Developer: Bitmap Galaxy
Publisher: Grindstone
Platform: PC, Switch, PS4, PS5,Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S
Tested on: PC
Preserve – Review
We’ve seen quite a few games about the importance of nature preservation, but they typically don’t bring positive stories. Games like Endling or AWAY typically emphasize the negative impact of humanity on the natural world. While we understand and support the message that those games are conveying, we do typically play games to unwind and take a break from the stress of the real world. It’s refreshing to see a cozy puzzle game like Preserve that focuses on positivity instead, while still maintaining that emphasis on the importance of nature preservation. Oh, and it has dinosaurs too, which is always a win in our book. Let’s take a detailed look at what Preserve has to offer.
Story
There is no actual story in Preserve. The game does carry an important message about the importance of biomes and ecosystems. Apart from short blurbs that tie the synergy between animals and nature to the game’s mechanics though, the narrative aspects of Preserve are left to the insight of players.
Graphics
Following a similar visual design philosophy to games like Evolution and Wingspan, Preserve takes some of the most beautiful aspects of nature and applies a board game aesthetic to them. This works up to a certain level. The card art is gorgeous, and the different biomes look great from a distance, but when you zoom in, things start to look a bit too simplistic and toy-like. We should also note that moving the game’s camera can feel iffy. While this doesn’t harm the gameplay aspects of Preserve, it does make the game’s camera mode a bit more frustrating than it should be. On the other hand, the game’s performance is buttery smooth, likely owing to the simplicity of those toyetic visuals.
Sound
Soothing instrumental music plays as you are building ecosystems. There are slight variations on the same musical themes depending on the biome that you are playing in. As a whole, Preserve’s soundtrack underlines the relaxing and carefree nature of the gameplay. There is no voice acting present, but each of the biomes is brimming with the sounds of nature, including the calls of the different animals that you populate your ecosystems with.
Gameplay
Like any good puzzle game of this nature, Preserve’s mechanics are easy to understand but hard to master. The goal is to build a thriving ecosystem as large as possible by placing fauna, flora, and other natural features on a hex-based board. You start out with a handful of cards that either represent animals or plants, or that can change the aspects of specific hex tiles. Using the latter, you can raise or lower terrain, for example, or turn dry soil into fertile grasslands by making it rain. Every addition to your budding ecosystem makes your score go up. Reach a points threshold, and you’re dealt new cards or are able to expand your board. The score you need to reach grows exponentially larger, and clever management of your resources is the key to success. You’ll need to connect three tiles of the same type to create a habitat, with different animals having different preferences when it comes to these makeshift homes for them. Placing more terrain tiles of the same type next to each other creates larger habitats, in which you can place more animals, and having multiple animals in a single biome rewards you with a score multiplier. However, there is a set limit to how many animals can be placed in the same habitat, so it’s important to make sure that individual habitats don’t grow too large. There is no time limit of any sort, so players can take their time to plan out the best possible strategy. It’s all fairly standard stuff, making it easy to understand even if you’re new to this kind of game.
That’s not to say that Preserve is an easy game. There are four different biomes to choose from, and each comes with its own particular subset of challenges. The Savannah biome requires you to create an environment that alternates between winding rivers and dry grassland, for example, whereas the Ocean biome tasks you with juggling deep trenches and shallow mangrove waters. While the core mechanics remain the same, the biomes feel distinct and require different strategies. Adding to this is that the cards you receive are randomized, meaning no two runs will play out exactly the same. The downside of that is that there can be runs where the hand that you’re dealt to start with can be one that doesn’t even let you reach the first threshold. A bad hand can ruin a new run before it really gets going. Fortunately, the game quickly lets you start another run, and Preserve’s replay value is very high because of this. There’s also an online leaderboard, which further pushes players towards improving their ecosystem further and further.
The game’s ecosystem-building ruleset is Preserve’s bread and butter, but there are additional modes present as well. There is a Daily Challenge, which does exactly what it says on the tin, and a Puzzle Mode. The Puzzle Mode, in particular, presents you with a specific set of cards and a limited number of tiles. You’ll need to place your cards in a very particular way to achieve the target score. Compared to the main gameplay mode, Puzzle Mode is less meaty, but it can really challenge players with how tricky each individual puzzle can be. Rounding things out is Preserve’s Creative Mode, which lets you build the ecosystem of your dreams without having to worry about scoring. This all adds up to a fairly sizable package, which is well worth the €12.49 RRP. From a gameplay perspective, Preserve doesn’t feel like it brings anything new or revolutionary to the table, but the inherently high replay value, easy-to-understand mechanics, and wealth of content will still delight puzzle game enthusiasts.
Conclusion
A streamlined, accessible game that offers plenty of strategic depth, Preserve doesn’t bring anything new to the table, but it does what it sets out to do exceedingly well. Occasionally, you’re dealt a bad hand of cards, and the camera didn’t always agree with how we wanted it to move, but these are very minor grievances, all things considered. Preserve is a fantastic little game that we can see ourselves returning to time and time again. Plus, dinosaurs!
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