TerraTech Legion transforms the series’ customizable combat vehicles into an aggressive bullet heaven built around ramming through enemy swarms.

*TerraTech Legion.* Credit: Payload Studios / Mythwright

Payload Studios built the original TerraTech on cobbling together weird little combat vehicles, then driving them across open worlds. TerraTech Worlds, still in Early Access, pushed the idea further. Now TerraTech Legion takes that same toybox and jams it into a survivors-like structure inspired by Vampire Survivors. It’s a great fit.

Most survivors-likes boil down to positioning and cooldown management while your attacks fire automatically. TerraTech Legion still does that, though steering a giant cobbled-together machine through swarms changes the rhythm immediately. Driving through enemies while boosters kick in and saw blades chew through bots feels good in a very physical way. A lot of the mods and upgrades you can bolt onto your car let you tweak acceleration, grip, and speed in ways that make builds feel completely different to drive. The boost, at least with most characters, is designed around ramming enemies instead of dodging attacks like a typical bullet heaven game. It makes the game feel more aggressive than most of the genre.

The vehicle building reminds me of the Gummi Ship mechanics from the Kingdom Hearts series. Rather than an ancillary system, TerraTech Legion turns that customization into the entire progression loop. You attach weapons, armor, wheels, boosters, and utility parts block by block, watching your ugly little car expand into a death machine. Chests constantly throw new parts at you, and almost every run results in some ridiculous design. I loved being able to rip apart sections of my vehicle and rebuild them on the fly instead of getting locked into early decisions. The rare cursed parts add some tension because they permanently lock into place once installed, though they showed up infrequently enough that they never dominated a run.

Payload Studios made a smart call by keeping the building expressive instead of realistic. Sightlines matter; it’s possible to place two guns such that one blocks another’s fire radius. Beyond that, the game avoids getting bogged down in simulation-heavy nonsense. Weight and physics never become annoying busywork. Just stick pieces wherever you want, balance be damned. Build stupid nonsense and it’ll still drive.

The heavily armored Jean Pierre ended up being my favorite character because he encourages reckless ramming builds. Smashing directly through enemy packs with drills and reinforced plating strapped to the front of your vehicle feels completely different from playing the other characters. There are only a handful of characters, though each one dramatically changes the feel of a run.

Raid missions were another pleasant surprise. Optional enemy bases pop up during stages, letting you risk battling a larger horde in exchange for better rewards. I just wish there were more high-risk side objectives scattered throughout the planets to add more variety beyond straight survival.

The biggest thing holding TerraTech Legion back is presentation. The weapons do their job mechanically, though few have the audiovisual punch you want from a bullet heaven. Even with different terrain gimmicks and layouts, most planets become visually interchangeable outside their color palette. The game stays readable, it just starts to blur together visually. The UI, on the other hand, looks great. Bright, colorful, and easy to read.

In my testing, I ran into crashes on Steam Deck when launching the game docked at 1920x1080 on an external display. Outside of that issue, performance was smooth even on higher settings.

TerraTech Legion succeeds because building your vehicle stays fun long after the enemy waves stop being surprising. Every chest can completely change the shape, speed, or weapon flow of your machine, and few survivors-likes make experimentation feel this tactile. The vehicle building is strong enough that I already want more planets, parts, and characters.

Available on: Steam, Xbox Series X|S

Release date: April 30, 2026

Final Verdict:

Recommended