Ah, Terraria. This game definitely feels special.

I was gifted this game in 2013 by a friend of mine, a friend who expected me to have as many hours of enjoyment with it as he did back then. And while I haven't even come close to the amount of playtime he had even back then (if I recall correctly, he was at around 4000 hours already), I still had a lot of fun with this game.

I'm writing this review now, after over 10 years having the game, since I've finally, properly finished it. And yes, while at first Terraria might look just like a 2D sandbox game (I even thought it looked like 2D Minecraft when I first saw the game), it's much more than that. When starting the game, after creating your character and your world, you're thrown into it without much of an idea about what to do. There's a guide who'll give you helpful tips, the most important as you start being that you need shelter. And from there, it begins.

Gameplay starts simple: you'll have a few tools with which to chop wood, mine for resources, eventually getting a sword to fight monsters. You'll create a humble house, start crafting better equipment, and start exploring. As you go, you'll meet new NPCs who might join you in your base if you build them a proper home. However, you'll also attract the attention of certain powerful creatures. And that's where the main gameplay loop lies: the progression. You'll fight a boss, get access to new, more powerful items, fight another boss, and so on and so forth. Along the way, there might be invasions, events in which you have to defend your base and so on. As you explore, you'll find new enemies, and as you kill the bosses, more dangerous creatures will appear. Honestly, the game has loads of content.

Graphically speaking, well, it has a simple 2D style, but it's still a beautiful game. While the market might feel saturated these days with 2D pixel style games, this one was one of the pioneers, and its simplistic style keeps the main draw of the game front and center: the gameplay. Even then, there's a lot variety in terms of areas you'll explore, equipment and NPCs you'll find, both in terms of allies and enemies; if anything, I'd say the 2D style made the art team behind this game go out of their way to give loads of variety. The soundtrack is also excellent, with specific tracks for each event and biome you might encounter, including some for biome variations as well.

Honestly, I think it's a great game, and the previous two paragraphs, I think don't do it justice. While I don't want this review to go longer, in fear of reaching the character limit, I'll say this; at the moment I'm writing this review, I've had nearly 12 years with the game. I lost my first save when my laptop's HDD failed back in the day, but when I got a new one, I went back to the game, to start again from scratch. I didn't even touch Hardmode until last year, as I was too afraid of the harder enemies and bosses, but since I did it, I've been playing the game daily until the moment of writing this review. On October 17th, 2025, I beat the game for the first time. A bit of a spoiler, yes, the game has an ending, but one that I think is worth mentioning because of the following, which is a comment I made on a thread about finished games:

375 hours I have with my character. 375 hours of fear, sweat, anxiety. But also 375 hours of discovery, of wonder and amazement. I'd be lying if I said I didn't get emotional when I finally beat the final boss for the first time and the credits started rolling. It's been one hell of a journey.

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So, with that paragraph above, if it's not enough of a recommendation, what would be? You should definitely get this game, especially given how cheap it is. It has a dedicated dev team behind, who haven't stopped making updates since the game released. It's always one "final update", and personally, I hope this game keeps getting a final update for as long as I live. I love it that much.

Ah, Terraria. This game definitely feels special. I was gifted this game in 2013 by a friend of mine, a friend who expected me to have as many hours of enjoyment with it as he did back then. And while I haven't even come close to the amount of playtime he had even back then (if I recall correctly, he was at around 4000 hours already), I still had a lot of fun with this game. I'm writing this review now, after over 10 years having the game, since I've finally, properly finished it. And yes, while at first Terraria might look just like a 2D sandbox game (I even thought it looked like 2D Minecraft when I first saw the game), it's much more than that. When starting the game, after creating your character and your world, you're thrown into it without much of an idea about what to do. There's a guide who'll give you helpful tips, the most important as you start being that you need shelter. And from there, it begins. Gameplay starts simple: you'll have a few tools with which to chop wood, mine for resources, eventually getting a sword to fight monsters. You'll create a humble house, start crafting better equipment, and start exploring. As you go, you'll meet new NPCs who might join you in your base if you build them a proper home. However, you'll also attract the attention of certain powerful creatures. And that's where the main gameplay loop lies: the progression. You'll fight a boss, get access to new, more powerful items, fight another boss, and so on and so forth. Along the way, there might be invasions, events in which you have to defend your base and so on. As you explore, you'll find new enemies, and as you kill the bosses, more dangerous creatures will appear. Honestly, the game has loads of content. Graphically speaking, well, it has a simple 2D style, but it's still a beautiful game. While the market might feel saturated these days with 2D pixel style games, this one was one of the pioneers, and its simplistic style keeps the main draw of the game front and center: the gameplay. Even then, there's a lot variety in terms of areas you'll explore, equipment and NPCs you'll find, both in terms of allies and enemies; if anything, I'd say the 2D style made the art team behind this game go out of their way to give loads of variety. The soundtrack is also excellent, with specific tracks for each event and biome you might encounter, including some for biome variations as well. Honestly, I think it's a great game, and the previous two paragraphs, I think don't do it justice. While I don't want this review to go longer, in fear of reaching the character limit, I'll say this; at the moment I'm writing this review, I've had nearly 12 years with the game. I lost my first save when my laptop's HDD failed back in the day, but when I got a new one, I went back to the game, to start again from scratch. I didn't even touch Hardmode until last year, as I was too afraid of the harder enemies and bosses, but since I did it, I've been playing the game daily until the moment of writing this review. On October 17th, 2025, I beat the game for the first time. A bit of a spoiler, yes, the game has an ending, but one that I think is worth mentioning because of the following, which is a comment I made on a thread about finished games: 375 hours I have with my character. 375 hours of fear, sweat, anxiety. But also 375 hours of discovery, of wonder and amazement. I'd be lying if I said I didn't get emotional when I finally beat the final boss for the first time and the credits started rolling. It's been one hell of a journey. -------------------- So, with that paragraph above, if it's not enough of a recommendation, what would be? You should definitely get this game, especially given how cheap it is. It has a dedicated dev team behind, who haven't stopped making updates since the game released. It's always one "final update", and personally, I hope this game keeps getting a final update for as long as I live. I love it that much.