A game that I went into thinking was just "2D Minecraft" and ended up blowing my expectations out of the water, even though playing the game often feels like pushing a boulder up a hill.
Terraria simultaneously does a good and terrible job at on-boarding. On the one hand, it starts quite slow and lets you figure out what the game is truly capable of at a pace you can set yourself based on much you do or do not want to do. On the other hand, the systems in Terraria are so incredibly opaque and unintuitive that you could go the entire game without figuring stuff out if you don't plan on heavily relying on the internet.
If you want to just build a little house and explore, you can do that. If you want to build a complex rail system that connects every corner of the map, you can also do that! If you want to set out to get the dopest armor and weapons in the game, you can! And in many ways, Terraria actually does some of that stuff better than Minecraft. Crafting doesn't require unrealistic amount of resources so you can spend just a little farming wood and you'll be set for hours. Getting around the world is faster thanks to potions of teleportation and the low cost of building rail systems. The entire inventory system where you can have various enchanted items with cool effects is a huge step-up from Minecraft's extremely time-intensive and limiting enchantment system. And yet, despite all these improvements, it still often feels like you're playing a less good version of Minecraft.
Playing Terraria on console is extremely rough thanks to some of the worst controller mapping I've ever seen in a game. Trying to get the hang of actually playing this game with a controller genuinely almost made my group of friends quit. Thankfully, we pushed through, but even after 60 hours of playing the game, we were still constantly hitting the wrong buttons to do things.
Terraria ended up being a perfect game to play once or twice a week with our group of friends. There was a little something for everyone in the game whether it was combat, exploration, or crafting. It was always fun to start a new project and work together to complete it. After 60 hours with the game, we finally beat all the main story bosses and cleared out the dungeons. And yet, after all that time, it still felt like we only scratched the surface of what the game is capable of. I made the theoretical best armor in the game, but there was still so much left to discover. We cleared out all the dungeons, but our map was only about 40% complete. If we wanted to, and if we had the time, I'm sure it would take us another 60 hours to really 100% finish our world, but we were pretty happy with what we saw in the time we spent.
+ Terrific Minecraft-like that also sets itself apart in meaningful ways
+ Great multiplayer game
+ Seemingly endless supply of things to do, build, explore, and collect
- Some of the worst controller controls of all time
- Extremely opaque systems that require frequent use of the internet
- Trophies don't really work for everyone present
Terraria simultaneously does a good and terrible job at on-boarding. On the one hand, it starts quite slow and lets you figure out what the game is truly capable of at a pace you can set yourself based on much you do or do not want to do. On the other hand, the systems in Terraria are so incredibly opaque and unintuitive that you could go the entire game without figuring stuff out if you don't plan on heavily relying on the internet.
If you want to just build a little house and explore, you can do that. If you want to build a complex rail system that connects every corner of the map, you can also do that! If you want to set out to get the dopest armor and weapons in the game, you can! And in many ways, Terraria actually does some of that stuff better than Minecraft. Crafting doesn't require unrealistic amount of resources so you can spend just a little farming wood and you'll be set for hours. Getting around the world is faster thanks to potions of teleportation and the low cost of building rail systems. The entire inventory system where you can have various enchanted items with cool effects is a huge step-up from Minecraft's extremely time-intensive and limiting enchantment system. And yet, despite all these improvements, it still often feels like you're playing a less good version of Minecraft.
Playing Terraria on console is extremely rough thanks to some of the worst controller mapping I've ever seen in a game. Trying to get the hang of actually playing this game with a controller genuinely almost made my group of friends quit. Thankfully, we pushed through, but even after 60 hours of playing the game, we were still constantly hitting the wrong buttons to do things.
Terraria ended up being a perfect game to play once or twice a week with our group of friends. There was a little something for everyone in the game whether it was combat, exploration, or crafting. It was always fun to start a new project and work together to complete it. After 60 hours with the game, we finally beat all the main story bosses and cleared out the dungeons. And yet, after all that time, it still felt like we only scratched the surface of what the game is capable of. I made the theoretical best armor in the game, but there was still so much left to discover. We cleared out all the dungeons, but our map was only about 40% complete. If we wanted to, and if we had the time, I'm sure it would take us another 60 hours to really 100% finish our world, but we were pretty happy with what we saw in the time we spent.
+ Terrific Minecraft-like that also sets itself apart in meaningful ways
+ Great multiplayer game
+ Seemingly endless supply of things to do, build, explore, and collect
- Some of the worst controller controls of all time
- Extremely opaque systems that require frequent use of the internet
- Trophies don't really work for everyone present