Voyagers of Nera (PC) Preview

It has been quite a long time since I have written any articles recently, and part of that reason is Voyagers of Nera. Not because it is a bad or long game, but because it is so addictive! While this game is still in early access and has a lot of work to be done on it, there is enough in there right now that I have become hooked! While I may not be playing the game in the way that the developers intended, I have been loving this, and I want to share with all of you what makes Voyagers of Nera such an enjoyable early access game!

For those who don’t know, Voyagers of Nera is an early access, open-world survival building game set in a mysterious, ancient world. While most of this sounds like the normal humdrum of common releases these days, the game sets itself apart by taking place in a world not dominated by rolling plains, but by a deep blue ocean! At first, that may conjure up images of Subnautica, but while that game is focused on deep-sea exploration, Voyagers of Nera is more centered on the exploration of ruins.

Throughout the world, there are islands that carry various parts of a long-gone civilization. Some are small, while others are quite impressive. Exploring these islands is key, as some of them will allow you to find advanced materials, while others will allow you to unlock brand new Spirit abilities that will make your life easier as you build and voyage across the sea.

The story of this world is somewhat hard to put together, considering that it is entirely put together via texts that you come across. From what I have read so far, there are quite a few gaps in some of the various things in the world, but they are things that are honestly a mystery to me. The one example that I can point out is a mysterious creature that has hunted me down on more than one occasion in a dark region dominated by the Deep. Despite my best attempts, I have yet to get a great screenshot of this creature. To be honest, I have tried to avoid this creature so much that I have built a bridge over the region that it calls home. Many of the Deep creatures that you will find are confined to the waters, but there are certainly plenty of threats on land that you will have to navigate.

Speaking of building, that is the core part of this game that has made it so enjoyable to me! My friend and I have spent way too many hours putting together the ideal home and experimenting with how far we could go with various structures. Some parts of it aren’t the greatest, as I attempted to build a lighthouse, but it never quite came together the way I envisioned it. However, I was able to make a ridiculously long bridge from our home island to the second region of islands.

It is quite gaudy to look at, but I do appreciate the fact that the game doesn’t hinder its construction through a build limit. The various resources for making buildings are quite strange to acquire. While wood and stone are plentiful throughout most of the world, there are certain items like clay that are extremely difficult to come across. When I first found a deposit of it, I couldn’t tell until I got next to it that it was even a resource. I’m not sure if this is by design of the developers, but I hope they will change it if it is.

Overall, I find Voyagers of Nera to be a phenomenal indie game that shows a great amount of promise. The developers are hard at work and are responding to community feedback, so I would give this game a shot if you are in the mood to build a new home in a brand-new digital landscape. My biggest wish for this game is that there can be a better way of presenting the story of the world, and perhaps giving more development on the ocean’s depths. The great thing is that the developers have so far done an update every month, so we shall see what else they have cooking. I look forward to coming back to do a full review of this game once it comes out of early access on Steam!

A PC Preview Copy of Voyagers of Nera was provided by Treehouse Games for this preview.