Terraria - Initial Thoughts

About the Game (From the Steam Store Page)

Dig, Fight, Explore, Build: The very world is at your fingertips as you fight for survival, fortune, and glory. Will you delve deep into cavernous expanses in search of treasure and raw materials with which to craft ever-evolving gear, machinery, and aesthetics? Perhaps you will choose instead to seek out ever-greater foes to test your mettle in combat? Maybe you will decide to construct your own city to house the host of mysterious allies you may encounter along your travels?

In the World of Terraria, the choice is yours!

Blending elements of classic action games with the freedom of sandbox-style creativity, Terraria is a unique gaming experience where both the journey and the destination are completely in the player’s control. The Terraria adventure is truly as unique as the players themselves!

Are you up for the monumental task of exploring, creating, and defending a world of your own? 

Previous Playtime

12 hours

What Was I Thinking When I Bought This

Terraria has the distinction of being the very first game I bought on Steam. This was before I even had a debit card of my own and was purchased with some sort of complex Paypal legerdemain that I couldn't even begin to describe. It would be another six months before I bought anything else on the platform.

So why did I do it? Well, it was the summer of 2012 and literally all of my friends were playing this game. They talked about it constantly and enjoined me to try it. I held out for awhile, not having my own credit card and never having bought a purely digital game before, but after awhile I got tired of being out of the loop so I bit the bullet.

Then, shortly after, they hype died down and everyone stopped playing.

Expectations and Prior Experience

I only have 12 hours with the PC version of this game, but I have more on the Xbox 360 version and then, like an hour's worth on the virtually unplayable (due to terrible touch controls) iPhone version. It's not one of my most-played games by a long-shot, but the bits and pieces I have played over the years, I've mostly enjoyed. Some of the monsters were a little too tough for my taste, and it can be hard to get the really cool, transformative equipment (I desperately want wings, but have never even come close to getting them). However, the dig, build, and craft gameplay is right in my wheelhouse and the old-school platforming and exploration is well executed.

I expect that I will have a pretty easy time with Terraria, but I don't think I'll go for much more than 20 hours. A similar game, Starbound is finally coming out of early access five days from now and as far as I can tell from the bits I've already played, it has everything I like about Terraria, but also spaceships and interstellar exploration. The plan is to segue from one to the other and closely compare their differences.

Terraria might well surprise me, though. It's had a lot of updates since I last played it, and it's entirely possible that new equipment and/or monsters might have altered the balance to a place that's more comfortable for me. Although, even if it hasn't, I still enjoyed the original Terraria enough that my frequent deaths were not much more than a minor annoyance. I expect that, at least, has not changed.