Terraria: A Study in Contrasts
I don't know if it's possible to overstate the affect that Minecraft has had on modern video gaming. It is now the third best-selling game of all time, only behind Wii Sports, which came packaged with the Wii, and Tetris, which is...well, Tetris. It is basically available on every platform known to man, it is a productivity killer, a creative space, a child's development tool, an architect's daydream, a LEGO product...the list goes on. The monumental impact of Minecraft is felt in numerous clones and offshoots that have all attempted, to varying degrees of success and failure, to capture that perfect balance of creativity, "sandbox" gameplay, survival, and pure imagination.
To me, the one that has succeeded best at capitalizing on the craze while also becoming it's own unique entity is Terraria.
Terraria was first released in 2011, the same year as the first complete Minecraft build (though the Minecraft Alpha was publicly available starting in 2009). Best described as an "action-adventure," the game takes place in a 2D environment with retro-styled sprite graphics reminiscent of Final Fantasy 6. You play a fully customizable character that pops into a world of verdant valleys, barren deserts, lush jungles and wide oceans. These environments are divided into blocky sections called "biomes." From there, the direction you choose to go in is more-or-less entirely your own. You are given tidbits of information by a Guide who spawns nearby your character and fills you in on the game's key mechanics. Mostly, though, you are left to discover the secrets and treasures of the world yourself.
Though it features a lot of the same kinds of crafting, mining, and construction elements that Minecraft does, Terraria diverges wildly from the king of the sandbox by introducing a healthy dose of action-RPG elements. Your character has Health and Mana, both of which can be improved over time, and there is a much larger range of equipment oriented around combat and survival than in Minecraft. Combat in Terraria is more involved and varied, with a colourful range of enemies that evolve and change depending on circumstances and the relative strength of the player. There are also a number of NPCs that can "move" into the world, who give an idea of their background and the general goals ahead of you.
Where the game really shines, though, and why I felt its inclusion on a Scary Blog was merited, is in its contrasting of cheery, bright imagery and some surprisingly stark and grim bosses, enemies and areas. Even forgetting the latter elements, basically every sprite in this game explodes in a shower of gore when you annihilate it with your considerable arsenal. Indeed, there is a "gore" option in the menu screen. The splattery fate of most creatures you encounter is, in many ways, pre-ordained, since it is a key mechanic of the game. When a world in Terraria is first generated, it randomly allocates a large section to a hostile biome of either Corruption or Crimson. Regardless of which one your world is cursed with, this biome will gradually spread, overtaking the other biomes and transforming them into a hellish landscape.
This infection is not an inevitability, though. There are ways for you to either contain or even eradicate the zones of Corruption or Crimson. At the beginning of the game, you are ill-equipped to deal with the threat of the tough beasts that populate these zones. Progressing to a point where you can effectively combat this infection requires descending, quite literally, to Hell. Most Minecraft-like games feature a version of an Underworld - in Minecraft, it was the Nether. In Terraria...I really don't know how else to put it. You dig deeper and deeper, descending through caverns, ancient ruins, glowing mushroom ravines, lava, until finally...
Like, there's no sugar-coating this. There are flowing pools of lava that bubble up evil Slimes. There are demons flying around and casting fireballs at you. There are valuable resources you can pick up called Hellstones. There are crafting stations you find called Hellforges. You. Are. In. Hell. And the dark imagery doesn't stop there, either. Defeating the boss of Hell, the "Wall of Flesh" (quite literally a beast of flesh and organs that extends from the bottom of the screen to the top), changes your world into Hardmode, a situation that is greeted by the line "The ancient spirits of light and dark have been released." With that, a whole new area of Crimson/Corruption is generated, as well as an area of "Hallow," ostensibly the aforementioned zone of "light." You might expect a cakewalk in this area, but just like its evil counterparts, this is a place filled with incredibly tough monsters, and it also spreads and infects your world.
The contrast between surprisingly bleak imagery and difficulty curve could have made Terraria an oddball, but it really, really works. There's something pleasantly jolting about cheery sprites being swapped for hellbeasts periodically. It keeps you on your toes, constantly shifting your style and methods to adapt to new threats. Moreover, it really shines in the black comedy department, delivering great one-liners whenever you bite the dust like "[character]'s flailing about was finally stopped by a Skeleton Sniper's bullet." It's clear that the makers of Terraria have a soft spot for horror, not just from their sense of humour, but also from the inclusion of numerous references to horror greats. The Crimson/Corruption areas have deep roots in Lovecraft Mythos (the Crimson boss is even called the Brain of Cthulhu), and during a Solar Eclipse event, hordes of monsters begin to spawn, each of them a pastiche of classic horror.
Terraria is a super-fun romp of contrasts. One moment you can be peacefully chopping wood, with the sun shining and your NPCs gossiping about each other, the next a Blood Moon will rise and you're blasting Eye Beasts from Hell. Its addictive qualities lie in never having a dull moment, constantly challenging the player to try new things and experiment. It's not just another Minecraft clone, it's an evolution, and I highly recommend it.