Terroir is a new game to add to the readings of Tycoon lovers, mainly for a wine country like Spain!
I had the opportunity to test the game in advance and discover this simulation that smells like grapes.
I am starting a new game, this is done in three potential difficulties, I for my part opted for the easy mode, which has already proved to be much more difficult than I expected. So I can't imagine the challenge that the ultimate difficulty represents!
The only configuration of the game comes in the choice of the name of my vineyard and I opt for Games Managers in a very unoriginal way, I grant you that.
I find myself in the game world, presented in the form of tiles, each of which is either a forest, or a lake, or my domain, or a place where it is possible to plant grapes (also arriving in several qualities). The prices of the tiles obviously depend on the utility, it will cost less to buy a lake tile than a tile with the best soil for the grape.
The tutorial is presented in the form of tooltips, supplemented by a real encyclopedia of texts detailing all the possibilities of the simulation.
And there is a lot to know! After two bankruptcies, I still have a hard time understanding all the secrets of a good wine manager. Basically, it starts with exposure to the sun (the gauge continuously displayed on the right of the game screen), you have to keep it around 5-6 when collecting the fruits in September. From there, the wine must be prepared in several stages: pressing, fermentation and then putting into barrels. The barrels can then be kept in the cellar until they are bottled.
Bottling costs money, so you have to have the funds to do it, but this is necessary in order to be able to taste the wine to critics and then to sell it to wine merchants. The objective is obviously to obtain a five-star wine, which will be sold at a much higher price than the others. Each reseller sets their prices, which are modified by the score of confidence obtained by working regularly with that reseller.
There are a lot of variables that can influence the quality of the wine, based on 4 bars: acidity, sweetness, tannin and body. Knowing that there is also the opportunity to change these variables depending on the techniques used during preparation, then depending on the time left to age in barrels.
If we arrive by some miracle to reach the fame of 50, it is possible to upgrade your vineyard to level 2, and use other features, such as a tavern to welcome people for tasting, others barrel styles, other pressing techniques. It is also possible to hire employees to act in more detail on the final gauges of the vineyard. Unfortunately, I could not test all this part, not exceeding ten renown before the bankruptcy. So I was content to put a picnic table and a few objects without much impact on the gameplay.
At low level, where I stayed during my games, there is unfortunately not much to do, the harvest once a year in September not to be missed (or the harvest is lost), then the creation of the wine which is done in three clicks, before concluding with its resale, which is carried out in batches and can therefore be managed in one or two clicks. The rest of the time, the game is just watching your finances fall inexorably towards the end. Despite everything, I had a good time on this pleasant little game, with rustic graphics, much more difficult to master than it seems! A real challenge therefore for players who have nothing against a cushy rhythm.
