Game On: Building the perfect ecosystem, one card at a time

A review of Bitmap Galaxy’s Preserve, a card-based world builder

To put it simply, Preserve is like Rollercoaster Tycoon for nature and the environment. Instead of building a theme park, you’re shaping the world, and instead of making money, you’re earning points by carefully designing terrains and habitats for wildlife.

Despite its straightforward and pleasant terraforming experience, the makers of Preserve have achieved a surprising level of nuance and detail through its implementation of cards and simple game mechanics.

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Preserve offers a well-rounded experience by providing both a classic mode, where players can spend hours crafting their landmasses, and a puzzle mode, where specific challenges need to be solved to achieve a certain number of points.

This variety keeps gameplay fresh and engaging. The game mechanics are impressively well thought out, allowing players to carefully plan everything from adding new landmasses to creating specific forms of vegetation or terrain. Whether you choose to “solve” the game like a resource management challenge or focus on building an idyllic, picturesque world, Preserve offers a satisfying experience for both types of players.

Within the game’s many possibilities also lie subtle mechanics where you can combine specific forms of vegetation to release specific kinds of wildlife and form habitats and then merge habitats to have more wildlife. However, merging too many habitats can be counterproductive and thus the game requires you to marshal your cards carefully.

I especially like the lake and river cards and the opportunities they offer. I am not going to dive into too much detail but let’s just say I have spent hours in the classic mode working to achieve the perfect mix.

Another aspect of Preserve that truly stands out is its ability to immerse you in a state of both satisfaction and flow. Hours can easily slip away as you tackle the various challenges or simply spend a leisurely afternoon experimenting with the different cards. This could very well be the perfect game for a lazy weekend afternoon.

I rarely review games in early access, and Preserve is only my second – the first being Hades. There’s a lot to appreciate here, but as the game undergoes its final polish, I hope the developers take the time to fine-tune the controller support, especially if a future console launch is on the cards, and tap into the potential of haptic feedback.

That said, Preserve has plenty to offer. If you enjoy peaceful world-building games where terraforming is all about finding the right balance, this could be a great pick. At just Rs.552 (with the discount valid until August 22), it’s a purchase you won’t regret.

Sneak Peek:

Title: Preserve

Developer: Bitmap Galaxy, published by Grindstone

Game Type: Single Playerworld building “ecogame”with strategy elements

Platforms: Microsoft Windows

Price: Rs. 552 on Steam

Verdict (all scores out of 10):

Innovative Gameplay: 8

Game Handling & Quality: 7.5

Value for Time: 9

Value for Money: 8

Overall: 8.12

– What Stands Out

· There’s a certain calmness and simplicity in how terraforming is implemented in this game. I really appreciate the game mechanics for merging habitats and balancing wildlife.

· Time vanishes as you play this game. As you tinker with the right mix of cards and discover the perfect synergies, you’re very likely to experience a deep sense of satisfaction, flow and joy.

– Fails to impress

· There are a few issues that could use some fine-tuning, especially with Xbox controller support. I also feel that more could have been done to utilize the haptics of the controller for in-game actions.

· I might be nitpicking, but the background score lacks a bit of identity and doesn’t quite elevate the overall game experience here.