Necesse
When Minecraft, RimWorld, Forager and Terraria have a four-way love child, somehow.
Necesse
Build, quest, and conquer across an infinite procedurally generated world. Play alone or with friends as you establish a settlement and explore deep dungeons, fight monsters and bosses, mine rare ores, craft magical equipment, recruit specialists for your colony, and more! - Necesse on Steam
Introduction
Necesse released in 2019, I added it to my library in 2023, and I genuinely don’t know why I hadn’t played it until now. It brings together all of the elements I like in various other games - and while I generally don’t like to make the comparison that ‘this game is like that game but’, I’m making an exception this time: Necesse is like, if Minecraft, RimWorld, Forager and Terraria all got together for an immensely wonderful yet confusing night and somehow ended up with a four-way love child.
Though I refer to these four games, Necesse is a gorgeous and amazing game in its own right. The link my brain makes isn’t about where Necesse got its inspiration so much as it is about the feeling it gives me. Coming from me, being in the same lineup as those four genuinely is the purest compliment I could give a game. It isn’t suprising that Necesse is shaping up to be one of those games that I get super invested in, play intensely for a while, then put down and return to every once in a while by means of a comfort game.
Keep in mind that Necesse is officially still in early access, yet it’s so expansive and has this big of a fan base and modding base already.
Storyline
In Necesse, there’s not so much a grand story to follow as there is a big, open world inviting you to make your own adventures. You wash up on an island, meet a helpful Elder who points you in the right direction with some quests, and then it is pretty much up to you.
Gameplay
You explore the island and its huge underground caves, collect resources, fight bosses, build settlements, recruit villagers, and slowly expand your little corner of the world.
When you think you’re done with this island - settlement built, caves explored, quests completed, and the gathering of resources largely automated and in the capable hands of your settlers - there are other islands to discover.
Some of them will be the same biome as the Forest you landed on, where you can expect the same resources and mobs, but given the procedurally generated nature of the game, your experience will be different enough to be worth the exploration.
More interesting though, are the other biomes now available to you: the quest nudges you in the direction of the frost biome but you might as well choose swamp or desert first.
Maybe you got lucky, found a map and now know where the pirates are hanging out. Will you leave your settlers in the safety of the settlement, or do you arm them to the teeth and take them along for a good fight with potentially great rewards? All up to you.
Atmosphere
TL;DR this game is gorgeous.
They did everything right, in my opinion. Adorable, cosy pixel graphics that definitely remind of other visually beautiful games like Stardew Valley and Terraria. The different furniture sets give you enough variation to give each settler their own personal style if you’re so inclined, or you can just build everything in the same wood or stone, whichever way you prefer.
The music team behind Necesse deserves a standing ovation as well. They’ve not only done a wonderful job at creating an immersive general background music, they’ve also included tons of vinyls that allow you to build your own playlist of background music you want to hear in your settlement or when you’re out and about exploring.
Tutorial
The tutorial is pretty straight-forward.
It teaches you the basics of the game - the good old chop tree, build pickaxe, yearn for the mines treatment, can’t go wrong with a classic like that.
The tutorial then sends you to the Elder to learn more about the game.
Each newly generated world comes with an Elder and his house. He’ll be the one giving you instructions on what to do, pointing you in the general direction of your next boss. He’s also your in-game wiki, with all the knowledge you could possibly ask for.
A well-integrated tutorial system that is super immersive and skippable.
Perfect score!
Modding
Sometimes, when you first see a game, you can at a glance tell that this is going ot have a big modding community. Necesse is one of those games, and the Steam Workshop does not disappoint.
I haven’t personally played with mods yet - I am 220% sure I will at some point, but I want to discover the game vanilla first.
A quick look through the assortment confirms my speculation: there are mods that add a little quality of life, like bigger stack sizes or some fixes for existing visual bugs, as well as gigantic mods that add a whole lot of gameplay on their own, completely changing the way you experience the game.
My prediction is that Necesse will live a long, healthy life supported by both the devs’ dedication to continuously expand and optimise the game, as well as the modders who are pouring their heart and soul into their mods.
Thank you for that!
TL;DR
Necesse is a cozy, chaotic blend of exploration, settlement building, boss fighting, and pixel-perfect vibes. No set storyline, just a huge open world ready for your adventures. It's already rich and expansive despite still being in Early Access, with a thriving modding scene and tons of potential for long-term play. If you like games like Minecraft, Terraria, Forager, or RimWorld, you’ll probably fall head over heels into this one too.
Rambling Reviews is now on Discord! Join us to hype about games, too!