Terra Nil Review (Dragonova)
Terra Nil is a strange game. On the surface, it appears to be a city-builder of sorts about terraforming. Then you realize it's a puzzle game about trying to discover how you can terraform in such a way that you can meet different restoration criteria. THEN, after you've reset once or twice, you realize it's actually a strategy game about planning out those puzzle elements in as efficient way as possible. This made Terra Nil a very captivating discovery process as I went from screwing around wasting resources to really understanding how to use my tools to make a very ugly area look very pretty. The more satisfying and relaxing element of watching your dirt ball grow into an ecosystem feels earned and all the better for it.
The game is split into several biomes and each of the areas function almost entirely differently, so you get this whole discovery loop about 4-5 times before the credits roll. It's a great gameplay loop and it's also why it's CRIMINAL that Terra Nil has very little in the way of replay value. I still very much recommend the game for the first playthrough, but I'm begging the devs to add in a mode with randomized goals, layouts, and wildlife.
(Note: After this review was posted, the game has been updated with a new biome and more post-game content added, which does help with the replayability of content.)