t look as crisp as the Steam version.
Related Post: Beyond Contact Review (Steam)
Terra Nil:
Developer: Free Lives
Publisher: Devolver Digital Games
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