Environmental city builder Terra Nil gets major free update with 13 new animals

Whether it's Rimworld, Civilization 7, or Simcity, most city-building games are about exploiting the natural world for your benefit. Terra Nil is the antidote to all that - a game where your goal is to restore barren, empty wastelands into flourishing ecosystems. Purify toxins from the soil, clear trash from the oceans, and gradually encourage flora to regrow and fauna to repopulate, then leave without a trace. Already boasting an 87%-positive Steam review score, it's just been given a healthy boost thanks to a free update from developer Free Lives.

Terra Nil Heatwave is a pretty hefty pack that could qualify as a full DLC, but is being introduced as part of a free update for one of the most distinctive city builders on Steam. Its new, arid region will bring fresh challenges to the table across three maps: the Parched Dunes, Canyon Peaks, and Fracked Floodplain. On top of that comes a total of 13 additional animals, ranging from crocodiles and elephants to hyenas and vultures, alongside improvements to ensure creatures show up more naturally and stick around for longer.

"The Heatwave update is kind of our version of closing the loop and getting the version of Terra Nil we always imagined," lead designer Sam Alfred explains. "Fire in Terra Nil in the past has always been framed as a good thing, it's a necessary, natural process. Part of the reason we called this 'Heatwave' is because we wanted to show that fire is also destructive. Especially in the current climate crisis, wildfires have been hugely damaging."

The Parched Dunes is a swampy river delta located on the edge of a desert, inspired by the Okavango Delta in Botswana. Canyon Peaks will force you to deal with massive changes in elevation like those found in the Grand Canyon, with a similar gap that bisects the level and forces you to build a bridge across. Finally, the Fracked Floodplain is a reminder "that there are bad actors out there," putting you in charge of a land that's been devastated by the controversial fossil-fuel extraction method.

There's also some new tech to toy around with, including a friendly, remote-control land recycling bot, and the Xerophytium, a building that specializes in restoring cactus biomes. There's also a photography mode that lets you take snaps of animals in your newly crafted natural habitats, and will even score you for particularly nice pictures of your landscapes.

The Terra Nil Heatwave update is out now. You can buy the full game for $24.99 / £20.99. Simply head here if you're ready to restore the world. "Now it's the game we always thought it could be," Alfred concludes.

Once you've saved the planet, take some time to enjoy more of the best relaxing games that we recommend in 2025. You might also fancy an upgrade to the best gaming monitor to make sure it looks as pretty as possible.

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