The developers behind Broforce and Genital Jousting have taken a surprising turn with Terra Nil, a game that flips the city-building genre on its head. Instead of focusing on expansion and industrialization, this title tasks players with restoring environmental wastelands. It is a remarkably chill addition to the genre, emphasizing resource management and strategy to replenish native flora and fauna before removing all traces of the player's presence.
The core gameplay loop is divided into three distinct phases. Phase one involves making the landscape viable through machines and climate manipulation. Phase two requires creating specific biomes for flora and fauna to thrive. Phase three focuses on research, recycling, and removing the player's structures entirely. Players facilitate the revitalization of four different wasteland regions: temperate, tropical, polar, and continental. Each region presents unique environmental conditions and challenges, ensuring that no two playthroughs feel the same.
Each region has a set of climate threshold objectives that provide extra resources. However, some objectives may conflict with others. For example, creating high humidity for fungi to thrive in a polar forest may prevent tundra biome flora from growing. This requires thoughtful puzzle solving to successfully pass through each phase. The game's Steam bio phrases it perfectly: levels are not about infinite growth but rather balancing and nurturing the environment before leaving it in peace.
Players will not be able to complete every objective on the first try, which adds replayability. Each map is procedurally generated, so players are never working in an identical environment twice. After completing the main game, alternate versions of regions become available, offering a greater challenge. The main criticism is that there are only four central regions to rebuild, and many players hope for DLC featuring new biomes like deserts or swamps.
The game offers three difficulty presets: Gardener for a relaxed experience, Ecologist for a balanced challenge, and Environmental Engineer for hardcore city builders. Players can switch between these presets at any time and toggle contextual hints to avoid wasting time on puzzles. A custom preset allows adjustments to starting resources and building costs, making the game as cozy or challenging as desired.
An 'appreciate mode' allows players to view the environment they have built, from tiny coral and tropical reefs to penguins walking on ice caps. The music, a relaxing combination of piano, percussion, and ambient soundscapes, creates a meditative audio experience. The game also carries a message of hope outside the game, as developers Free Lives donate eight percent of their Steam profits to the Endangered Wildlife Trust, a conservation organization based in South Africa.
