Terraria Critic Reviews

The whole point of Terraria is to explore, find weird contraptions and treasure chests, and use new items to make even more awesome things. I just wanted to keep unlocking the secrets of the game, and that is why this simple yet massive game just keeps giving and giving. I have barely scratched the surface, and I can’t wait to play some more.

Regardless of how you approach things, though, the basic rhythm of this astonishing piece of work remains the same. For your first few hours, Terraria will seem like a bewildering - occasionally terrifying - strain of chore. Put in the effort, though, and it eventually reveals its true nature. This isn't a game or even a toy. At heart, it's a vocation.

Even with console controls, Terraria is still perfectly playable and definitely one of the most enchanting indie games in recent history.

Fresh elements – like an absurdly expansive crafting system, a broad scope of monsters to battle, and a slick retro 2D presentation – make it a stand out among the pack.

Like Minecraft, the biggest difference to most triple-A titles lies in Terraria not wanting to tell you a story. It's waiting for you to craft one of your own. Think of a "normal", big action-adventure game as a glass of your favorite beverage. Terraria just gives you a pitcher and a bunch of ingredients to brew one of your own. Some people will prefer a walk to the bar, to get something prepared in advance. Others will happily go ahead and create the drink of a lifetime.

Apart from that issue and sometimes unresponsive building mechanics (which I only rarely encountered), Terraria is nearly perfect for what it is and unlike any other game you’ve played in a very long time. If you’re a fan of replayable, explorable and challenging games, you need to try Terraria. Most importantly, the game is incredibly fun, and that’s something I can dig.

A Live Arcade must have: an addictive unlimited 2D sandbox, capable of entertaining the most creative players for many, many hours.

Terraria was utterly fantastic on PC, and has made a near-perfect jump to console.

Terraria deserves to stand shoulder to shoulder with Minecraft as a sandbox classic.

Terraria rules also in console format.

Come for the Minecraft similarities, stay for Terraria's own sense of self-worth. Hours of exploratory gameplay, incremental improvements and just a handful of jaw-on-floor surprise deaths. It's Dark Souls put through a Minecraft filter.

Deep, fun and engaging, Terraria is a little/big game. Or, better, a little/huge game, considering the amount of time you'll need to fully explore it. The PC-to-console conversion is successful and even if the price on Xbox LIVE Arcade may appear a bit expensive, the game repays you with an original and exciting experience.

Terraria for consoles is still a brilliant sandbox RPG platform from 2011, with lots of enhancements. Graphics is nothing but average, and the ticket is a bit expensive, but you will enjoy this ride.

Immensely enjoyable. Almost endlessly so, in fact. If you haven’t played it yet, you’re missing out on a very clever 2D crafting/survival game that wears its retro influence on its sleeve. If you’ve already spent hundreds of hours in this world, there’s some new stuff to see in this version of the game.

A lot of games tried to copy Minecraft – or at least participate from its' success. But this two-dimensional take on the well known formula is the only game that is able to step out of the shadow of the indie phenomenon that inspired it. It leads you into a unique world full of creative magic and translates well onto consoles thanks to the very good pad controls.

A fantastic game of exploration and survival. You can occasionally feel lost in its open-world that lacks any real signposting, but the simple joy of digging and crafting means you’ll keep playing to discover the naturally-occurring progress.

An extremely solid port of the original.

The problem is that it arrives on this platform quite late. Apart from this, the game offers a very original concept that needs some time to work out, but it's rewarding and engaging in the end.

The longer you spend in Terraria, the more you discover that the Minecraft comparison, while obvious, isn't fair to either. Compared to Mojang's all-conquering virtual Lego set that encourages creativity, Terraria is more of a "game" with definitive goals, rules and progression that deserves to stand on its own merits.

Terraria is a game you can completely lose yourself in, also on consoles. The transference to controller was mostly successful and other elements like a map and a (short) tutorial make the game more playable. It still throws you in the deep end right away though, so learning how to swim might take some fishing around on the internet. Whoever manages to get through the first, nearly impenetrable, layer, awaits a deep world with expansive (home-made) adventures.