Necesse Review: Terraria Meets Rimworld In A Survival Sim Hybrid
It started as a survival game, and ended up a colony simulator. Go figure.
Developer/publisher: Fair Games ApS
Conquer the lands, dungeons, and other biomes in the procedurally generated survival game Necesse. While I came in expecting a survival game similar to Terraria, I ended up discovering a colony sim like Rimworld.
Disclosure: I received a free review copy of this product from https://www.keymailer.co
What Necesse Borrows From Terraria and Rimworld
And how it makes it its Own
If you read a certain prior work of mine, you probably know my thoughts on survival games and my complicated relationship with them. That being said, this doesn’t mean that I’m not interested in the genre, as I always dive into the genre every so often to see if one hooks me. So, when I saw Necesse, ironically around the time I was playing Rimworld, the focus on settlements and combat piqued me.
At first glance, it’s easy to say that you get some Terraria feeling from its aesthetics. I thought about it as a top-down Terraria, especially with how the combat and gameplay play out. I was mashing left-click to swing my sword quicker, getting close so my boomerang comes back quicker, and I was mining, chopping wood, and crafting.
You get some help from Jared, the tutorial fellow, and his place is pretty nice and cozy enough that I settled there and expanded on it.
It felt like I was enjoying a competent survival game; it checked every block, it was accessible with quests that guide you, the cave’s entrance is a ladder nearby, and both building and crafting were very simple
Venturing around the cave, slaying vampires and goblins, getting my minecart going. Everything was seamless and simple.
On the surface, it felt like a quick-paced survival game, but after the combat, it gets pretty different.
Terraria But As A City Planner
I’ll put the rooms here, food over there… Wait, where do I put the roads?!
As you place down your flag and name your settlement, then go on adventures, people will visit your settlement, marking an opportunity to recruit helping hands. Depending on who it is, they will ask for a variety of things, from only money to a specific amount of resources. After you give them what they want, they’ll become part of your community.
And they become helping hands by being able to do some:
Hauling: Moving and picking up items.
Crafting: Crafting recipes at workshops.
Forestry: Chopping down and planting trees in forestry zones.
Farming: Harvesting and plating crops, berry bushes and fruit trees.
Fertilize: Fertilize crops and fertilize zones.
Husbandry: Milking, sheering, and slaughtering animals in husbandry zone and harvesting apiaries.
Fishing: Someone has to get some food.
Hunting: Someone has to get some food. (Land edition)
From what I gathered (HA!), each settler can perform basic tasks—from hauling to farming, with some being able to do more specialized work, such as those listed after fertilize. Be sure to set the zones for crafting, harvesting, forestry, and all that good resource gathering.
You’re also able to set defense zones, tell them where to go, restrict areas, equip them with gear, set their diets, and probably more stuff I’ve yet to discover. What I found super useful was setting chests for specific items, such as materials, food, equipment—and having settlers automatically haul whatever it is they got into a specific chest.
That’s especially useful considering that your settlers can get upset for different reasons, such as the room being too small or being too hungry, so have that food chest stocked up every time.
Keep your people fed, equipped, let them know what they should prioritize, and if you’re having difficulties with bosses or whatnot, tell them to join you on the adventure. But remember to have people around, raids will happen, so be on guard.
Is The Settlement Bustling?
Oh. It’s Bustling.
From the game’s trailer, and other gameplay I’ve seen, this game gets kind of intricate with its management, and hectic like Terraria’s combat, the further down you go—or up? Or different dimensions?
Expanding your settlement means getting more workers, having to feed them, producing resources, and ultimately forming a party of strong people willing to venture into the depths of… Anywhere, really.
And you’ll need them, because these bosses have tons of health, deal a good amount of damage, summon minions, and fill the screen with bullets, spells, and chaos. It’s basically a dungeon/raid.
While the more common aspect of the genre was easy to stomach—the exploring, crafting, and gathering—for me, the settlement management was a little intimidating. Recruiting visitors was simple, but it was getting everything organized and functioning required my brain power.
Organizing the chests and designating them for specific items, getting workers to start gathering and hauling things, setting priorities and my zones, and overall, just managing the settlement. It wasn’t hard, it’s just the depth that I didn’t expect, but warmly welcomed.
And while I didn’t dive into the multiplayer, you’re able to play this with numerous people. The description of the game says that you’re able to establish colonies with your friends, or even compete with them. And with the roadmap promising a seamless infinite worlds, and more features for settlements—among other things, those servers must be a blast, especially for role-players.
I could see this being a great pick for someone who would like to organize their town, not through the perspective of a God, but through the eyes of a working hand.
Micromanaging fans could get a kick out of this, but those looking for a more casual experience can enjoy it, but it could lose the cozy aspect down the line.
Should You Play Necesse if You Like Survival Game or Colony Sims?
In short:
Necesse is an interesting mashup of Terraria’s combat with Rimworld’s colony management.
The gameplay is what you’d expect from a survival game with its gathering, and building, but has fast-paced combat and big boss fights.
I’d recommend it for players who enjoy survival games but want to be able to build a functioning and breathing city.
Necesse is currently available in Early Access on Steam, wheree it’s receiving regular updates, and I posted the roadmap below.
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