Giant turtles in space with worlds on their backs. Pause, think, and then read that again. Of course, you’re interested in playing a game with all those things. Well, there’s no longer a need to deny yourself the pleasure as World Turtles was released into Early Access on May 1st while all of you were doing nothing on your couches.
The premise is simple, help your Meeps (the tiny little people that are trying to keep their world turtle alive) survive by building their world atop the back of a giant space turtle while it floats through space and bumps into other giant space turtles also floating through space. The game emphasises cooperation over conquest, meaning you’ll be focused more on peaceful tasks such as harvesting and building instead of sending your Meeps off to die in glorious space combat. As we slowly wind down autumn and prepare our heaters for winter, I can’t help but add more and more games to my list that give off cosy, calm vibes, and a city-builder focused more on the actual city building than the combat fits right up that alley. The space turtles are also a huge plus.
Other than the epic idea of riding space turtles, World Turtles is developed entirely by one South African game developer, Gideon Griebenow. Gideon’s development studio goes by the name of Re: COG Mission, and World Turtles is its first official game sent out into the galaxy. After working in the “real world” for almost two decades, Gideon stumbled across a Unity tutorial that brightened up his life far more than his day job did. This tutorial, and Gideon’s bravery, inspired him to leave his successful career and take on the gruelling challenge of game development. Three years, and a bit later and Gideon has something to show for it. World Turtles could be the start of something huge for Re:COG Mission; it’s been featured in PC Gamer and has won a few awards during its development process. I hope that he’s added in some classic South African voice lines for the Meeps, like “Lekker” or “Now now” when you give them an order or two. Perhaps a mode where your resources are not available for a few hours during a daily cycle, you know, things he can pull on from real-world experiences.
While it is in Early Access, I’m pretty sure we can offer some valuable, South African advice to the developer to help him in his giant space turtle journey. Support local and pick it up on Steam, currently on a 20% launch special for R148.00 here.