Genre: Sandbox
Developer: Re-Logic
Publisher: Independent

Rare is the contemporary game that uses pixel art without it feeling contrived, or like the developer is simply trying to make a statement. Terraria's pixel art is detailed, richly animated, feels natural, and each area's theme is aesthetically pleasing. Its art may not evoke the kind of strength of emotion that the Castlevania series does, but it's certainly not devoid of character either.

Terraria's soundtrack, full of catchy chiptune melodies, is generally chipper in tone but never strays towards emotional gravitas. It would be easy to criticize this fact, but for a game that is largely build on the premise of sandbox construction, not forcing the player into a particular mood is probably a good choice. Sound effects are clear and fit the rest of the theming in the game appropriately.

Like the title's clear spiritual influence, Minecraft, Terraria involves tearing down tiles with tools, such as pickaxes, and then stacking the blocks to construct things. The transition to 2d takes a bit to get accustomed too, especially since background tiles can be manipulated via the "hammer" tool. But the control scheme and player physics work very well on the balance.

Where Minecraft is biased towards construction, Terraria is biased towards action. It plays a bit like Spelunky-meets-Castlevania-- exploring vast underground cavern networks, while taking part in almost constant Castlevania-style combat. At first blush Terraria doesn't seem to have quite the richness of ludonarrative that Minecraft does. But upon further analysis, that's just because of the sheer amount of exciting, concrete objectives there are in the title towards which to work.