Last week, patch 1.3 for the hit indie game Terraria released for the PC edition of the game. The patch is not out for other editions yet, but as the Inquisitr has previously reported, Terraria is currently on sale on Xbox One, so now may be a good time to pick it up if you haven’t already. As Kotaku reports, in light of the new update, Terraria has suddenly skyrocketed in popularity once more.
Terraria developer Re-Logic takes a lot of time between patches; the game first released in 2011, and 1.3 is only the third major update. The updates tend to have rather a lot to them, however, and 1.3 is no exception.
Right out of the gate, the UI improvements in Terraria are obvious, if subtle. The character and world selection screens are drastically-improved, showing additional information and generally being better laid-out, including an option to upload saves to the cloud. Character generation has also seen some improvements, with a revamped color picker and actual outfit options. The in-game UI has seen some improvements too, with visuals added to the equipment slots to clarify their function, not to mention the ability to dye accessories.
Terraria 1.3 includes over 800 new items; many new decorative blocks, crafting stations with increased functionality, new potions, many new accessories (a number of which provide additional UI functionality, such as positioning systems and enemy radar) and more.
Steam achievements have also finally been added to Terraria , and certain in-game achievements grant rewards – most notably, rather than random drops, enemy banners are now received every 50 kills and will provide a bonus against that enemy if the player is nearby. Many other area-effect buffs have also been added, including a “happiness” buff when the player is nearby the spawn point or a sunflower.
Another interesting addition in Terraria 1.3 is the introduction of “Expert Mode” – note that this is different from Hard Mode, and will make Terraria much more dangerous right from the start; enough so that even experienced hardcore players will probably prefer not to try Expert Mode on hardcore difficulty. On the other hand, it also introduces some special new rewards.
Forbes reports that Terraria 1.3 makes multiplayer Terraria much easier, removing any need to set up port forwarding and IP sharing.
It would be impossible to cover every change to Terraria here, but two others stand out. NPCs – that is, the shopkeepers, guide, etc – will now defend themselves against enemies, and seem to be strong enough to fight off certain invasions, especially depending on how you’ve built your town. It’s a much-needed change, and may mean that players won’t have to run home every time an event starts up. The other significant addition to Terraria is the introduction of the Underground Desert biome, in which antlions (in several different flavors) finally get to take a center stage, and you might actually collect enough mandibles to do something with them. Also of note are new mini-biomes Granite and Marble, also found underground, which include some dangerous enemies, but can result in some very attractive new granite and marble decorations.
Overall, Terraria 1.3 is probably the most content-rich update since the game was released. If you haven’t played Terraria in a while, or ever, there’s never been a better time to check out all it has to offer.
