About the time E3 began, Devolver Digital sent me a neat title about ecosystem reconstruction. The game is called Terra Nil and it’s a reverse city builder, of sorts, where you use resources in order to restore the planet’s barren wasteland into a lush green world, once again. I spent about an hour with the demo, and wanted to share my thoughts on it with you folks.
When you begin, the game will give you a randomly generated map. The first thing you want to look for are some rocks to place your Turbine. These will provide power to your Toxic Scrubbers. Once they have done their jobs, you can place Irrigators to turn the land green. There was also a Water Pump to fill riverbeds, a Calcifier that crystallizes greenery so you can place new Turbines, and lastly an Excavator that allows you to make new riverbeds.
You will need to use all of these tools to their fullest to cover the map with life again, but there’s a catch. Every structure you build on the map will cost you some green as you place them. The Irrigators will actually gain you some green if you place them in the right spots, so you will want to be very careful where you place basically everything to get the most amount of coverage and resources.
Once you have met the coverage quota for the map you will begin to restore the Biomes of the map. There were three categories of this that included forests, wetlands, and flower fields. Just like before, you will use a variety of tools to shape each area’s nature into a perfect balance. I did notice the resource management here wasn’t as tight as the first section, but you will still need to keep watch on how much green you spend.
I think gamers that like these kinds of builders will find a lot to love in Terra Nil. It’s a simple, but thought provoking, builder that has one of the most relaxing soundtracks ever. The graphics look pretty nice so far, and I haven’t played a unique game like this in quite a while. If Terra Nil is your cup of tea, you can head over to Steam now and check out the demo for yourself, or throw it on your wishlist.
