Terraria is an odd creation. On one hand it has a few RPG elements typical to Action RPGs. You pick up potions, use a wide selection of weapons and spells and there are plenty of chests with treasure in seemingly random places. On other other, it feels a lot like Minecraft. You can build impressive creations from pretty much any material you obtain. Be it, construct a mountain range on flatland, a dark fortress, or a simple stone house, with a chimney. Since you can randomly generate a map each play through will feel different, and you can use characters from previous games… so in the end, the question is, what is Terraria?

[For our guide to Terraria click here]

 What can you do for example? I myself went the obvious path and decided to obtain the best possible gear and build myself a Dark Tower for my “Mage”. No, there are no classes or skills, but there is a wide enough choice of different weapons and spells that you can pretend to be a class. My aim was gathering all the possible spells, while also making my character a classy outfit. In order to survive you need health which is increased with the use of health crystals, which are only found underground. Mana is increased by creating Mana Crystals, from falling stars (they look like little Mario Stars). Spells themselves I had to find through a lot of scavenging underground and on “Sky Islands”. Weapons and armour? That’s the tough part. There are tiers of each armour and weapon/tool type and you often progress through them tier by tier. Sooner or later, in order to dig through “Ebonstone” (think of it as super-hard corrupted stone) you will have to farm “Bosses”. Most Bosses either appear at random or can be summoned (except for Skeletron who only appears once). These Include the Eye of Cthulhu, the Eater of Worlds, the King Slime, Pinky and Skeletron. All of these bosses drop something unique and usable. For example the basic tool to dig through afore mentioned Ebonstone is the Nightmare Pick. In order to make that you need Demonite Ore (which the Eye of Cthulhu drops) and Dark Scales (dropped only from the Eater of Worlds). Demonite Ore can be found deep underground, but if you can summon bosses for a bigger bulk order, why bother?

When visiting hell for the first time note not only the big pools of lava, but also the numerous denizens that will gladly push you into it.

 That is a bit of a problem with Terraria. The very same thing that did not bring about any appeal in me for Minecraft. Why bother? You can get the best gear, defeat all the bosses, and then perhaps go online and show off your skills and treasure to other players. I do not find that much appeal in that however. What did tickle my enjoyment was playing it with my friends. Organising expeditions into Hell or the Sky Island, or making jokes about each others silly character brought about a lot of laughs. Building impressive houses and then arguing whose is better is also fun. The alternative of course is joining up a Terrarria server and making a name for yourself there. There are RP (Role Play) servers which you could join to try something different. You can also export your maps and send them to other people, when you want to show off a dungeon you created or your house. Alone you can bare Terraria only for so long, or I could at least. When you have nobody to tell how funny it was when you fell down your massive mineshaft, having forgotten to place ladders and then miracously fell in a pool of water it is just that much satisfaction lost
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The marvel of "creating" Obsidian. A stone which rarely comes about naturaly and as seen here needs water and lava combined. Although a bit of a bother to obtain without it you will not be able to create the most powerful equipment!

  Aside from the gameplay factor, the game is very pleasant to the eye, very “Fairy-like”. Nothing like the darker Fantasy setting of Oblivion or equivalent. The music is fine, although I am used to instrumental music the Terraria style “electronic” sound was good to listen to, and often fitted the area or event you ended up in (you can even get a soundtrack here). Light is an important factor in Terraria, and as you progress underground, away from any light sources, everything will turn pitch black. In turn, certain types of plants, lava and ores will produce light, leading you to some open cavern or creature (in some cases). Visual effects of spells, attacks and (later on) special armour/suit types add that special something when you play.