Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: world-building, survival RPG developed by independent developer generates hundreds of thousands of sales in mere weeks time. Developed by Re-Logic and released on May 16th via Steam, Terraria is earning a solid reputation already as a game many are lauding as “Minecraft in 2D”. Sure, the similarities are seemingly staggering based on one’s initial impressions of screenshots. There is a definite dynamic of “crush blocks, gather resources, craft items, build fortifications” that is quite familiar to fans of Minecraft. Being one of those fans, I quickly picked up a copy and gave her a whirl on a self-hosted server with a handful of friends. What I discovered about the game was surprisingly refreshing.
In my first encounter I generated a single-player world named Ferros, then created my character sprite from a handful of hairstyles, clothing colors, and skin colors. After a brief loading screen as the world was being generated, I popped into an area with an NPC named “Guide”. Talking with the Guide, I received information on how to use the basic set of tools that I started with to chop down trees, dig up minerals, and construct basic crafting items. Information was even provided on how to get other NPCs to move in and populate an area. After some digging, gathering of stones, and baking of gray bricks in my homemade forge, I was able to construct a stone building with doors, walls, and torches. As soon as the final wall went in, the Guide walked up to the door, opened it up, and moved right in, thus forming the foundation of my new town.
A new member to the neighborhood.
As with Minecraft, the day and night cycle is a very prominent mechanic. While there are slimes which populate the surface world during the daylight hours, they are easily slain for gold and gel, which can be used to craft torches. When the sun goes down, however, zombies and demon eyes roam the earth, pounding at the doors of your fortifications in an attempt to reach your delicious brains. For those well-equipped and brave warriors willing to wade through the moonlight, there is ample reward. Falling from the sky every night are shooting stars, which may be picked up and combined together in order to raise your character’s maximum Mana Points. Through dynamic character progression which carries over from single-player to any multi-player server you join, one may learn advanced spells, bolster their health points, and carry over high-tiered gear.
This wand shoots thorns. Through anything. It's kind of a big deal.
After my first session playing single-player, I tried my hand at hosting a server in order to see what the multi-player was like. To me, this is where the game really shines, despite the fact that it is currently a little bit difficult to set-up and get working properly. After a fair amount of time figuring out port-forwarding, setting up a static IP, and downloading Hamachi, I was able to connect with a few friends from out of town. One friend explored to the East and found a pit where the “Corruption” had set in, a seemingly random occurrence where the sky darkens, the terrain looks blighted, and massive worms and flying baddies roam the surface. She put up a wall stronghold at the edge of the pit, creating a symbolic line of defense and a perfect staging area for future excursions. While the building in Minecraft is far more intricate and involved, the construction in Terraria has a level of utility that feels like you’re accomplishing something beyond simply building for building’s sake.
Another exciting addition to the gameplay in multi-player mode is the addition of events. Whenever a few of us were online at one time, we would receive foreboding messages in the chat box indicating that something was about to happen. For instance, one day when the sun went down, the message of “The Blood Moon is rising…” appeared, causing some confusion as to what that meant. It soon became clear, as swarms of zombies began assaulting our fortified town. Much to our dismay, fueled on by the crimson moon rising in the sky, these super-powered zombies began to destroy walls and open doors to flood our protective constructs. Fighting back to back until the morning, we pushed off wave after wave of the undead hordes until finally the sun came up. As we caught our breath, we checked our pockets and counted our gold to find a healthy sum of loot from the long night of relentless assault. These events seem to occur only when multiple people are connected at once, and can range from goblin invasions, to the announcement that a meteorite has landed somewhere, prompting players to explore the surface to find these incredibly rare sources of meteor rock which can be crafted into high-end armor and even ammo for guns.
Upon a full week of playing online with friends, we are still managing to discover new loot, and with new updates already being released and planned, the opportunity for continued exploration and discovery is potentially limitless. We’ve just begun to explore the deepest reaches of hell, an area populated by fire imps and devastating bone worms. I look forward to all of the future plans for the developers, as the sheer fun factor can only improve as the systems become more refined and robust.
Also, for those willing to drop 10 dollars on this gem through Steam and join us on-line, Geekspective has a community server. Don’t be a dick, take only what you need, and respect others’ buildings when not involved in a time of war.
The IP for this server is : 24.12.110.116:7777
