Terra Nil Reviews

Terra Nil is ranked in the 86th percentile of games scored on OpenCritic.
10 / 10.0
Mar 29, 2023

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.

Read full review

8.5 / 10.0
Mar 28, 2023

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.

Read full review

8 / 10.0
Mar 29, 2023

Terra Nil is a game that you can just love, even with some of its flaws.

Review in Italian | Read full review

Gamersky
Top Critic
7.8 / 10.0
Mar 27, 2023

Terra Nil successfully communicates its environmental message to players through its meticulously crafted gameplay and levels. It subverts traditional colonial building games by showing players that the process of reconciliation with nature can be enjoyable. Although the game is not very large, there are always new elements to experience as you play through each region. The difficulty options also ensure that different players can enjoy the game in their own way, whether by strategizing or experiencing the game's Zen.

Review in Chinese | Read full review

Niche Gamer
bigbear51
Top Critic
7 / 10.0
Mar 28, 2023

Terra Nil is good for what it is, but it doesn’t go beyond that in any meaningful way.

Read full review

Jan 8, 2024

I’ve seen more than a few people express surprise that Terra Nil is a Devolver Digital-published work, and I’m really not sure what they understand about the company. This is a game that gently reinforces a fundamentally positive and progressive view of the world and does so by transgressing the status quo and challenging expectations of both genre and theme. That has always been Devolver’s MO, and Terra Nil is perhaps the most important and timely project in its catalogue to date.

Read full review

8.5 / 10.0
May 11, 2023

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

Review in Turkish | Read full review

8.5 / 10.0
Apr 21, 2023

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.

Review in Slovak | Read full review

79 / 100
Mar 28, 2023

Terra Nil is a strategy game that's devoid of land colonisation, the exploitation of natural resources, or anything else you'd usually associate with a game of this ilk. But it's all the better for it. If you want a tranquil terraforming game, this is a good fit.

Read full review

8 / 10.0
Mar 27, 2023

Terra Nil is an optimistic and well-designed reverse city builder. Its gameplay ideas are easy to understand and each scenario poses specific challenges that take attention and care to solve. Gamers will love the feeling of hope that infuses the painstaking process of taking a barren landscape and getting it to a point where flora and fauna are in harmony and no human presence remains.

Read full review

8.8 / 10.0
Mar 27, 2023

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.

Review in Spanish | Read full review

8.2 / 10.0
Dec 28, 2023

Taking a different approach, working to rebuild the environment rather than burying it, in development sims

Read full review

Unscored
May 18, 2023

Terra Nil is a fantastic strategy game, one that only an studio like Free Lives could have developed. The idea of an inverted 4X where the objective is create more nature and reduce the human footprint works great in hindsight, that being said some mechanics are not as intuitive as you might think specially in the latest leg of the game.

Review in Spanish | Read full review

8 / 10.0
Mar 28, 2023

If you’re looking for a relaxing strategy game, love the environment, or want to try a city builder with a twist, Terra Nil is absolutely a game worth checking out.

Read full review

7 / 10.0
Mar 30, 2023

Terra Nil puts a cute and quirky twist on the classic city builder and completing each level feels truly rewarding. It is well worth looking into for any cozy games fan.

Read full review

Loved
Mar 30, 2023

Terra Nil is a game that will make you aware of how important the balance of nature is. And how each living thing on the earth connects to each other. It doesn’t lecture, but its gameplay does make you think about the environment. It is a well-thought-out restoration game with relaxing gameplay, gorgeous visuals, and a nice challenge.

Read full review

9 / 10.0
Mar 29, 2023

Terra Nil is a transformative city builder, in every sense of the word. While it presents a world that is polluted and broken down in a way that painfully reflects our world, it also tells us that nature can prevail in the end and that we can help facilitate that healing. It shows that with a bit of ingenuity and clever puzzle-solving, we might just work our way back over time. And it does it all in a tight package with a clear end and a focus on letting the natural beauty of our world take the spotlight. Can you believe these are the people who made the penis-fighting party game?

Read full review

10 / 10.0
Mar 29, 2023

Terra Nil is a relaxing experience that engages the mind as much as it helps you to turn it off. Free Lives have gone out of its way to make the planet a little greener by using this game to spread the message of conservation, and with the generous donations to charity that came with it.

Read full review

5 / 10
Mar 28, 2023

What starts out as a calming restoration simulator, quickly devolves into mundanity: the video game.

Read full review

INVEN
Top Critic
7.7 / 10.0
Mar 28, 2023

The positive influence of games related to protecting endangered animals. While the concept of games that restore the natural environment is impressive, the weak interactions, repetitive and short volume make it difficult to immerse and enjoy.

Review in Korean | Read full review