TerraTech Legion – The Best Indie Game of the Year

There are games you launch “just to try for a bit.” And then there are games like TerraTech Legion that suck you in like a black hole. I genuinely thought I’d play it for maybe 30–60 minutes. Check it out and move on…

…then suddenly I looked at the clock, and it was already 3 AM. My first session lasted six hours.

That probably tells you everything you need to know about this game.

TerraTech Legion is basically a mix of Vampire Survivors, vehicle building, and complete chaos. You slowly build your combat vehicle piece by piece while trying to survive endless hordes of robots. On paper, the idea may sound ridiculous. In practice? Extremely addictive.

The game has four characters: Mikela, Jean-Pierre, Sam, and Cepheid. And I’ll be honest here: not all of these characters and vehicles are equally fun to play.

For me, the best ones were definitely Mikela and Jean-Pierre. Jean-Pierre is basically a tank on wheels that bulldozes through everything. A wonderfully brutal beast. Mikela, on the other hand, relies more on stuns and luck mechanics, helping you get better parts faster.

Sam felt a bit weak at first, but once you unlock higher tiers, he becomes surprisingly good. But then there’s Cepheid…

I hate Cepheid. It’s just an awful character with terrible weapons and a terrible vehicle. The floating movement feels awkward, the whole vehicle feels weaker, and progression is much slower. Sure, upgrades improve things later on, but those first few hours felt more painful than fun. Every time I played Cepheid – first because I assumed it would be the strongest and coolest character, later simply to level it up – it felt like somebody had removed all the fun from the game. I genuinely don’t understand what the deal with this character is, or how far you need to level it before Cepheid finally becomes enjoyable.

Thankfully, as I already mentioned, the rest of the game more than makes up for it.

The biggest strength here is the building system. Every run feels completely different depending on what weapons and parts the game throws at you. One moment you’re a slow-moving laser tank blasting death in every direction, the next you’re speeding around like some kind of cosmic shopping cart with lots of rocket launchers duct-taped onto it.

And all of it genuinely affects how your vehicle behaves. How well it moves, turns, handles weight, and survives. If you place all your weapons facing forward, you’ll leave yourself exposed from the sides and rear. Some weapons only fire straight ahead, while others have full 360-degree coverage. That means every new block forces you to think carefully about placement and optimisation. This is where TerraTech Legion becomes much more than just another “bullet heaven” game.

And when hundreds of robots start charging toward you at once, rockets are flying everywhere, metal is crashing together, and the entire screen turns into one giant explosion… that’s when the classic “I can’t stop playing” feeling kicks in. And after a successful run… or a disastrous one… You immediately think: “Alright, one more run.” Then another one.

The game features four planets with different environments and enemies. Deserts, icy wastelands, lava hellscapes, and poisonous swamps. Each world comes with its own enemies and bosses. Beyond combat, the planets are filled with bases, silos, and bonuses worth hunting down. So you keep driving, shooting, collecting scrap and crates like some kind of post-apocalyptic metal scavenger.

The best thing about this game is that no two runs ever feel the same. Sometimes you get perfect loot and become a rolling death machine. Other times, you get complete garbage and desperately try to keep your rattling junk pile alive.

Every run rewards you with money, so you can improve your vehicles. New weapons, larger pickup radius, more health, bigger and stronger machines – and once you unlock a few upgrades, of course you want to do “just one more run,” right?

And if the main content somehow isn’t enough for you, the game later unlocks an endless survival mode. If you enjoy true chaos and want to test how long you can survive, that’s where the real chaos begins.

Visually, TerraTech Legion isn’t trying to be some groundbreaking technical masterpiece, but it has a perfectly solid visual style. All those block-built vehicles, endless explosions, and mountains of scrap create a really enjoyable atmosphere. Maybe the audio side could have been stronger, perhaps with a more aggressive post-apocalyptic vibe, but it gets the job done.

Overall, this is a fantastic game. If you enjoy Vampire Survivors, Brotato, or other roguelites like them, but want more building and creativity mixed into the formula, then TerraTech Legion is absolutely a game I recommend.