Building Worlds Is Easy! Or not...

A long while ago (pretty much straight after it came out) I bought and played Terraria, At the time however other games piqued my interest more so it didn't get much playtime. After getting a chance to play the game (1.1 release) for a long period of time I have a better idea of how the game works.

Terraria is a 2D side scroller sandbox game, that features RPG elements and a lot of exploration. You start off with very basic tools and need to find materials to build a house and upgrade your items. All the while defending yourself from enemies that spawn. Simple, weak slimes during the day and harder skeletons and zombies at night. Once you have set up your own house the next challenge is to build houses so that NPCs can move in.

NPCs are used as shops that you can sell items to and some of them can sell some really useful items such as a mining helmet that provides a constant light.

Once you have constructed a base of sorts you must then adventure to find items enabling you to enter the Dungeon, the first challenge area of Terraria. You have to defeat a boss in order to enter the Dungeon which will grant you loot to upgrade your items. The next two areas in the game are The Corruption and Jungle (which can be found anywhere on the surface or underground), followed later on by The Hallow and The Underworld (the deepest layer of the game). The rule of thumb is "The deeper you go the harder it gets".

There was a boss added called "The wall of flesh" which unlocks "hard mode" for the game, all enemies are made harder while new enemies start appearing. This helps to add longevity and an extra layer of difficulty once you feel you've "beaten" the game.

I still haven't gotten so far into the game that I can beat the wall of flesh but as far as I am now I am really enjoying the game. Unlike Minecraft it is not purely creative, and has more of a purpose and unlike RPGs you can actually add to the world in your own way.
As an indie game it is fairly cheap and if it is the style of game you enjoy you would get quite a bit of time from it.