Terra Nil Critic Reviews

Terra Nil is a masterclass in everything that it attempts to be. A resource management sim that can be as difficult or relaxing as you want, that successfully provides an alternative to classic city-building games by completely flipping the core pillars of the genre on its head, and showing that a game about fostering nature can be just as engaging as one about destroying it. The game does an amazing job of evoking emotion in the player with just its environment alone and even allows you a moment to relish in the majesty of each region you have restored before heading on to the next. Terra Nil wants you to find love and beauty in nature, even if you have to leave it behind. Endlessly satisfying and elegant, any fans of city builders should give this outstanding take on the genre a try.

Terra Nil is a truly unique sim game that does a fantastic job in showcasing various ways the environment can be affected, with an astonishing level of hard work put into the tools needed to make things better. With simple yet incredibly fun gameplay, striking and gorgeous visuals, and a nice level of challenge that rewards players for properly planning things out without putting them under too much pressure, this is a terrifically wholesome and clever game that’s worth checking out.

With its vibrant graphics and constructive gameplay, Terra Nil is a breath of fresh air. Regenerating badlands ravaged by nuclear fallout is a unique pleasure, and the puzzle-solving required offers a unique challenge. The main campaign is quite short, but maybe that's the secret charm of Terra Nil: wiping clean the work of the past to play again, and hopefully create something even more beautiful.

The most impressive thing about Terra Nil is how it manages to effortlessly balance all these different goals. It’s both a relaxing city-unbuilder and a brain-bending strategy puzzler, because the underlying mechanics lend themselves to both styles of play. It’s a satisfying, extremely enjoyable game to just sit down and play, but also a powerful environmental message—and rather than being at odds with each other, those aspects feed off each other, build upon each other, and the whole game benefits. Sometimes I want to play a game with a statement to make and a cause to uphold; sometimes I want to challenge myself; sometimes I want to just turn my brain off and relax. Terra Nil is the rare game that lets me do all of the above at once.

Terra Nil is not and does not try to be a triple A title with an infinite amount of content that will keep us glued to the screen for months and months; Instead, I found it a product that conveys a very clear message while relaxing us with its beauty-oriented style. Perhaps it is not the best choice for those looking for a hardcore experience, but I find it brilliant how the design choices help to convey the environmental concepts that the Free Lives developers evidently have at heart. So on the spot I can't tell which other gaming experience can do the same.

Terra Nil is a strategy game about the beauty of nature and how terrible it is to lose it. It serves its purpose very well: it is entertaining and relaxing in a way that few other games in the genre are. Its nature and environment theme carries an important message at its core and delivers it in an experience that is accessible to everyone, even players new to the genre. It is a must for wildlife lovers and those who love building and management games.

Terra Nil is the ultimate Zen experience when it comes to city builders and the perfect escape from the hustle and bustle of daily life.

Terra Nil delivers an eco-based message with themes found in its core experience as you aim to bring Earth back to its glory days. Although terraforming each map can be difficult, even in zen mode, you’re encouraged to keep trying thanks to a relaxing gameloop. Its pacing allows players to focus on creating what is essentially a painting of a beautiful eco landscape which makes completing each area of the world worthwhile. From wasteland to beauty, Terra Nil delivers a much-needed vacation to players looking to sit back and create.

Terra Nil is a deftly executed environmental strategy game that flips the script and delivers something unique and quite unlike the city-builders you grew up with. It might be a peaceful experience, but its mission statement is gravely earnest.

Terra Nil is one of the most beautiful and peaceful games I’ve played in quite some time. Turning the procedurally generated wastelands into paradises has been really therapeutic. Free Lives not only did a great job of creating a reverse city builder but showed us why we need to give back to nature. Even with some frustrating elements, Terra Nil is worth your time.

Beautiful, complex, and captivating, Terra Nil is a delightful strategy game only held back by a smaller amount of content and some difficult-to-fulfill objectives.

There’s something rewarding about this game. You’re working to restore a dead world, with tangible results to keep you engaged. The mechanics get pretty complex after a while, true. And it can feel like your mistakes are indelible, even as you’re restarting a stage. But the labor feels worth it. Better still, developer Free Lives is putting a portion of pre-order and post-launch sales towards the Endangered Wildlife Trust. In that sense, playing this game actually does some good for the environment. If you’re looking for a peaceful, yet sometimes stressful, gaming experience, consider Terra Nil. You might even reconsider our actual planet as a result.

This is an excellent strategy with a green approach and ideas that manage to both test us and deliver a relaxed gaming experience.

Terra Nil completely turned the concept of city bulider strategy on its head. Instead of building cities in it, you restore the ecosystem and you can relax incredibly.

Instead of explosive power fantasies, you're invited to an ecosystem-saving hero story.

Terra Nil may initially seem like a city builder in reverse, but it’s more than that, it’s a challenging title that is, at its core, built on puzzle elements. Challenging and intrinsically rewarding, Terra Nil is the kind of game that ticks all the right boxes for having a fun time.

In Terra Nil you spend time demolishing your buildings - for the sake of nature.

Terra Nil is a charming and deceptively deep strategy game with a lovely aesthetic that flips conventions in a compelling way.

A small but satisfying strategy puzzler that comes, does its job and leaves without fuss.

Terra Nil is a a deeply soothing and relaxing game. Very beautiful artistically, we only regret that it is too short.