Out of the hundreds of games I've played, the one genre I come back to time and time again is survival sandboxes. They're my comfort games. I'm not entirely sure why, but a good survival sandbox will suck away all of my time. I've put hundreds and even thousands of hours into games like Minecraft. Stardew Valley, Subnautica, Raft and The Forest. I love organizing my bases, talking with NPC's, and hogging mountains of resources I'll never use. But none of them have the classic RPG elements that I love so much. The satisfaction of slowly upgrading your weapons and armor and accessories from a lowly worm that can't even taken on a slime to a god-killing titan that can bend the world to his whim is intoxicating. I love looking back on how far I've come. I love seeing my tangible progress reflected in numbers and pretty colors on the screen. I've yet to play any game that does this better than Terraria.

The best part of Terraria by far is the copious number of weapons, accessories and armor to choose from. There are four main classes and oodles and oodles of subclasses, each with their own unique items. You're not boxed into any class either - at any point, all you have to do is gather what you want and you've changed classes. You could also ignore the class system altogether and use whatever you think looks cool. The game leaves the choices up to you. The insane amount of customization and freedom is unparalleled in any game I've ever seen.

All of these items aren't just for show either - the game has more than thirty bosses to fight, each with their own unique movesets and fantastic designs. Many bosses provide you with unique rewards that unlock new progression to upgrade your gear even more, giving you a tangible benefit to your struggles. Different playthroughs will find different gear because of the vast amount of options, so every character feels like its own unique experience.

Because of this, the game doesn't hold your hand. The first time you fight many of the bosses, you'll die so much you'll think, "How is this even possible???" But maybe you find a new weapon, or a new accessory, or you discover a new potion recipe, and every time you die you learn the attack patterns a little bit better. Until finally, with minutes left until sunrise, you finally best it with half a heart left. The weapon the boss drops will do double the damage of the one you were using and unlock a whole new layer of armor upgrades, and you feel invincible...until the next boss. This constant of cycle of conquering your obstacles with your own ingenuity and understanding of the game's systems is a huge part of what makes the game so rewarding.

And the more you play it, the more you see the character and soul of the game shine through. There's so much heart and humor everywhere. Crossover items and even bosses, references in item descriptions, in-jokes, player art, dev sets, hidden world seeds. You can tell that the developers didn't just want to make a good game, but a fun game. You can tell the people who work on the game intimately know what makes a game fun to play for over a decade. Their love for the craft shines through in every final final final final update, and I can't help but respect anyone who loves their creation so much that they can't stop working on it.

Terraria is a masterful game with hundreds of weapons, armor and accessories to find and dozens of bosses to fight, complimented with wonderful art direction and music that has become iconic in the games industry. The RPG mechanics are addicting and keep you wanting for the next upgrade, so every boss fight feels like the greatest fight of your life. The passion from the devs make the game a real joy to play, which is rare in a game nowadays. This game is a perfect 10/10 and the greatest survival sandbox I've ever played. For those that want the greatest RPG gaming can offer, Terraria is the absolute Zenith.