Nested Lands might be one of the coolest survival game concepts I’ve seen in a while... and also one of the most frustrating. The premise is that you're rebuilding society after a supernatural, sentient plague wiped out the entire world.

The land is rotting, corpses lie discarded on the ground, and strange cultists wander the woods. Yet somehow... it all still feels weirdly tame. Because every time the game gets close to doing something interesting - it immediately pulls back.

Video version of this review (~12 minutes)

Perplexing Plague

The clearest example of this is the plague itself, because this thing should be terrifying. It doesn’t just spread quietly through the air and decimate villages. It blights the land itself - leaving these weird, bulbous tumors in its wake. And if you get infected? It straight up laughs while you bleed out!

As soon as I saw this, I was 100% on board with what Nested Lands was doing. But in a sentence that'll become very common throughout this review, the game is so early in development that it just doesn't do enough with the concept. The plague is everywhere and there are hints that it comes from some kind of ancient horror sleeping beneath the waves, which is an obvious Lovecraft nod I'm again 100% on board with, but none of it goes anywhere.

The plague is just kind of an obstacle - nothing more than a slightly strange-looking rock you can either avoid or blow up. Nested Lands doesn't do anything interesting with it, which I found quite puzzling since the concept is genuinely cool. Why aren't there any plague zombies or mutated animals? Something to really sell the supernatural terror and make you want to cleanse the land?

Instead, all you'll find is a small variety of goofballs that wouldn't be out of place in a Monty Python sketch. It doesn't matter if we're talking about bandits, plague cultists, or members of an evil church trying to cure the plague through any means necessary - they all basically look and act the same. Which is to say, like drunken British tourists.

I hope you like seeing these guys, because there's a lot of their clones out there

Combat Conundrum

But if there's only really one enemy type, is fighting them actually fun? Not really. It mostly boils down to mashing left click with melee weapons, or aiming for heads and going on a Call of Duty style killstreak with the much, much more powerful bow. Theoretically you can also block and evade attacks, but since the enemies are relentless, that just means you'll die tired.

Yet despite how janky it is, I still had a decent bit of fun clearing enemy camps as a Skyrim stealth archer. There's something innately satisfying about going 'boom headshot' over and over again, even if the actual shooting isn't all that smooth.

But can the combat be improved through updates? Maaaaaybe? Right now it's so basic that nothing short of a complete rework can truly redeem it, and that's going to take A LOT of work. So for the foreseeable future, this is what you get.

We have liftoff

It Takes a Village

What works a lot better is the settlement-building. It's super basic and not really doing enough with the concept, but watching a thriving village sprout from nothing but muddy ground and hard work is genuinely satisfying.

As with most other survival-crafting games, the early stages require you to do a lot of slow, manual labor. But as you get more and more villagers you'll be able to automate most tasks, until eventually you ascend to medieval nobility and just kind of observe as your underlings slave away for your profit.

But you can't abuse them too much, because they have needs and they are not afraid to leave if you mistreat them. And I really like that, because trying to keep all these plates spinning made me feel like I was overcoming a massive challenge and slowly but surely making a name for myself.

And I have to commend Nested Lands here because it strikes the balance just right. It was never easy to get the next big thing as the material costs were generally high, but it was also never actually grindy or annoying. So despite some major issues, the game kept me hooked for about 15 hours as I was more than happy to bounce between building and exploration.

Food tastes better when other people have to work for it

The World Beyond

And what's the exploration like? Well, it's a cool idea, but the game isn't doing enough with the concept. Right now the world is divided into two islands full of baddies, plague hotspots, and more loot than you could ever hope to carry home. And as far as I'm concerned, that's all it really needs to be - as long as each location has something unique to offer.

But this is where Nested Lands stumbles. While each major location is visually distinct, none of them offer anything different. It's always the exact same enemies, and always the exact same pile of random low-tier loot. There are no upgrades to find outside of quests, no special items hidden within enemy strongholds, and no big bad bosses to smash your face against. The islands may be vast, but they're as deep as a puddle.

This does help with the atmosphere, though. Running through the endless woods at night, accompanied only by the rustling wind and the laughter of crows, is genuinely unnerving. It's why I kept thinking Nested Lands would eventually pull the curtain and reveal it was a horror game all along, and why I was sad when it never happened. It would've been incredible if after a couple of hours all those random bandit camps just disappeared and got replaced with something much, much worse. Now that would've been fun to uncover!

There's cool locations... but nothing in them

Struggling Story

Instead, the only thing that really pushes you along is the brief story which - recite it with me - is still super basic and not really doing enough with the concept. Which is strange since the whole thing is surprisingly high effort for how simple it is. For example, there's voice acting for both your character and all the NPCs - and it's not actually bad. It's cheesy, but it works.

The problem is that the story is told in tiny chunks separated by 15-20 minutes of running. You talk to an NPC, trek to the opposite end of the world to read a pamphlet, and then run back. Every. Single. Time. Even if the story was excellent that would test my patience, but sadly Nested Lands has chosen to ignore its amazing subtext about ancient demons beneath the waves in favor of an extremely mundane 'humans are the real monsters' kind of narrative.

Now don't get me wrong. You don't need supernatural elements to make a story interesting. Just look at Kingdom Come Deliverance. But pulling that off is a lot harder than just going "Hey look! Here's a cool fishman for you to stab!"

That would've been a much more interesting story to follow

Rags to Riches

But to get into the proper fishman-stabbing mood you'll need some good gear, so how does Nested Lands' power progression feel? Sigh... you know the answer.

Theoretically the system is fine. As you explore further from your base you'll get access to better materials, which can then be used to create better weapons and armor. So what's the problem? The upgrades generally keep pace with the enemies, so despite having the best sword in the game, I never felt any more powerful than I was at the very beginning. I also would've liked to see more special effects to differentiate each weapon family, as right now swords, spears, knives and greatswords all play pretty much exactly the same.

Armor is slightly better because it not only increases your defense, but also keeps you warmer during the cold nights, which means you can explore further without needing to huddle next to a fire. Or you can just whip out a torch and solve the problem that way. Do you see what I mean with the concept being cool, but the execution just kind of lacking?

Torch > warm clothes

Food, Water... and Poop?

Same thing goes for your other basic needs: food, water, sleep and cleanliness. That last part is especially interesting as Nested Lands has a stealth system that relies on sight, sound... and smell! If your character reeks strongly of poo, enemies are probably going to start gagging long before they actually see you. So if you want to be a sneaky-stabber, you'll actually have to take a bath every once in a while.

It's a neat idea, but it just doesn't make enough of an impact to really matter. And neither does food or water. You get minor buffs for mixing up your diet and eating healthy, but it mostly boils down to a mundane 'press a button every 5 minutes to not die' kind of thing.

The only need that actually made me change my plans was sleep. When you're tired you run slower and your stamina regenerates much, much slower. If you stay outside too long and don't have a plan B, you're at serious risk of dying to even basic enemies, and that introduces some exciting tension to the gameplay. Do you want to push for more loot and risk a fight you might not win, or do you tuck your tail between your legs and run home? I'd love a bit more of that in the future.

Much like real life, sleep is a real highlight!

The Big Question

And now for the most important question - would I recommend Nested Lands? Not yet. I can see what the game is going for, and I've had a decent bit of fun with it, but right now it's so unfinished and unpolished that it just isn't worth investing your time into.

But do keep an eye on it! There's a glimmer of potential here. But whether that is the shine of a beautiful gemstone or the headlights of a train that's speeding straight towards us - only time will tell. Personally, I really hope it works out. There's something truly special here, even if it is covered in layers of plague.