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Play OverviewPlay Overview

Terraria (2011) is a creative fantasy adventure game where you can build, fight and form the world in almost any way you want. Although it looks like a 2D, lesser version of Minecraft, it's just as flexible and offers more progression, weapons and dungeon boss battles. It stands out for the sheer scope and scale of what is possible - hundreds of items to collect, characters to meet and bosses to defeat.

While keeping the aesthetics retro, the game is a complex action-adventure sandbox with a focus on exploration, crafting, building, and combat. You start with just three basic tools: a pickaxe for digging, a sword for combat, and an axe for woodcutting. Many resources, notably ores, can be found while exploring caves which are then used to craft new items and equipment.

As you progress you dig down into the world, build a home and trade with visiting villagers. This enables you to build up a war chest of impressive weapons and tools while also collecting the resources you need to develop. Triggering (and hopefully beating) the different enemies and bosses takes a huge amount of effort. Beating them when they appear takes perseverance and planning.

Like Minecraft, Terraria is a game that has developed and improved over the years as its developers have released updates. A new Terraria Journey's End version of the game offers new items, foes, creatures and even a little Golf mini-game. It also adds new difficulty modes and enhanced weather effects.

The result is a game that has a huge community of players, deep systems of lore and huge hierarchies of weapons, characters and enemies. It may look simple, but the experience is anything but.

Our examiner, Jo Robertson, first checked Terraria 4 years ago. It was re-examined by Andy Robertson and updated 2 weeks ago.
Kids not old enough for this yet? There are lots of games similar to Terraria. Here are some similar younger-rated games:

Play StylePlay Style

This is an Adventure, Collecting, Creative and Fighting game with Action, Platform, Shooting and Traversal elements. You can play with 1 to 8 players in the same room or as a 8-player online game. You complete the game by building up enough weapons, armour and equipment to take on the big boss enemies. The time to do this varies depending on your particular map, and strategy to develop through the game.

 
You can play this game in the following styles:

DurationDuration

Play Time: This game will take between 57 hours and 98 hours to complete.

Age RatingsAge Ratings

Content Rating

Rated PEGI 12 for Violence. Gameplay is based around collecting materials - cutting down trees and mining to build houses to protect you from hordes of zombies at night. During the day you can also be attacked by small green blobs. All violence in the game is non-realistic although there are some blood effects and characters break up when killed. Also, the characters are borderline non-detailed. There are online interactions with other players.
 
Users Interact: The game enables players to interact and communicate with each other, so may expose players to language usually associated with older rated games.

Rated for younger players in Australia. Rated Parental Guidance (PG) for Mild Violence.

Skill Level

8+ year-olds usually have the required skill to enjoy this game. Still, it's important for parents and guardians to consider the maturity required to process the game content. You need to be able to persevere and have the imagination that inspires you to take on big challenges. There's some detailed control of the characters and the building of structures. You can play the game in Journey (creative) mode for younger players. It also lets you progress at your own pace. Older, more skilful, players will focus more on progression.

Account Rating

  • You need PlayStation Plus to play online with PlayStation 3 or PlayStation Vita.
  • You need be 18-years-old to to subscribe to Xbox Live Gold for online play, but can then configure family accounts for younger players to play online with Xbox One.
  • You need be 18-years-old to subscribe to Nintendo Online, but can then create accounts for children of any age to play online with Nintendo Switch.
  • You need be 18-years-old to subscribe to PlayStation Plus for online play, but can create sub-accounts for younger players of 7-years or older to play online with PlayStation 4.

CostsCosts

Terraria usually costs £4.59 to £24.99.
 

Terraria

XBox Store Xbox One £13.59 Free

Xbox Game Pass

XBox Store PC £13.59 Free

Xbox Game Pass

Switch Store Switch £24.99
Steam Store PC £8.50
Steam Store Mac £8.50
PlayStation Store PS4 £12.99 Free

PS Plus Extra

Android Store Android £4.59 Free

Google Play Pass

App Store iOS £4.99
There are the following additional costs associated with this game:
  • You need a subscription to play online:
    • You need Xbox Live Gold to play online with Xbox 360.
    • You need to purchase a Nintendo Online subscription to play online with Nintendo Switch.
    • You need to purchase a PlayStation Plus subscription to play online with PlayStation 4.
    • You need to purchase a Xbox Live Gold subscription to play online with Xbox One.
 
It's important to set up your accounts and devices appropriately. More information is on our Financial Resources page.
 

DetailsGame Details

Release Date: 16/05/2011, updated in 2019

Out Now: 3DS and 2DS, Amazon Fire, Android, Mac, PC, PS Vita, PS3, PS4, Stadia, Switch, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One and iOS

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Players: 1-8 (8 online)

Genres: Adventure, Collecting, Creative, Fighting (Action, Platform, Shooting and Traversal)

Accessibility: 24 features

Components: 2D Side-On, Blocks, Day and Night, Persistant World, Pixels and Weather

Developer: Terraria Logic (@Terraria_Logic)


Taming Gaming Book Written by parents for parents, the database complements the in-depth discussion about video game addiction, violence, spending and online safety in the Taming Gaming book. We are an editorially independent, free resource without adverts that is supported by partnerships.

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