Developer: BEHEMUTT
Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4 & 5, Switch (Reviewed), Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
Genre: Simulation, Strategy
Publisher: HypeTrain Digital
Nova Lands is a 2D open-world factory building, exploration, and island management game. A game very similar to Nova Lands would be Forager or Trove. Nova Lands is, developed by BEHEMUTT and published by HypeTrain Digital. This review; is done for the Switch, but the game is available for the PC, PlayStation and Xbox.
Nova Lands is a single-player game where you have landed on land amongst the stars, and now it is up to you to explore, expand, and manage the automation of your industry. You have the equipment; that you start with, which you can use to upgrade and build more tools for complete automation. The mission is to go through several islands and fully automate them! As you start the game, you are brought to a character customization menu with a few unlocked and locked skins.
The controls for Nova Lands on the Switch are really simple to get used to. As you start; the game, you are shown the controls with the general basics of what needs to be done. Continuing onwards, it; is easy to pick up on what other controls do even though they were not highlighted at the beginning of the game. There is no delay in the controls, and using the analog stick on the switch controller works smoothly; when aiming in this game.
The art style for Nova Land is 2D pixel-art themed. Everything about the game is very bright and vibrant, with lots of; colours to populate the strange island you have inhabited. The game is not entirely out of pixels but has some exceptions, which makes the game look unique. For instance, the water and border of the islands have no distinct pixels showing but rather just the full body. The graphics are bright, and the sprites are adorable, really bringing the game to life. The animation pairs really well with the visuals of this game, creating a nice; blend for the environment. I also like how you can see the shadow of the clouds as they slowly pass by. The attention to detail is very vivid, even with simple objects and tools used. I like how, with the visuals, the soundtrack adds a funky yet futuristic vibe to the game. The music varies from high-pitched synthed to mellow alien UFO sounds blended together. The music just adds more of a relaxing vibe to the game, especially with the entire resource grinding. The sound effects of the game really tie in that sci-fi edge to the game.
The main focus of the game; is for you to gather; resources, explore areas and completely automate your island. With this game specifically, it takes time as you have to do a lot of; resource grinding and levelling up to fully automate a machine or mechanism. Because the game mainly consists of that type of in-game progression, it can get a bit boring over time but is very convenient for when you, wanna start playing again, as you can just pick up and go. The game first mainly starts with; you collecting rocks and sticks, which you use to build furnaces. As you start to build your equipment, you can unlock further recipes and skill points to help with your character’s progression. As you progress further into the game, you can produce resources such as iron, copper, and steel which help you make even better and bigger machines.
As the game is an open-world RPG game, you encounter many different NPCS on various islands you visit. Each NPC has a specific interaction and can help; by giving you certain materials you may need. The world in this game is split up into many different islands, and it’s; not so easy for you to go from island to island. Before getting to that stage, you need to build a machine that lets you travel over; to the other islands. Different islands have various biomes and unique materials that will help with the automation of your island. You need to explore the islands as they each have unique items, treasures and secrets that can only; make you progress further. Besides materials and NPCS, you can also encounter mobs and bosses. Personally, I would say it would be best to avoid any bosses early game as they are extremely difficult to take down, so once you have a decent amount of items upgraded, then you would be ready to take down the bosses. Other mobs spawn on islands and can drop useful; materials.
What I like about the game is that you do have the option to do everything by yourself, but the gameplay is better when you reach automation as it helps you reach the end of the game quicker and serves the actual purpose of the game. Personally, I loved how the game was very straightforward. With; the idea of automation management, you’d think it would be difficult to grasp the concept; but the game was calm and easygoing. The game can truly, get you lost in a lot of; resources and levelling up grinds.
If; you want to play a game where you can explore, fight, and expand your industry to complete automation in a game with a relaxing soundtrack and beautiful visuals. A game where you can expand your research and learn the best of the best, meet new people and encounter many bosses. Then you definitely have to go check out Nova Lands!
Overall: 7.5/10
This is S & S. We are world game explorers. We play games. We have played over 10,000+ games! We travel, we write reviews AND we play more games!!!!
