"Shut Up and Dig Gaiden!" Game Review
"It's like Minecraft, but Terraria" — this is exactly how people talk about this game. But is this statement true?
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In visual arts, there are many styles and genres. Cubism, realism, primitivism, and other still lifes. The differences between them are usually visible to the naked eye, yet against the backdrop of one of its counterparts, they can look like identical twins: they are that far apart from each other. This is abstractionism. I think many readers are familiar with this feeling: everything seems beautiful, but the meaning is somewhere... far away. Yes, even the most abstract paintings can beautifully adorn, say, a wall. But, in fact, this is the only style where the observer is forced to think for themselves...
Well, that’s just pure Malevich.
So, in computer games, there are also such representatives. These are the so-called "sandbox games," which have their origins in a very distant past by video game standards. The most famous today is Dwarf Fortress. By the way, this genre still remains somewhat "on the fringes of life," dwelling among indie developers. Publishers look down on sandbox games. Because they really differ from the familiar format for the average player: there is no goal. Just a series of tools. And what's crucial: it’s unclear what exactly draws players in! So Minecraft long remained both a "flagship" of the revived genre and the only worthy game of its kind. By "worthiness," of course, we mean success and mass distribution.
But suddenly...
But suddenly Terraria emerges. On a horse, with fanfare, and after a mere four (!) months of development. Weighing less than twenty megabytes. Okay, with all the necessary additional software, if it hasn't been installed previously, a little more, but it’s still impressive. Plus, unlike Minecraft, Terraria decided to conquer Steam. And suddenly found itself snugly sitting at the third spot in the rankings, only losing to the unbreakable CS 1.6 and CS:S. A couple of times, timing it just right, it even made it to the top spot. For a short while, though.
A small house over a decent natural underground cave system. With a rabbit inside.
In the CIS countries, Terraria was met somewhat coldly (as happens to the overwhelming majority of indie games), immediately dubbed a "half-clone of Minecraft" and generally heretical. In short, let’s be clear: this is not Minecraft. Yes, recognizable features are present, but it’s different.
In fact, Terraria serves as a "bridge" between two genres: sandboxes and... MMORPGs.
...and here too, there is always an utterly maddening lack of inventory space.
The developers do not hide which game they took as a basis. Yes, yes, it’s that same game starting with "M." However, they turned it inside out. First, they immediately released the game without an alpha and beta lasting a year each — that alone deserves some respect. Secondly, in Terraria, all priorities have been turned completely upside down. Do you remember the sacred "You have to play Minecraft on YouTube"? It didn’t arise from nowhere. Yes, you can build great things and explore vast worlds, but the motivation for doing so quickly diminishes for many. And really, what’s the point? To create a life-sized Colosseum or transport Portal’s "Still Alive" — this is indeed epic, but not everyone possesses the patience necessary for such endeavors.
But even if the above can be contested in some way, the essential aspect of Minecraft being the world and not the character is hard to argue against. It is precisely at this point that Terraria made a sharp maneuver towards...
"Transfer base." It may not look impressive from the outside, but it has everything needed.
As previously mentioned, Terraria is a "bridge." If in sandbox games, you lacked meaningfulness in what was happening, and in various MMOs, you lacked freedom of action, then you already know which game suits you. But while discussing the potential contribution of the game to the global gaming industry, we kind of forgot about the game itself. Let’s correct that.
World of Terraria
Imagine in your mind the game you-know-what and remove one dimension from it. That’s it, MC is gone, and on our screens is now Terraria. The main thing we have gained: a certain schematic nature of what is happening. Natural zones, although they are created completely randomly, result in sharply divided environments. Their own resources, their own opponents. Thanks to them, you can obtain better equipment and earn more money to break into the next zone, where the player discovers different resources and different opponents, or even a boss, and "at the base," sell the loot to merchants for a certain financial profit... Does this remind you of anything?
Terraria took a considerable number of traits from MMOs. An abundance of enemies, clear separation of locations, financial systems, and of course, the motivation to "collect the very best."
During world generation, sometimes truly insane things occur.
The second significant influence of 2D manifests in the sharply reduced role of the surface. To create a sense of "compactness," Terraria has established a relatively diverse underground world. This is a forced and very reasonable measure: resources here are not pulled from thin air, they are quite literally mined with a pickaxe/axe. And for the most part, they are not renewable.
Level 80 Elves
Well, we’ve arrived at the most important part. Character development! They have no skills. And the game has none. But the game has equipment, artifacts, resources, and money. And we start with only a bronze pickaxe and axe. So off we go — to explore the world. And then another one. And another. And a couple more.
The distinctive feature of the game: the character does not depend on "their" world. However, most likely, you won't particularly want to spawn entities. The thing is, the world is big. No, not that... it’s HUGE. Even to fully explore a "small" world can take days and weeks, especially if you are alone. Not to mention the "medium" and "large" worlds. They need to be mined and traversed endlessly...
In golden armor with a golden pickaxe we mine gold ore.
But the most important feature of Terraria is not this. The most important aspect lies in the Events. Bosses, Dungeons, goblin invasions, meteorite falls with subsequent searches for the crash site and its cleanup. Summoning NPCs (various merchants) is a quest unto itself. Some require you to have a bomb in your pocket to be satisfied, while others won't budge without half a gold coin. And yes, everyone needs housing. Building your own Citadel/shack is something that is set up practically the same in both Terraria and Minecraft, with a nod to two-dimensionality. Just like for a worthy home, a ton of resources is needed, and the process is equally engaging. Although in terms of game mechanics, nobody demands you to build a gigantic house, so if architectural elements don’t interest you, you can freely build your charges whatever they like. As long as there's a table and a couple of chairs.
A Step Aside — The Escape
Terraria captivates with its variety. Here you are with a pickaxe breaking through, and now you're already in a mushroom cave. A step aside — underground jungles. Another step aside — The Corruption, where the bad guys live. Somewhere deep (seriously, deep) below lies a full-fledged Underworld, while somewhere above us is a small desert. Mysteriously hovering over the desert is a flying island, which features a stunning view of the nearby forest standing at the foot of the dungeon...
And everywhere, there are its own monsters. Only slimes are ubiquitous. They simply love humans. But with their, slimy love. Here there are also skeletons, gargoyles, zombies, scamps, man-eating plants, various worms... this is the one thing that even in today’s version of the game, there are truly many enemies. Speaking of versions...
What, again the fruit compote?
Despite the fact that there is a purpose in Terraria, achieving it is currently quite easy. Yes, even considering that you can dig for a whole hour to reach the local Underworld, the number of objects in the world is relatively small. A handful of armor sets, as many firearms, about a dozen melee weapons, and only three full-fledged bosses.
Exploring the world in Terraria is certainly interesting (especially with friends), but with the proper diligence, you can dig up everything that can be dug and wear everything that can be worn in two weeks of persistent battles. Overall, a quite decent result for a modern game, but a bit lacking for the result of crossing an MMO with a "sandbox." And this is precisely where Terraria plays its last card: freshness.
If only a lucky horseshoe lay in your pocket, those would have been the last seconds of the hero's life. Alas, it cannot help him escape from here.
Of course, officially, the game is "in release," but updates come at a speed of machine-gun bullets. "In four months, you won't recognize our game," say the developers. And you know, you believe them. They could have made another game in that time.
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Terraria resembles an MMO even when played solo. NPCs, conditional division into locations, a multitude of monsters, a single character. Essentially, from sandbox games, there’s only the ability to do anything with the world left.
As a result, we have a game with an absolutely free world, but at the same time with a certain meaningfulness of existence. The only serious drawback at this moment is the weak filling of the game with content. But this is just a matter of updates.
While waiting, you can build a few more citadels...