Terraria is an action-adventure sandbox game developed by Re-Logic. Released in 2011, Terraria has been updated for several years after that.
Many people go ahead and compare it to another similar game, Minecraft, however, I think it’s undeserving as they are 2 different games.
We’re not here to compare though, but to review, and so we will do.
As usual, this review will have a Storyline, Gameplay, Visuals and Personal Thoughts sections. Without further ado:
Table of Contents
Storyline
As with many sandbox games, Terraria has no actual storyline.
This is because games like Terraria like to give the player the agency to “choose their own adventure” or “create/live their own story”.
As such, Terraria lets you do whatever you want.
Gameplay
The first thing you should know about Terraria is that it’s 2D. The 4 cardinal directions are all you have.
As soon as you enter the world of Terraria, you can do whatever you want (with the only limitation of your starting gear).
Being a sandbox game, you have no real objective, nor some story or questing system to follow.
The best thing you can do is start mining stuff.
But we’re talking gameplay here, not a guide.
The gameplay is simple; using materials you find or harvest in the world, you build increasingly more complex tools and materials. In order to craft something, some advanced crafting stations are required.
At your spawn, the Guide NPC will also spawn to give you tips and tell you what every material can craft and how. He won’t tell you which crafting station to use, however.
At some point, naturally, you will have a base. In there, you will learn how to create a valid house and move an NPC there.
If you meet certain criteria, when you build an empty house, an NPC whose criteria has been fulfilled will come to live over there.
I have to remark here that you will want to use a guide to progress as it can get overwhelming when you don’t have the slightest idea of what to do.
Anyway, as you progress you will create a mine, and maybe explore the world a little. As you explore, you might run into some events randomly like Rain or Blood Moon.
Events are random, and offer unique enemies to beat. Some of them are very dangerous.
As you dig down, you will end up in the Caverns, where there are many Mineshafts and Abandoned Houses and other generated things.
The most important things you can find are chests (usually inside of the abandoned houses) which contain valuable loot and powerful weapons.
You will also want to find ores in order to step up your crafting game.
After some good gear is acquired (or crafted), you will feel more confident exploring the world.
Terraria has many different biomes to explore, and I don’t need to address every one separately.
However, there is one that requires special notice; the Corruption/Crimson.
Firstly, I will note that every world can have only 1 of the 2 biomes. There can’t be both.
With that out of the way: you can recognize each biome easily.
Corruption is purple-themed with the wasteland/decay theme being prevalent. Crimson is completely red, and easily distinguishable.
These 2 get special attention because firstly, they have special exclusive enemies that keep spawning, making them extremely dangerous to traverse.
Also, their blocks cannot be mined with any early pickaxe, which means that you can’t just go over there and create a mine or hide or whatever.
The most important things are definitely the Shadow Orbs/Crimson Hearts respectively.
They are kinda like chests; they contain loot, but you must break them using a hammer.
The reason why they’re important is simple; the first one you break will open your world to 2 new events.
The first event is a meteor crash. After smashing the first, you have a 50% chance to have a meteor land somewhere in the world the next day. Smashing more won’t affect that chance.
Smashing an Orb/Heart will also give your world a 2% chance of having a meteor every day. However, there is a maximum limit of how many meteors can strike a world to protect from bad RNG (irrelevant: I love controlled RNG).
Meteors give you a new ore; Meteorite. With it you can craft a Meteor armor and one of the best weapons up until that point in the game and for a lot more; Space Gun.
Be careful though, as stepping on Meteorite burns you, making mining an extremely difficult task.
The second event is the Goblin Army where you have to fight about 100+ goblins attacking from all sides.
The Goblin Army doesn’t offer anything too special, it’s more of a hindrance.
Anyway, from there on, every 3 Orbs/Hearts broken will summon the biome’s respective Boss.
As you explore the world, close to the edge you will find a Dungeon, with an NPC guarding it. I highly suggest you do not explore it before beating its guardian, summoned at night through the NPC.
If and when you defeat him (Skeletron is his name), you can access it.
The Dungeon is huge and filled with monsters. At the start, you will find some biome colored chests that can’t be opened yet, some regular, and some Golden ones that require a Golden Key to open.
The loot in the dungeon is invaluable, and I highly recommend exploring it.
At this point in the game you will want to beat every boss (besides the final one) and explore a huge portion of the map.
At some point, you will want to dig further down and reach the Underworld. There, you can find the most powerful (so far) material and start preparations for the final boss.
The Wall of Flesh is the final and hardest boss. Once you beat it… Congratulations!!! You just finished 50% of the game.
Beating the Wall of Flesh unlocks the Hardmode. In Hardmode, everything becomes harder, new tough enemies spawn, more difficult and annoying bosses and events become available, a new biome called the Hallow is introduced (that is harder than both the Corruption and Crimson) and it also spread, and generally, it’s like a huge start over.
Did I mention that the Corruption/Crimson and Hallow spread, corrupting more and more of your world?
There are lots of preparations needed before you unlock, so again, I suggest a guide.
In Hardmode, you are free to do anything. However, using a guide (again) will lead you to the actual final boss of the game.
Once you finish that, you can actually do whatever, from building the best base ever to PvP.
One fun thing about Terraria is the fact that there classes.
Especially in Hardmode, your armor gives you better bonuses to specific usage of weapons.
The classes are 4 (+1 pre-Hardmode):
- Melee: Just as it sounds, melee uses short-ranged weapons that are very powerful. He also has the best defenses.
- Ranged: Playing with bows and guns, Ranged has the best DPS output. Get caught and you die.
- Mage: User of magic weapons, Mages have great DPS and lots of buffs like Lifesteal.
- Summoner: Relying on his summoned units, the summoner uses some other weapons to help him fight, but generally, tries to avoid combat and let his minions do the work.
- Thrower: The +1, Thrower relies on limited Thrown weapons. Viable on pre-Hardmode.
Before you fight the final boss, you will go through an event in which most of the world will be split in to 4 different “factions” with 4 celestial Pillars respectively.
Each pillar will correspond to 1 of the 4 classes I mentioned, and you should beat them all, although you should beat the 1 that corresponds to your class first.
As you can see, Terraria has lots to do, and trust me, you can play 100 hours and still not have reached the final boss, even with a guide.
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Visuals
The graphics will probably not impress you as Terraria is pixel art.
However, Terraria has tremendous player customization through numerous dyes and vanity items.
You can even equip a piece of armor you really like (but doesn’t go well with your class) in the social spot which means that it is visible, but you still get the effects of the armor you have actually equipped.
Personal Thoughts
Terraria is a great game.
The amount of stuff to do with or without following the optimal route is staggering.
I definitely recommend this game as its price is far from deterrent. Any fan of sandbox games will enjoy this game.
the game even offers a 4-pack which is awesome as its even better when you play with friends.
Final Verdict
Storyline: –
Gameplay: 9.0
Visuals: 6.0
General Rating: 7.5
That’s it for my review? Have you played Terraria? Do you enjoy it? What’s your favorite class? Leave a comment down below.
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