Video games often rely on the trope of saving the world from an impending apocalypse. These doomsday events usually come from megalomaniac supervillains or alien invaders, but what happens when we are the threat to our planet? Terra Nil asks this question and puts you in charge of restoring a world devastated by the effects of climate change and human civilization. The result is a distinctive reverse city builder that weaves compelling mechanics together, creating an enjoyable experience with a good message.
The world of Terra Nile is decimated. Expansive grasslands, beautiful beaches, and volcanic mountains have all been reduced to poisonous lifeless wastelands. Even a major city that you visit is completely submerged save for the tallest skyscrapers that jut out of the sea. Your mission is to give nature the help it needs to recover from this apocalyptic state.
Using familiar city-builder mechanics, you can push the planet in the right direction. Each region follows a similar flow: clean up the soil and water, restore the region’s various biomes, reintroduce the animal population, and then recycle any equipment you use. I loved placing the various machines and contraptions used to replenish plant life; Seeing the map come back to life from the drab state you entered it in is an incredible reward, only surpassed when you see the animal population return to the area towards the end of your mission .
Conscious use of your resources is critical to success because there is no recycling option until the end; On several occasions I have painted myself into a corner with insufficient resources to dig myself out. When this happens, you can restart the current phase, but more often you have to restart the whole scenario – a frustrating situation that spoiled my fun every time it happened. I hated losing more than an hour of progress just because I didn’t plan properly. Still, it’s satisfying to return to a fresh start with a well-formulated plan of attack.
As you play through the four main maps, the developers will usually tell you exactly what to do, depending on what stage you’re in. This causes you to feel like the game is holding your hand too tightly; I kept waiting for the experience to open, but as I rolled the credits I still didn’t feel the level of freedom and creativity that is often associated with the genre. Then, when the game’s manual didn’t provide explicit instructions, I would sometimes get stuck and aimlessly experiment with how to accomplish a specific goal. Terra Nile would be a more balanced experience to find a middle ground.
Just when the mechanics felt natural and my brain started thinking like the developers seemed to want it to, I finished the main campaign. You can revisit these four regions and play alternate maps with different mechanics, and that’s when I finally felt the sense of freedom I’d been craving throughout the experience. It’s just a shame I had to wait until after the credits to feel like I was finally out of the tutorial.
What is offered at the release is worth it, both in terms of gameplay and message. By focusing on environmental augmentation rather than human augmentation, Terra Nile delivers something entirely unique. While the peaceful nature and calm tone are sometimes broken by uneven mechanics, Terra Nile is a rewarding experience for those looking for a new twist on the sim genre.
