Re-Logic's beautiful, 2D, crafting adventure Terraria, which got its final 1.4.1 update last year, is a game that can quickly become daunting to new players. Like many crafting games, Terraria may appear simple on the surface, but the challenge ramps up quickly as new recipes are discovered and more obscure items are needed to complete them.
Related: 10 Terraria Mods That Make The Game Even Better
In a game where the player can go from idyllic farming to battling cosmic horrors in the matter of an evening, it's easy to get a bit overwhelmed. Like many complex games, learning what to do at the beginning and giving yourself the best start possible can often be the key to success.
10 Chop Down Trees And Mine Stone
While it may sound obvious, before you can start collecting tissue samples from Eldritch gods, you need to gather some basic resources. The first thing new players will want to do is gather stacks of wood and stone. These materials are essential for building the most basic items and structures such as houses and work stations.
Players start Terraria with a copper sword, axe and pickaxe which will help speed up resource gathering in the early game. Trees are common and can be felled as needed, while stone can be found two or three blocks underground.
9 Kill Slime To Build Torches
There are many dark corners of the map to explore and often rare items to find deep below the surface. If players are planning underground expeditions, or just want to brighten up their homes they will need a supply of light sources.
Terraria has a variety of different torches, each with its own function and light intensity. As well as wood, players will need to gather gel by killing the starting slimes in order to build their first standard torch. Torches can be placed as furniture on walls or carried in the player's hand and are essential for subterranean exploration.
8 Aim To Build At Least Two Houses Early On
With zombies marauding, the world at night and a whole map to explore, the player's first priority will be to build a house. Houses serve as places to store items and can be filled with crafting stations as well as other useful items. Building two or more houses close to each other will create a village.
A basic house requires walls, a door, a table with a chair and a torch, the ingredients for which can be all be found at the spawn point. As they are so simple to build, players should aim to build two consecutively, one for themselves and one for the guide. The two houses will count as a village which will attract more NPC's for the player to interact with.
7 Build A Work Bench and Furnace
As the player progresses they will need to build crafting stations in order to make new items, armour and better weapons (including eventually a sniper and scope).
The work bench is the simplest crafting station and is required to build most early game objects. The furnace which can be built from 20 stone, 4 wood and 3 torches, is where the player can craft new weapons and armour upgrades. Getting kitted out with proper weapons and pickaxes will make mining much easier and help with killing difficult enemies.
6 Keep The Guide Safe
The guide is the first NPC encountered in Terraria and possibly one of the most useful. He can offer the player helpful tips and tell them what objects can be crafted from certain materials he is also essential for finding and defeating the wall of flesh boss fight later on in the game.
The player should aim to build a house for the guide as soon as possible to keep him safe from monsters at night. If a house can't be built on the first day the player should temporarily surround the guide with blocks of dirt to prevent him from wandering into zombies and dying.
5 Use Platforms To Get Back Up To The Surface
Should the player want to start digging underground for materials and ores they will need to ensure they can get back up to the surface. Ropes are an effective way of moving vertically but can be hard to get in the early game.
Platforms are special objects that the player can jump through and land on top of. They can be constructed from a variety of materials including wood and are one of the easiest ways to move up and down mine shafts in Terraria. Since the player can jump through them but not move the other way they are great for descending deep caves and avoiding fall damage.
4 Find Caves to Collect Chests, Pots and Cobwebs
The world of Terraria is full of natural features to find and explore most of which are underground. Naturally occurring caves are great places to find treasure and cobwebs, which have a range of uses from ropes to cosmetics.
Related: Terraria: The 10 Best Cosmetic Items In The Game
Gold coins, special materials and some items can be found in chests and pots. Players can smash pots to receive basic loot, bigger and better prizes can often be found in chests. Once chests have been emptied of their contents they can be pickaxed and retrieved to be placed again as storage containers. Cobwebs are also found underground in caves and ruined houses. They slow down the player when moving through them but can be harvested using any tool and turned into silk which is an essential item for making beds.
3 Craft A Yoyo For An Effective Melee Weapon
While a yoyo may not sound as exciting as a power glove, another powerful early game melee weapons, even a wooden one can be surprisingly efficient at dealing with monsters.
Related: Terraria: 10 Things You Didn't Know About The Eye Of Cthulhu
Yoyos in Terraria are long-distance melee weapons that can be held at full extension, for a set amount of time, to deal damage. A simple wooden yoyo can be built from 10 wood and 20 cobwebs at the player's work bench. The rally yoyo which is dropped from certain enemies can even make a viable weapon against the Eye of Cthulhu boss fight.
2 Place Sunflowers Around Villages And Houses
Keeping NPC's happy and minimising the number of enemies spawning each night is essential for maintaining your villages in Terraria. Sunflowers offer a happiness buff for NPC's, reduce the spawn rate of monsters and protect tiles directly beneath them from being tainted by corruption or the crimson.
The player can encounter sunflowers naturally in the game and pick them up using the pickaxe to be replanted elsewhere. Surrounding a village with sunflowers is a good way to keep it happy and free from zombies.
1 Don't Avoid The Early Game Boss Fights
The randomly generated world in Terraria is far from safe and tranquil. Newcomers who are struggling with combat may feel daunted at the prospect of a boss fight. However, beating a boss early on offers an extra, single-use, pool of hearts which can help players kill later bosses and survive other difficult encounters.
The player can summon and defeat the Eye of Cthulhu or King Slime in the early game to get this bonus. Both of these bosses also drop special weapons and ores that are essential for progressing and finishing the game.