Watching action movies I noticed that the main character very often has to demonstrate above-average swimming skills. Wanting to experience the thrill of each such scene, I too hold my breath to see if I could survive in his shoes. Testing the limits of possibility always evokes excitement, but it's not so addictive that I'd like to buy a week's stay in a shack-type apartment somewhere in the center of the Amazon jungle. Looking for a way to test my survival skills while eliminating the risk of starving to death, I came across the genre of survival games, specifically Wild Terra Online. Will the still emerging child of the manufacturer Juvty Worlds provide the desired experience? We'll see in a moment.
The Long Way
The game is not yet in its final version, so we can get access to it only by purchasing Early Accesses, the price of which as of the date of this text ranges from 25 to several hundred zlotys. The colossal price difference results from the initial package, which we get right after logging in. At the very beginning of the game, a malicious pay-to-win mode creeps in, which may discourage many players. Another reason for the exorbitant prices is the fact that the creators use their own resources during the creation, so the profits are used for the development of the game. In my opinion, buying an expensive package borders on madness, because at this stage of development we have no guarantee that the final version of the game will be stable. I had the pleasure to test the production in version "0.8.38", and I also reviewed the fixes made in earlier patches. The developers wrestle with many gameplay issues, including some that are rooted right at the core, such as movement. However, watching footage from the early days one can see a clear progression. Step-by-step corrections gradually reduce the size of the problem. Let's move on to gameplay.
A mine of knowledge
Every time you log in a short note appears. In many productions, this moment serves to convey a small hint that makes it easier to understand particular gameplay elements. However, a brief note when logging into Wild Terra Online only informs us that we may be struggling with a lack of fluidity through the early stages of development. Warning allowed me to prepare for later inconveniences. Despite meeting all the requirements of the game with each sudden change of movement direction, the gameplay stood still for a moment. Bugs of this type can be quite annoying, but they do not prevent the game. At the start there is a short tutorial, a collection of just a few images, which presents the complete basics of the game. "That red is life, green is energy", this information accompanied by other golden rules unfortunately did not provide any interesting. After switching off the tutorial comes the moment when I, in my program on one of the less popular channels, jump out of a parachute to plunge into the depths of the jungle.
Improvise
Nothing. This is what happens after the first and last windows disappear at the beginning of the game. I look at the interface looking for a helpful hint while my character freezes in his pants. The panel is quite simple, the "Architecture" and "Crafting" tabs contain all the necessary items, however, most of them are locked and unfortunately there is no explanation how to try to get them. During my search I came across one extremely surprising option. I think Wild Terra is the first game where I saw an option to commit suicide.
Adapt
While traveling through peaceful lands you can pass many infrastructures, however, not being their owner I couldn't interact with them at all. After hours of aimless wandering, collecting stones and chasing rabbits, I started to get lost, both in the journey itself and in the actions. Lack of minimap completely deprived me of orientation, but I guess that's what developers intended, to make the gameplay more realistic. The bigger problem was the lack of objective. I didn't know what exactly to do to take full advantage of this MMO. This is probably an inherent feature of survival games, however, with a production such as Wild Terra I lacked specific tasks, which soon discouraged me from playing.
See for yourself
Wild Terra is a production with an interesting idea, however, its current format did not convince me to stay on the servers a while longer. The huge possibilities it offered are a solid reason to take a look at the game again when the final version is released. An interesting idea would be to create a browser version, so that players could enjoy the game on larger mobile devices. Unfortunately, Wild Terra didn't convince me in its current form, but that doesn't mean it's not worth collecting a few gems yourself.
