Introduction
Today we are going to look at a game called Nova Lands, this is a game that has won the poll of the month recently! What do you need to do in this game? Well, you mostly need to build stuff, and buildings. This game plays a bit like forager, it seems to be inspired by that game. There is a bit of combat in this game, but not a lot.
What did I think before playing Nova Lands?
My wife and I were both a big fan of the Forager game, and that is when we saw that a game that was inspired by Forager got released. We were, of course, overly interested. It did not take very long to find this game, and the trailer looked very promising. We had no idea what to expect, but we did see that you needed to unlock islands the same way, to find out more about this game, we went to the Steam Page!
The Steam Page
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1501610/Nova_Lands/
It seems you will need to build your own base in this game, there are many items to collect and craft. This eventually ends up with automation as most of the things will be done by robots. There is indeed combat, but I had already heard that it was minimal and even possible to do a pacifist run by completing puzzles. All in all, it looked to be a decent Forager clone.
Rating
I rated Nova Lands with a 7.8 before playing.
If you like games like Forager or Factory building games, then this is the right place to be.
Story
The story is a bit vague, but it seems like earth is running out of supplies, and your job is to find a new habitable planet.
Rating
I rated the story of Nova Lands with a 4.5.
The story appears to be unfinished, as there is more to come, it just ends right as you are about to go back to earth.
Gameplay
Now, the fun part, the gameplay starts pretty simple, you have one island, and only little resources, and even less space to hold these items. Luckily, you can build storage units, for now, these only come by in 4×4 sizes. Soon you will need to make all kinds of new items as you upgrade the research tree, for each new tier of items, you will need items from the previous tier.
There are few enemies that can actually hurt you, in the beginning, oxygen is a bigger problem as you have limited oxygen on other islands. Soon you will need to build different farms, set up automations, and even complete a few quests. As you start unlocking more islands, you will be able to upgrade your gear, level up to learn new skills. This comes with upgrading certain factories to improve output, and this is all fun, until you reach the end game.
At the end, you will have built all over the world, tens of the same factories to keep up with demands. most of the time is spent waiting, you have a few bots who can work for you, but there is so much work to do, that even with all the upgrades, they can’t keep up. This means that you need to do some work yourself, but that can be pretty chaotic if you have over three hundred factories!
Rating
I rated the gameplay of Nova Lands with a 6.9.
While the early and mid-game are very fun, it gets pretty boring when all you have to do is wait for new resources.
Sound and Graphics
Graphics
The graphics are remarkable, the storage units even show the item sprites! This was quite fun to see, and it made it even easier to find the right storage unit. There are only a few enemies, and three bosses. But all in all, the graphics is where this game shines. There are even many skins to unlock, but I like the worm skin the most, you can even go to space in this game.
Sound
There is nothing wrong with the sound effects, it is like rhythm as more and more things are being automated.
Rating
I rate the sound and graphics of Nova Lands with an 8.3
This game won a lot of points with showing the items while they are in storage!
What did I think after playing Nova Lands?
While this game is very fun, and it would even be fun to restart a file due to the islands being randomly generated, there are some aspects where this game lacks a lot of polish. Mostly the combat, since there are no real dungeons to fight in, and with your shield, you are basically immortal! Combine that with the ability to walk very fast to dodge bullets, it means that combat is lacking.
All items remain on the ground, meaning that factories that drop items on the ground like seeds will lag your game into infinity and beyond. The end-game also needs some serious polishing, as all you are doing is waiting for things to happen, there is nothing left to do but collect more resources.
Rating
I rated Nova Lands with a 6.5 after playing.
If combat and end-game are addressed in future patches, this game can get a very high rating!
What are my personal thoughts about Nova Lands?
My wife and I played this game parallel from each other, and we had a great time. We almost completed all the challenges, but the last two where you just need to wait a very long time got too boring.
Rating
My personal Rating of Nova Lands is a 7.0
A great game inspired by Forager, but it does not come close to the endgame due to lacking a real end-game, and no decent combat.
Last Words
Pros
- There are many buildings to unlock and build
- Good graphics with a fun soundtrack
- A fun world to explore and occupy with ugly buildings
- Let the automation begin with bots
- Build your own house for bonus rewards
- Many skills to learn, including free building materials
- There are many resources to gather
Cons
- Factories that just drop items can break your game
- This game lacks end-game content and combat
- There is a lot of waiting for buildings to finish their task
- Too much work to do, and not enough bots that can help
If you are looking for a fun game that is inspired by forager, this is not a bad game to play. Just keep in mind that the end-game will get a bit boring.
Final Rating
6.8
Please let me know what you think of Nova Lands in the comments!
I hope you enjoyed reading this review, I hope to see you in the next review!
If you liked reading this review, maybe you would like to share this review with your friends.
JesusDamianN7
es un juegardo, bastante parecido a forager tambien pero un juegardo.
Jaromir Krzyszczak
nice game, thanks 🙂
Nicole
This game looks really cool, I love the artstyle! It seems a bit crowded though, maybe to fix that and the game lagging with too many items on the ground, they should rebalance how many materials are needed and cap how many each machine can make! I think Autonauts does that! They would need to do both though, setting a limit but not fixing the material creation speed/# needed would cause even more machines haha 😀
supersven
Yeah, it does get crowded since there is not enough space to build on other islands. If there were more space, you would have the ability to have more oversight.
rezonono
It looks good! Thank you.
Alamar
I already knew this title, not a stupid and quite fun game. But there are also more deep (or content deep) alternative games with prices not much higher but nevertheless it is good, not too hard with enemies so you can take your time.
supersven
The enemies are a pushover! Especially once you have upgraded your gear.
Michael Lo
The art design is really cute!
Twigas_Hobbes
looks kinda cute
DonCarlos
As a huge fan of Forager, this will definitely go on my wishlist!
supersven
Hopefully, some new updates will improve the end-game.
Ammar Istanbilly
Seems like a great game to play for those who are looking for something on the more casual side.
supersven
Yeah, casual is the right genre to give this game, I suppose.
EMPERORU
a lot stuff here, looks kinda interesting
Javier del Ríos
It looks great, but it also looks like there is a lot of busy work.
Lix7PTE
I wanna try because of this review 🙂
PoeticKatana
Nice automation and crafting game! Too bad it runs out of steam towards the end.
twigalucie
I actually played the demo of this some time ago and I really loved it. I love to see where it is going.
Delicious Bacon
I agree with you on the sound and graphics part. It sounds great, with some extraterrestrial vibes, too!
And it does look like it's a lot of manual work, I couldn't understand how you could find your way around in your video island...
supersven
I have a map, in my head, it's my autism, I rule with the power of my weird brain.
long shade
Looks interesting.