Casual · March 28, 2023
Terra Nil (2023)
Terra Nil: Heatwave Heatwave brings a blistering new challenge of the arid climate to Terra Nil, introducing a whole new region to restore. Featuring three unique maps, 13 new animals, 10 new buildings, and five new biomes to transform the desolate into the flourishing. An improved animal system and a new photography mode give you more ways to interact with and appreciate the ecosystems you create. The new arid maps offer striking environments and creative restoration puzzles, from vast grassland savannahs, to sublime deserts, and verdant acacia forests. Coax greenery from salt pans and riverbeds choked with alien vegetation on the edge of the Parched Dunes. Bridge a vast canyon, douse oil fires, and restore a cactus-filled desert using the remote-controlled ERW1N recycling bot on the Canyon Peaks. Clean up a former oil field, creating muddy watering holes for all manner of fauna, and bring diversity back to theFracked Floodplain. To complement these dramatic landscapes, the wildlife system is more approachable and rewarding, with 13 new animals, including elephants, lions, crocodiles, and giraffes, that appear more naturally and stay longer. The new photography system lets you capture your favorite moments, earning stars for creative snapshots of happy animals and lush habitats, which you can keep in your trusty handbook Deepen the sense of wonder and accomplishment at the heart of Terra Nil, as you bring life back to even the harshest places in Heatwave, the most significant and hottest content update to date. Terra Nil: Vita Nova Vita Nova expands on Terra Nil’s deeply satisfying nature restoration with new missions, buildings, an updated wildlife system, and a brand new world map—which is now fully 3D and can be freely rotated—giving you a more accurate and personalized overview of your efforts to bring life back to this dead world. New levels include Polluted Bay, a barren landscape carved in half by a badly polluted river, and Scorched Caldera, a vast volcanic crater that you must transform into a life-filled freshwater lake. These, and all the new maps in the Vita Nova update, will put your reclamation skills to the test in interesting and unusual ways. A completely overhauled wildlife system makes Terra Nil’s transformed landscapes more alive than ever. Animals emerge more naturally and have a deeper set of needs you need to fulfill if you want to keep them happy and abundant. This adds a new dimension of strategy to the game and gives you more animals to admire—including a brand new species, the jaguar—as nature is steadily restored. About the Game Terra Nil is a game about transforming a barren, lifeless landscape into a thriving, vibrant ecosystem. Turn dead soil into fertile grassland, clean polluted oceans, plant sprawling forests, and create the ideal habitat for animals to call home. Then recycle your buildings and leave no trace that you were there. Reclaim the wasteland. A reverse city builder Use advanced eco-technology to purify the soil, creating plains, wetlands, beaches, rainforests, wildflowers, and more—then efficiently recycle everything you've built, leaving the environment pristine for its new animal inhabitants. Different maps every time Procedurally generated landscapes mean no two playthroughs of Terra Nil will ever be the same. Plan your build around randomized, challenging, and unpredictable terrain, including snaking rivers, mountains, lowlands, and oceans. A natural ebb and flow Each region of Terra Nil progresses through phases, with the ultimate goal being leaving pristine wilderness behind. Levels are not about infinite growth, but rather balancing and nurturing the environment before leaving it in peace. Experience tranquility Lush hand-painted environments, relaxing music, and an atmospheric ambient soundscape make Terra Nil a peaceful, meditative experience. When you're done, use Appreciate mode to bask in the natural beauty of the ecosystem you have restored.
Casual releases from 2023
21 Casual titles launched in 2023 — top 6 by review volume.
Community Tag Signals
Tag weights reflect how many Steam users voted each descriptor — larger pills = stronger consensus.
- Nature · 536
- Strategy · 487
- Relaxing · 479
- Puzzle · 416
- City Builder · 406
- Procedural Generation · 384
- Atmospheric · 374
- Casual · 346
- Turn-Based Strategy · 318
- Isometric · 317
- Singleplayer · 307
- 2.5D · 303
- Colorful · 268
- Resource Management · 254
- Emotional · 252
Peer Casual titles
Comparable titles in the same genre and review-volume band — ranked by Steam positive percentage.
Position in Casual
| Metric | This title | Genre position |
|---|---|---|
| Review volume | 7.0k Steam reviews | Top 34% in Casual |
| Positive rating | 88% positive | Genre average: 88% — this title sits in top 68% |
| Metacritic | 79/100 | Genre average 76 — top 46% of Casual titles |
| Engagement hours | 8 h average | Top 52% for session depth among Casual |
Localization Coverage
Interface / Subtitles (12)
- English
- French
- German
- Spanish - Spain
- Japanese
- Korean
- Portuguese - Brazil
- Russian
- Simplified Chinese
- Traditional Chinese
- Italian
- Arabic
Reception Metrics
Steam community
88%Very Positive · 7.0k reviews
6.1k positive · 838 negative
Metacritic
79/100 critic aggregate
Curator recommendations
7.4k
Press Quotes
“a soothing, satisfying and educational environmentalist puzzler” 8/10 – PC Gamer “sets itself apart from other games in its subgenre by emphasizing nature over expansion” 8/10 – Shack News
Engagement Profile
All-time avg
8h
short (5–15 hours)
Median
5h
Typical completion time
2-week avg
1h
Current engagement
Achievements
37
Steam unlocks available
Release & Availability
| Release date | Mar 28, 2023 |
|---|---|
| Developer | Free Lives, Clockwork Acorn |
| Publisher | Devolver Digital |
| Base price | $9.99 -60% |
| DLC / Add-ons | 2 released |
| Platforms | Windows, macOS, Linux |
| Estimated owners | 100k–1M |
| External links | Official site · Metacritic page · Support |
Features & Capabilities
Community
- Steam Achievements
- Steam Cloud
Other
- Single-player
- Family Sharing
Editions & Packages
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