Terraria Review (Khicennugs)
The amount of labor, love, and time that the developers have spent fine-tuning and improving this game is truly astounding. With over 5000 items, 28 bosses and minibosses, easy multiplayer access, and mod support all wrapped up into a $10 bundle with no extra microtransactions or DLC, Terraria is a masterpiece that large-scale game companies could only dream of making. A single playthrough can easily last you over 30+ hours, for most, that is barely the tip of the iceberg.
This is a game that you can play and replay multiple times and still discover new items and mechanics with each playthrough. Every new world is a new adventure, a new place for creativity, an escape from reality to let your inner imagination run loose. Nothing pushes or pressures you to rush through the game, it is a self-paced journey that, despite the many labels put onto it, has no real end. Some people play the game to find new items and accessories, others play to build the ideas that live in their minds, but no matter how you decide to play the game, there is something for everyone to enjoy. Relogic called the 1.4 update “Journey’s End,” but I think that, even now, it is just the beginning.
In addition to all of this, the multiplayer in this game is absolutely phenomenal. Playing, chatting, and enjoying the game with friends is an incredible experience*. The pacing of the game barely changes compared to single-player and the atmosphere and ideas that can run through your world can be incredible. Access to the steam workshop, a place where you can share your creations or see the creations of others, is also a great addition to the game**.
Unfortunately, no game can be perfect in every way, I do have a few minor issues with the game.
RNG: Most items in Terraria are commonly available throughout the game. However, a very select few are very Rng dependent and can often feel like a chore to grind for. Fortunately, most of these items are entirely optional such as the information accessories and some late-game boss drops.
Summoner Class: There are 4 main fighting classes in the game, Melee, Ranger, Mage, and Summoner. The latter is a unique class that uses minions to fight for you. This is a fantastic concept, but it is very poorly executed due to the lack of variety of summoner weapons and armor.
Master Mode is a new difficulty in Terraria that was added in the 1.4 update, which increases the difficulty of the game by tripling the monster’s health and damage… that’s it. Other than a few extra cosmetic items, Master Mode is simply Expert Mode but with more enemy health. It doesn’t add anything new or interesting so it is usually best to just avoid it unless you are into that type of gameplay.
These are very minor flaws with the game and absolutely do not impact the overall gameplay or enjoyability at all. Terraria is one of the greatest gaming experiences I have had, the time I spent playing by myself and friends during the lockdown was definitely time well spent. If you are someone who enjoys building games, combat of all types, exploration, or just want a game that is a mixture of all of these, then I definitely recommend buying this game. If Relogic had made the updates cost money, then I absolutely would have paid, and the fact that they continue to add free updates to this game 10 years after its release just goes to show how much they care about their player and fanbase, and that is absolutely something I am willing to support.
* If you plan to start a multiplayer world with more than two people, I highly recommend playing on an expert mode world because of the modified boss drops. If you play on a normal world, then you will get boss drops equivalent to the boss drops of single-player, whereas an expert world’s boss drops are equivalent to the number of players on the world.
** Terraria also has fantastic mod support, with the developers at Relogic just recently updating TModLoader to 1.4, and though I have never played modded Terraria, I have heard fantastic things about all kinds of community creations.
TL;DR Good game, you should buy