Comparing this game to Minecraft would be an injustice to Terraria. Mine craft was a vanilla experience with no clear goal however some excuse for a goal was added in later with expansions although there is no incentive to do them.
Terraria on the other hand is a game in which there is a goal, a very well defined goal which comes with it a reward for yourself but the difference is that despite there being the promise of more xp and better equipment you don't have to. It's the narrative game without the pressure or the story as you are encouraged to make it as you go along.
So the scene is set, what about the gameplay, the graphics, the music? Well all are good. The game is played from a 2D perspective taking on a pixel art design for the world and fonts. Although not particularly fresh looking, the contrast in colours between corrupt and normal areas is interesting and watching a world slowly decay gives a sense of loneliness to the game. But then you get dynamite and it's all ok.
I will say that after you've played a few worlds you will start to get a plan going. For my chums and I we build a small house and get to work on a hole straight down to the bottom of the map ready for boss fights.
You collect resources by mining, collecting or killing, you have a nice big inventory with a quick select bar. You move with the keyboard and point at what you want to interact with. The crafting menu is a list of all the available crafting items so there's no need to look up on a wiki to see what arrangements these wooden blocks need to be placed in.
Weapons are interesting too as you can also get magical weapons, I often play magical classes and I approve of this addition.
The music is a part of this game that really shines, each track is really well produced and changes based on what is happening in the world at that time. Changing biome, rain starts, boss appears it's all there. The soundtrack can be found on bandcamp if you want to sneak a listen.
So all in all terraria is a good 2d side scrolling sandbox game with as much or as little as you want in the game. Make your own story
