I love relaxing city-builders. I enjoy tile-laying games. And a good puzzle is always up my alley. No wonder I enjoy Terrascape to such a high degree then, since it, in a way, is a very well-made blend of all those genres and concepts. I got this game way in the past when it began its Early Access adventure and had fun even back then when it was in a much more rudimentary state. Now, while it is still in Early Access, I can nonetheless do a proper deep dive into the title because, by Jove, it got bigger, better, and way more engaging!
Ultimately TERRASCAPE is about a gentle, relaxing building of your little medieval town. You're tossed into a soothing landscape of hills, mountains, plains, and rivers, filled with various resources. And given a Keep and a starting deck of cards to play around with. Decks are the core of your gameplay tools, as each themed deck provides buildings that you will put down to score points. Points are the goal - each scenario, no matter the gameplay mode, focused on reaching thresholds, be it bronze, silver, or gold. Placement dictates how many points you score, based on terrain features and other buildings in the zone of control of each structure. And that is basically the whole game. It's all about the smart placement of buildings to score as many points as possible, usually aiming to get that golden score.
What complicates matters and makes the whole gameplay fun is the interaction of elements. Placement order matters - hugely. Having an important piece that can nail you a big bucket of points is a little bit of a thrill, but you need to work for it. Find a suitable placement? Check. Build around it with structures that will benefit the centerpiece? Check. Once everything is in order you land that Marketplace or Church and bam watch the points roll!
But to add to that, you also have Merged Structures which you have to discover via experimentation. Putting various buildings together can transform them into a completely new thing - Farmsteads, Fishing Villages, Royal Forests, and the like. This not only can net you more points than the sum of their parts but also often brings a reward in the form of a rare card, actions, or resources to place down. On top of all that, they look really great and add a lovely variety to the landscape you're chiseling out of this empty realm.
All that is very well governed but simple and elegant progression system. You do not start with all your toys unlocked. Each time you upgrade a Keep to a new level you unlock a new deck; And there are quite a few of them! Forestry with their lumberjacks and sawmills, Fishing with boats and shipyards, Stonework with quarries and mines... Picking one is never hard governed by the game, giving you some freedom, unless you're aiming to fill in the specific World Goals of a scenario. The decks also level up the more points you score by utilizing their buildings. This meshes well together into a blossoming kind of gameplay, when the longer you play, the more options you're given. And therefore, more advanced structures can be raised. This also facilitates a need for a bit of foresight! Can't spend the first half of the game placing things willy-nilly only to find out later that you lack proper space for bigger projects or goals.
It works way too well, to be honest. The game is a soothing experience that has excellent pacing each time I pick it up, fulfilling a scenario from start to finish and a great bit of fun. To add to that, the game offers multiple game modes, making sure you can enjoy it in various ways. Puzzle Terras act as great tutorials to master the interactions of buildings in each deck as well as cross-deck scoring. It's fun to aim for gold each time, too! Scenarios let you unlock various areas by not only reaching a certain score but mostly fulfilling specific World Goals - like for example earning enough points with a single placement of a particular structure.
Kingdom mode doesn't ask you to check any boxes, giving you a more open experience, but it still gives a clear aim - to beat your own score. There are even weekly challenge runs with leaderboards, where you can test your knowledge of the game in more demanding puzzles!
But even that's not a wrap - the game has a Multiplier component! Either Co-Op, where you can alternate turns with a friend or a random player online to build together, or Versus, in which you both race to reach the score goal first. Excellent stuff.
All in all I can give TERRASCAPE my heartfelt recommendation. While it is still not complete, sitting comfortably in its Early Access, it is already packed to the brim with content to play with. Wrapped in great visuals, soothing tunes, and a perfect blend of features to make many players happy, while working on their tiny kingdoms. A cup of tea, a scenario of Terrascape, and a lovely evening of soothing fun is guaranteed.
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