Terrascape - Early Access Review
Terrascape
Platforms: PC
Developed by: Bitfall Studios
Published by: Toplitz Productions
Released on: April 5, 2023 (Early Access)
MSRP: 12.99
Terrascape is currently in early access. The final product may change after the publication of this review
Terrascape is blissfully simple. You draw from a deck of cards, each one representing a different kind of building. You place them in an area that will give you the most points, chaining together clumps of corresponding buildings as a satisfying chime plays and your score climbs ever upwards. Placing buildings together gives you the chance to merge the buildings to create larger buildings, a process that unlocks new cards and further combinations. The more points you score and the more buildings you place, the more you’re allowed to draw decks of buildings you can then place. When you’re all out of buildings and card draws, the game ends. You “win” (the point isn’t really to win, but there is a win condition) by either completing objectives (in puzzle mode) or scoring high enough to get a medal (in free play).
Completing objectives and scoring high unlocks new landscapes, leading to different challenges on the map. It also unlocks new decks and allows you to upgrade your central location, increasing your score. It all fits together in a lovely array of interlocking systems, all conveyed through you placing buildings in the place where they have the greatest impact— will you create a cluster of villages near that nearby forest, or would you rather place a group of lumberjacks around the area but risk losing the chance for real estate near the keep? Do you merge the cottages you’ve painstakingly placed to create larger buildings and score a bit more on further placements, or do you sweep up a bunch of points by placing a town square in the midst of your array of cottages?
It becomes a space-management game as well as a high-score game, seeing you carefully manage getting the most points with how a space can be built, clearing away the negative modifiers or trying to figure out what would work better on the space. There’s also an added dimension in that merging tiles actually gives you the ability to demolish tiles, opening up newer spaces so you can replace buildings and shift spaces around. There’s also “dead” tiles on the board, places you can’t build no matter what, meaning you have to build around things in the space you do have.
Terrascape never feels particularly heavy or intricate. The interface is simple to understand, the graphics are beautiful, and the interlocking systems are all safely under the hood. It’s incredibly satisfying to watch this town grow out of the wilderness, spreading around the keep like a garden made out of buildings. It’s honestly the perfect late-night play— light enough that you can pick it up and put it down, but enough strategy you have to think about how you place everything on the map. Under the right circumstances, it can even be kind of soothing.
The problem is that this lightweight feel extends to the replay value. While you can unlock new stages and newer decks the further you go, eventually you hit a wall, either because you just can’t seem to unlock things, or because you’ve unlocked everything you can at that level. There will definitely be more with early access, but for right now, it feels sort of like a brick wall at points.
But Terrascape doesn’t need to be some grandiose and weighty thing. It’s a beautiful little game meant to be played as a break, or as a wind-down, or otherwise in those moments when you need to take a breather. It’s a relaxing city-builder. As a relaxing city-builder, it’s a gorgeous, lovely little game. Maybe wait a little until there’s some more to uncover, but this one’s well worth the price of admission.
The Good:
- Relaxing, pretty citybuilder
- Intricate without feeling overcomplicated
- Deep, but still easy enough to understand.
The Bad:
- Content can occasionally get repetitive
Final Score: