Terraria's latest major update, Journey's End (1.4) Labor of Love (1.4.4) is here. And it's great! I'll explain to all of you why I recommend Terraria. You should get this game right now since the game is essentially complete and is full of content (and thanks for all the feedback on my review! It's much appreciated).


Intro:
If I were to explain Terraria to someone quickly, I would put it like this: Terraria is a game that has a whole world to explore. You mine, build, craft, fish, and fight to progress through the game. You can focus on fighting enemies and improving your gear to fight various bosses, and/or you can focus on building your house and buildings and making things look pretty. Terraria has something for everyone. The combination of survival, fighting, exploration, and building aspects is satisfying (and I'm someone who usually plays shooter games). So I believe that you can find something in Terraria for you.


Building:
When Re-Logic added half blocks and slanted blocks to Terraria in 1.2, the building got so much more interesting and versatile. There are so many different types of blocks in this game with their own unique textures and styles, and with paint there are even more possibilities. So many creations made in this game are incredibly good.


Difficulty:
Overall, Terraria with a Classic (AKA Softcore) character and Classic (AKA Normal Mode) world is not that hard, but just be aware that no matter what, you’ll probably die a lot as a beginner. If you like a challenge, however, Expert Mode is the way to go (plus you get extra advantages, such as exclusive accessories, for having an increased difficulty). Even more difficult is Master Mode, giving you more loot than Expert Mode. And if you want the game to be especially difficult, you could create a Mediumcore character (drop all items on death), Hardcore character (permadeath), or use a world seed such as For the worthy. There is also Journey Mode, which is an adjustable difficulty semi-creative mode that requires a Journey exclusive character (can’t go to Classic, Expert Mode, or Master Mode worlds). Personally, I think playing a Classic character in Expert Mode is the most fun way to play.


Music:
Terraria’s music is great. All of it fits with the style of the game. Almost every biome has a unique song to fit with the theme, and there are different songs for bosses and events as well. I bought the official soundtrack and I love to listen to it whenever I want some background music.


Multiplayer:
Multiplayer is incredibly easy to set up. The easiest way to play is to join/host through Steam. You can also enter an IP address, which, before 1.3, used to be the only way to play multiplayer at all, but now it's so much easier with Steam integration.

Connection is rarely a problem for me, although I think I’ve found that the host has worse lag than the other players, when there is lag that is.

Terraria is very fun to play with friends and even with strangers. There are teaming options, PVP, and other multiplayer elements built into the game. Bosses are often much easier to beat in multiplayer as well, because usually if one player dies, the other player(s) can continue to fight the boss and stay alive long enough to let the first player respawn.


Performance:
Terraria runs very well. On my gaming PC, the game runs perfectly on max settings and has nearly instantaneous loading speeds. On my over a decade old Toshiba laptop, the game runs very nicely on low settings, with only minor loading times.

There are several video settings that can be modified to help performance. I would recommend at least turning the background and effects off for lower-end computers.


Price:
Terraria is very inexpensive. It’s one of the few games I’ve bought at full price and found it completely worth it.


Struggles:
Terraria has a learning curve. There are many things left up to you to figure out from the start. The Guide NPC is there to give some help. Many things, however, are left up to the player to figure out, much of which is just learned through time and experience. I would recommend looking up tips, tricks, and other information online, such as on the Official Terraria Wiki, or watch videos, like those of ChippyGaming and Edward on YouTube. Personally, I enjoy the learning curve, and the struggle to learn new things is just the right amount to be enjoyable and not annoying.

To get to the endgame of Terraria, it does take a while. There is so much content and so many bosses in just vanilla Terraria, that it can be overwhelming, and progression can sometimes feel slow. You may want to rush things like bosses, but you have to prepare well for bosses, or else you’ll probably die. I used to ragequit when I couldn’t beat bosses, and I still get frustrated if I can’t beat a boss. Once you defeat bosses, however, it feels so worth it. And you don’t have to follow an exactly linear path either. Also, you don’t have to play for 30+ hours for a full playthrough just to feel accomplished. From one to a million hours, this game is fun for any length of time.

My biggest struggle with this game is the grind for certain items. Some items are extremely hard to get, due to low drop rates or pretty extreme circumstances. There are many items with a drop chance lower than 1%. Realistically, you won’t get every item in the game, if that’s what you’re aiming for. I once wanted to get every enemy banner in the game (you have to kill 50 of the same enemy to get a banner) legitimately, but I gave up on that idea because of how grindy it is to kill 50 of each enemy for the rarest ones (that darn Nymph Banner). To put it simply, it’s possible to get every item in the game, but it’s just not worth it. You should, however, build farms for certain items. But the point is, just get the items in the game that you really want to get legitimately, and it’ll be worth it (if you did want every single item in the game, you can use inventory editors or go to free item servers, but it’s not fun to abuse these).


Tips:
* Organize and name chests ASAP
* Place rope down a Hellevator
* Coral Torches are waterproof and Cursed/Ichor Torches (craftable in Hardmode) are liquidproof, making them ideal for being placed on bridges and Hellevators
* The Smart Cursor, toggled on or off using Left Ctrl by default, is extremely useful for digging straight tunnels, building structures such as bridges, removing large areas of walls, and other functions. However, don't forget to toggle it off when you're not using it since things can go out of control
* Look up how to maintain world purity, since the Corruption, Crimson, and Hallow biomes spread across the world, and the Corruption/Crimson can infect the Jungle biome over time
* Go fishing. It’s worth it. Fishing gives you so many tools, accessories, and other loot that enhance the game tremendously. Once you find the Angler NPC in the Ocean biome at either end of the world, use him to get quests to find a specific fish, which you can redeem for loot
* For making potions, use an Alchemy Table from the Dungeon to have a 1 in 3 chance to not consume potion ingredients
* Use Invisibility Potions while farming for Truffle Worms
* Use Warmth Potions while fighting cold/ice-themed enemies (Deerclops, Frost Moon, etc.)


Conclusion:
I've played this game for over a decade now. I made a Steam account for this game, and I've played through so much of the game's development back when there wasn't even a fraction of the number of items in the game. To put it simply, Terraria is my favorite game. So after well over a thousand hours of playtime, I can safely say that I 100% recommend buying and playing Terraria.