Over 10 years old now, Terraria has had its original 2D sandbox game released back in 2011. It’s still extremely popular for its age and has managed to stay relevant thanks to developers constantly updating content. For those who haven’t played Terraria yet, based on the overwhelmingly positive review of the new anime Kaiju No. 8, it absolutely seems worth checking out in 2024.
My Initial Skepticism
I was a little skeptical after seeing Terraria being played by my friends, I jumped into the pool a few months ago and gave it a shot myself. After spending hours upon hours on this addictive indie gem, I can say Terraria is still a brilliant game that sandboxes, crafting, exploration, and light combat need to play.
The Addictive Gameplay Loop
The core gameplay loop of Terraria is just so damn good. You begin in a randomly generated 2D world full of information to gather, enemies to defeat, treasures to discover, and also an ever-growing list of craftables, equipment, and building supplies. The first task is felling trees and creating a basic home base to shelter you at night from the monsters that appear.
From there, you can go in whatever direction you like. Love building and interior decorating? You can construct amazingly intricate villas, castles, and even entire towns complete with customized homes to attract helpful NPCs. More into combat? You can steadily improve your armor, accessories, and weapons by crafting and delving ever deeper to challenge the array of bosses and events like Goblin Invasions. Big into exploration? You can venture out and uncover all the distinct biomes and uncharted areas, both above ground and in the sprawling subterranean caverns below.
Creative Freedom
The brilliance of Terraria is that it accommodates any and all playstyles seamlessly. You can be a master builder one day, an intrepid explorer the next, or an unstoppable warrior taking down fierce foes—sometimes all in the same session if you’d like! The expansive crafting possibilities and amount of content to uncover mean there’s always some new goal or activity to pursue.
Endless Updates & Content
And because the game regularly gets major free content updates from passionate developers, the adventure genuinely never has to end. Just when I thought I had experienced most of what Terraria had to offer, the latest updates overhauled major systems and added huge swaths of new items, areas, and challenges to overcome.
Incredible Value
It really is astounding just how much gameplay, replayability, and value are packed into Terraria’s budget price point. For the cost of an indie title, you’re getting a full-fledged experience that can keep you engaged and hooked for hundreds upon hundreds of hours if you get invested in its charming pixelated world and systems.
Minor Downsides
To keep things balanced, Terraria does have some minor downsides that are worth noting. The combat can get a bit repetitive if that’s your sole focus, especially early on before you’ve crafted powerful endgame weapons and challenged the bosses. There’s also a slight learning curve in getting acclimated to all the systems, resources, and requirements for advancement that aren’t fully explained in-game. Looking up guides and using something like the Terraria Wiki is almost essential for new players.
But those are pretty minor gripes for an experience that delivers so much vibrant content and creative freedom for such a low cost. Whether playing solo or cooperatively with friends, Terraria is an absolute time sink of the best kind—a vast, richly crafted sandbox tailored to scratch those insatiable urges to build, explore, and overcome challenges however you see fit.
The Final Verdict
For fans of games like Minecraft, Stardew Valley, and other sandbox survival crafters, Terraria should be an instabuy. But really, this indie gem is outstanding and well worth experiencing, even if you’ve never played a game like this before. The low entry price, classic gameplay loop, and unending creative possibilities make Terraria a title that has rightly earned its place as an iconic release and is still utterly relevant over a decade later.
So if you’ve been on the fence or missed the boat back in 2011, do yourself a favor and buy Terraria right now. This engrossing 2D sandbox is a genuine masterpiece of game design that continues to deliver an absolute wealth of fun and replayability even after so many years. Terraria is still very much an amazing game worth playing in 2024.
