Terraria

The best way to describe this game is “Minecraft 2D”. Even if you’ve never played minecraft, you’re sure to have heard of it by now, and terraria was initially released two years after it. (2009 vs 2011) The game is nearing it’s 10th birthday, and with that said it’s going to receive a another MAJOR patch titled “Journey’s End” this coming May 16th 2020. For any game it’s always great to receive updates after release, but Terraria really stands out in this regard.

The game is available on Humble Bundle and steam, often at 50% discount during major sales. I can highly encourage you to have a look at it when it is. That said, I’ve paid the full price for it myself, and have over 400 hours into it – it’s well worth the mere 10$ that they’re charging for it. Terraria – imo – has more features and content than Minecraft, so the time you spend in here is likely to be LONG when you’re having fun.

So, if you have never played a digger game, what can you expect?
Well, you get dropped in a grassy meadow with the occasional rabbit jumping around. Equipped with a weak little copper sword, a pickaxe, and an axe. And with this you are on your own. You can use the pick to dig down and likely end up dead after a while or walk left or right – and end up in the same way as you are molested by slimes or night falls and zombies start to spawn. You can’t fly “yet” so going up isn’t an issue for now.

Go left or right, chop some trees and start with a crafting table to build yourself a log cabin. A basic “house” has fully covered walls, a table (or any flat surface) and chair, one door and a lightsource. That’s all you need “for now” to get your very first NPC to move in. Soon you’ll be building skyscrapers, desert pyramids, an ice getaway, underwater fishbowls or castles in the sky.

Crafting in Terraria is quite simple. If you have the materials, you can make it. To find out _what_ you need is another story entirely, but there’s a big and comprehensive official wiki if you don’t mind the spoilers.

Terraria is one of those games that is better with friends – but then, which game isn’t?
In this case however it really helps to have friends, as you can help against bosses, explore twice as much or one player explores while the other builds. It’s the perfect game for you and the kids, and if they are being naughty you just toss them into the lava 😉

Various game modes aside just dig, build and do silly things exist. Plain pvp is possible, as is capture the flat, or building a fortress, even dungeons full of traps and other deadly things. As mentioned the game has various bosses and things to unlock beside just building and digging – the amount of customization is HUGE. As you dig deep and unlock the second or even third wave of more difficult monsters you’ll also gain access to gear which is that much stronger. You character is permanent, but you have to keep in mind that some of your gear may be dropped on death – do be sure to get it back, and save some backup weapons in your house.

On weapons there is plenty to choose from as well. You start with the simple copper sword, and there’s various metal upgrades (silver, iron, gold, etc) of the basic sword. And as swords go there are about 80 (at the time of writing), and that’s just the swords. Then there’s spears, bows, yoyos, boomerangs, flails, repeating crossbows, guns, launchers, wands, spellbooks, staves, throwing weapons, explosives… *breathes* are you impressed yet?

Most weapons you can craft with the proper materials, some you get from killing bosses. In regards to those – you will probably die a time or two and if you have been playing with a friend, they will die too. But things get better, and easier as you get better weapons, dig deeper (or higher). The sky is *not* the limit.

When at some point you’re done with the base game, there’s a giant community of players that have been making mods, have privately hosted servers you can join and look around their creations, mazes, dungeons or just play some semi-friendly pvp against.

Full day and night cycles, blood moon, oceans, deserts, jungle, frost, swamp, corruption, hallow, and various other biome areas to explore both above and below ground. Fully randomized maps, crafting, wiring system for making machines, pets, vendors, tons of different monsters. Why haven’t you gotten this game yet? It’s rated overwhelmingly positive on steam for a good reason.

Release date: 16 May, 2011. Available on Humble Bundle and steam.

Minimum system requirements: Microsoft Windows XP, Vista, 7 though 10, 2.0 GHz cpu, 2.5 GB Ram, only 200 MB hard disk space, 128mb Video memory video card, capable of shader model 2.0+, DirectX 9.0C or greater.