Terranova
- April 27, 2022
- illuminesce
- 9h median play time
Get on Steam
Get on itch.io Store"Terranova" is a single-player, Anime Interactive Fiction game set in the early 2000's, offering around 6 hours of playtime. The game follows four fangirls and their roleplay community on LimeJournal, allowing players to chat with them, form friendships, and make choices that impact one of three unique endings. The game features nostalgic instant messaging and blogging interfaces, and is filled with romance, drama, and plot twists.
Reviews
- Terranova offers a powerful and emotional experience that resonates deeply with players who have nostalgia for early 2000s internet culture, particularly those involved in roleplaying and online friendships.
- The writing is well-crafted, with relatable characters and compelling storylines that evoke real empathy and connection, making players feel as if they are part of the narrative.
- The game successfully captures the essence of online communities and the bittersweet nature of friendships, providing a fulfilling and immersive experience that many players highly recommend.
- The game can become tedious due to the excessive amount of roleplay text, which may overwhelm players and disrupt the pacing of the main story.
- There are some technical issues, such as bugs and glitches, particularly with the solitaire function and the timing of blog entries, which can detract from the overall experience.
- The lack of background music may leave some players feeling that the atmosphere is incomplete, as it could enhance the emotional impact of the storytelling.
- story15 mentions
- 40 % positive mentions
- 60 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game's story is praised for its well-crafted narrative presented in a chat format, offering a nostalgic and heartfelt exploration of teenage experiences. Players appreciate the dual storytelling approach, featuring both real-world characters and their roleplaying adventures, which creates a compelling and immersive experience. The emotional depth and relatability of the characters, along with the inclusion of trigger warnings, enhance the overall engagement with the narrative.
“The story is really heartfelt and honest.”
“I can't wait to dive back in for the other endings; thank you to the devs for letting me relive my own bittersweet teenage years through this masterpiece, I enjoyed every single moment of the experience.”
“If you enjoy interactive fiction, involved storylines, and a bit of nostalgia from around 2003, you'll love this game.”
“Pay mind to the trigger warnings if they are things that will affect you; there's nothing extremely graphic or vivid, but a lot of triggering elements come into the story because they're involved with what is happening in the characters' lives.”
“The story got me so involved wanting to know what happened to all the girls in the game; I played for three hours in my first sitting.”
“If you don't remember those things, then this game still has two very compelling parallel stories going on: the main story with the 'real world' characters and the story that they're roleplaying, which is fully fleshed-out.”
- emotional6 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game is praised for its emotional depth, evoking strong empathy and genuine feelings from players, with many expressing that it made them cry. Its clever writing and exploration of poignant themes resonate deeply, capturing both the beauty and heartbreak of the human experience. Overall, it delivers a heartfelt and honest narrative that leaves a lasting emotional impact.
“I felt real empathy for these characters, and their fates actually made me cry.”
“There are no words to describe the deep, raw emotions it made me feel.”
“The story is really heartfelt and honest.”
- graphics5 mentions
- 40 % positive mentions
- 60 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are praised for their appealing aesthetic, featuring a charming, cutesy art style reminiscent of nostalgic computer interfaces. While the visual elements are engaging and well-designed, some players feel the price may not fully reflect the overall experience. The game balances its lighthearted visuals with deeper, potentially triggering themes in the narrative.
“I totally dig the aesthetic of this game, from the sounds, the bubbly, Fisher-Price looking Windows XP layout, to the very real feeling of excitement/anxiousness I got when chatting with friends on AIM.”
“Y'all just had to lure me in with the cutesy art style and then serve me pain.”
“At worst, I can say that I felt $24.99 was a steep price to pay for the game - but on the other hand, this is a fully interactive choose-your-own-path sort of game with beautiful artwork.”
“Y'all just had to lure me in with the cutesy art style and then serve me pain.”
- music4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 75 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
The game features no background music, which some players appreciate as it allows for a more immersive role-playing experience, enabling them to listen to their own music instead. However, there are calls for a built-in music player with pre-loaded tracks and the option for players to add their own, as some users experienced technical issues when switching to external music. Overall, while the absence of music can enhance immersion, the lack of a dedicated music feature is seen as a missed opportunity.
“There's no background music, but this is actually a positive because it means you can play the first three Linkin Park albums on repeat for the true unencumbered role-playing experience.”
“My only criticism of this game is that I think a music player on the computer would've been a nice option to have, with maybe a few music tracks pre-loaded in (like royalty-free stuff at least?) and maybe with the option for the player to add their own tracks.”
“My only criticism of this game is that I think a music player on the computer would've been a nice option to have, with maybe a few music tracks pre-loaded in (like royalty-free stuff at least?) and maybe with the option for the player to add their own tracks.”
“I played the game mostly in silence, but I did tab out a few times to pull up my own music. Sadly, twice when I did that, I made the game lock up, so I lost some progress and had to replay. However, the autosave is frequent enough that even if that happens, you don't lose much progress.”
- grinding2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players appreciate the engaging character dynamics and romantic roleplay, particularly enjoying the depth of relationships. However, the excessive amount of roleplay text is seen as tedious, often interrupting the flow of the game and leading to a frustrating grinding experience that detracts from the overall enjoyment.
“The characters are so much fun, the relationships are interesting - Cherry is especially good - but it's like the game keeps feeling the need to stop itself from getting too interesting by grinding everything to a halt to suddenly do 15 to 20 minutes of roleplay that I'm just too tired to remotely care about.”
“I love the idea of these characters doing romantic roleplay and then being like 'oh wow... do I maybe actually have real feelings for the actual person behind the character?', but there's just so much roleplay text that it becomes so extremely tedious.”
- stability1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Users report that Terranova experiences some bugs, such as displaying incorrect or premature blog entries and occasional freezes. However, these issues are largely mitigated by the effective autosave feature, which helps prevent data loss.
“While Terranova is a bit buggy, it often shows the wrong blog entries or displays them early, and it occasionally locks up. However, all of these issues were resolved by its gracious autosave feature.”
“The game frequently crashes, making it frustrating to progress without losing significant progress.”
“I experienced multiple instances of the game freezing, which forced me to restart and lose my saved data.”
