Terraria Review

Before I go into what I like and don’t like about 2D sidescroller
Terraria, I should give a bit of an explanation as
to what it is. Despite the complete lack of an ad campaign, and
relatively quiet launch, Terraria was a huge success on its first day,
selling over 50,000 copies. I was intrigued, so I took a leap of faith
and gave it a shot. It was the grandest leap of faith I have ever taken,
and I don’t regret it at all.

I have heard it called many things, the most prevalent being “2D
Minecraft”. And while they do sport many of the
same elements, at its heart, Terraria is a game
about adventure. Terraria’s basic mechanics revolve
around collecting resources, and using those resources to build
shelter, weapons, tools, and all kinds of other crazy things. Every
world is different, and is randomly generated upon starting a new game,
making each playthrough different. In Terraria, the
day is perfect for gathering resources, while the night is used for
staying inside, and exploring caves. Many of you are probably thinking
that this sounds just like I described Minecraft,
but I can honestly say that there are many differences between the two
games. The main one however, is that Minecraft is a
game about creativity, whereas Terraria boasts the
largest amount of adventure game elements I have ever seen put into a
sidescroller. You won’t see massive structures and insane buildings in
Terraria. You’ll see players fending off hoards of
monsters, using magic and archery, as well as swords, to smite their
enemies. You’ll see people delving deeper into the corruption (more on
this later), only to die from an onslaught of enemies. Because that’s
what Terraria is. It’s about the thrill of discovery, and the adrenaline
rush gained from adventure. And it accomplishes both of these goals
quite well, but still has its problems.

I’ll start with the bad, because then I can get around to talking about
why I love Terraria so much. First off, it has the
same problem Minecraft had early on (before the
inclusion of achievements). The lack of a solid tutorial makes both of
these games incredibly difficult to just pick up and play. When I booted
up Terraria, I had no clue what I was doing, and
ended up resorting to keeping the wiki window open, just so it could
tell me what to do next. After the wiki thing didn’t work out, I watched
a few “Let’s Play” videos, before attempting to survive in the world of
Terraria again. The creators of
Terraria have attempted to off-set the extremely
open world by including a guide who will give you hints when you talk to
him. While this is a great idea in writing, it doesn’t pull through
when actually put into practice. Without perspective on what he is
saying, it is very hard to gather anything from his teachings, and thus
you will end up watching Youtube for quite some time before playing the
game.

Another issue I had when first playing was the difficulty. Above ground,
there are always slimes which will attack you day or night, and it
begins to get a little overwhelming at the beginning. Without proper
weapons or gear, chopping down a tree turns into an intense battle with a
giant jello mold, and while this may sound exciting, after the
5^th or 6^th time enduring
it, it becomes very mundane and annoying. The main reason there are so
many slimes, is that the gel they drop is imperative to your success,
seeing as it is used to make torches. I understand why they did it that
way, but I just wish they could’ve thought of a better way to start the
player off. That being said, as you progress through your first world
and start to gain better gear, those slimes because small nuisances and
the annoyance comes from just having to deal with them in general,
knowing how easy it is for you to kill them. The difficulty never goes
up or down, unless you start moving in those respective directions
vertically.

And that’s where things start getting interesting. One of the coolest
things about Terraria is the number of biomes that
inhabit its worlds. In total there are 6, along with multiple soil
layers, where loot flourishes. One of my favorite is the ‘Corruption’
layer, which will spread to uncorrupted lands, without the help of
sunflowers or purification powder that is. If it is not kept in check,
Corruption will spread around the world, taking over that which was once
pure. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, Corruption has wide chasms and
thorns which will rip through your armor. But it also has some of the
best loot. At the bottom of some of the chasms in the Corruption biome
lay Shadow Orbs, which are amazing in that they contain high-powered
weaponry. Shadow Orbs are worth braving the danger through the endless
corruption, and that’s where the excitement stems from.

Another feature which amazed me is the towns that your character can
essentially build. Going by the phrase “If you build it, they will
come”, if a character sets up a house for an NPC and has met certain
conditions, that NPC will move into the house, and stay for the
remainder of the world. There are a number of visitors who can inhabit
these shacks. The nurse, merchant, dryad, arms dealer and demoman are
the basic NPCs which will come to your town, though I hope to see more
included later. Each NPC brings a different ware to the table, as well
as many other items and services. As I was saying before though, you
must meet a certain condition before that NPC will arrive. For instance,
the merchant requires 50 silver before he will move in. And it is like
this for every NPC, minus the guide. They all have needs to satisfy
before they can move in.

The retro graphical style does more for the game than I would have
originally thought. While it does get a tad boring in terms of enemy
design, the style brings me back to younger days, and fuels my need for
exploration. It is almost as if it takes me back to my childhood, and in
that sense, takes me back to discovering when the world was first new
to me. Some may not enjoy it, as it isn’t pretty all the time, but I
love it. I really do.

I have spent way too many hours braving the world of
Terraria, and the more I play, the more I realize
there is to do. In fact, what surprised me most about this game was the
number of items that are actually found and crafted in the world.
According to the Terraria Wiki, in total, as of
now, there are 157 separate items, from swords to laser swords, and
goggles to demonite ore. The scope of this game is truly what makes it
so enticing. Knowing that there is always something to discover leaves
the player wanting more.

And that’s what makes Terraria so great. You will
always want more, and you will always get more. On top of everything
Terraria already brings to the table, the inclusion
of the ability to explore and fight with friends makes the game even
more incredible, adding another element to the already robust gameplay.
With someone to light the path as your dig into the ground, the
good times will keep rolling. Plus, I’m sure it would’ve been nice to
have someone defend me while I was occupied cutting down trees. It just
seems like it would be a blast

There is so much content that I could honestly keep going. I could write
for pages and pages about the world of Terraria. I
could endlessly talk about my adventures, and the night zombies broke
down the doors of my house, or when I fought the Eye of Cthulhu. I could
go on and on, but honestly, I don’t want to.
Terraria is about discovery, and I would hate to
take that away from anyone. Go on steam, and buy it. Since the average
AAA game goes for $60 nowadays, I doubt the mere $10 they are asking for
their one of a kind gem is going to break your wallet. Go play
Terraria. Go explore. And create a world in which
every new adventure is just as exciting as the last. Because trust me,
the time will fly, and you will thank yourself for taking that $10 leap
of faith into a game you hardly knew.