Build your dream city, card by card, in the newly released TerraScape from Bitfall Studios. Joining other city-builder puzzle games like Dorfromantik, and Pan’Orama, TerraScape was released into early access on May 9, 2023. A beautiful and relaxing game, TerraScape is an amazing game to wind down your day with.
It’s all in the cards
In TerraScape you will build your kingdom by placing cards from various decks. These decks offer a variety of different things from orchards, fisheries, villages, town squares and so much more. With each placement of a card, you gain points. These points unlock new decks and buildings to help expand your kingdom and plan new synergies.
Every building, natural resource, or correct terrain you place has a zone of influence. These zones bring into play synergies between each card you place. As you hover over tiles you will see how these synergies work out. A lot of this comes from trial and error. Order placement of buildings also plays into these synergies. There are even hidden objects through merging buildings. TerraScape has a lot to discover here.
It’s important to note that as much as TerraScape calls itself a city builder, it’s much more of a puzzle game in my opinion. The campaign is full of situational challenges that teach you the above-mentioned synergies and inner workings of the game. Even the sandbox mode has the element of drawing cards and placing them. You will always be at the mercy of your deck, which isn’t bad, but in the sandbox mode, I thought I would be able to just build. Not a deal breaker but something that should be known.
A beautiful view
The world of TerraScape is just gorgeous. You’re on a floating island with beautiful mountains, lakes, rivers, and forests. The world is just amazing to look at and the medieval structures you build fit perfectly into the aesthetic the developers were aiming for. Seriously, I want to live in it!
Early Access
TerraScape launched with a few game modes. You have the single-player campaign and sandbox modes. You also have a multiplayer mode which pits you against friends in a race to earn the most points. There are plans for a co-op multiplayer mode and more game modes in the future of their early access period. You can also look forward to new decks, biomes, special buildings, and much more!
For those looking for a relaxing puzzle game, TerraScape is right up your alley. It’s beautiful, deep, and you set the pace. I do hope that the synergies that require an order of placement get a better explanation or tooltip rather than just trial and error. Overall this game is fun and one that any puzzle enthusiast would love to have in their collection.
You can grab TerraScape on Steam and follow the game on Twitter.
*game key provided by dev*
