Terraria is a classic 2D pixel survival game that can seem very daunting to new players. In our Terraria beginner’s guide, we’ll give you tips on how to start off on the right foot, allowing you to avoid the same mistakes we may have made as we explored the world.
Terraria progresses as you clear out bosses
As you explore the world and dig around caverns and dungeons beneath the surface, you’ll encounter monsters and bosses that require upgraded gear to take down. Terraria has a pretty straightforward progression system that involves fighting specific bosses to unlock more content. The more you take down, the harder the world will become.
Crimson and Corruption are similar, just visually different
When making a new world to play on, Terraria will ask you if you want a world with Corruption or Crimson. Crimson is red and has more of a gorey, body-horror aesthetic. Corruption is purple with a theme of decay.
Both serve the same purpose: They’re evil biomes that spread in your world, adding grotesque monsters. The main difference is that each type of poison has its own specific boss, and if you want the rewards from both, you have to make two different worlds.
Keep health potions on you and heal quickly with H
You find lots of healing potions in chests, so keep them and use the H button to heal yourself quickly when you’re in a pinch. Potions are the difference between life and death when you accidentally encounter a swarm of enemies, so you should always have a stack of them on you.
Explore the whole map and get a feel for where your different biomes are
Later in Terraria, you’ll need different biomes for different things, like paintings, fish, and bosses. It’s a good idea to fill out your map by exploring the area, just so you know where to go quickly.
Get rid of explored chests after you empty them out
When you find a chest and clean it out, use your Pickaxe to smack it, picking it up. There is no worse feeling than thinking you found a new treasure chest, only for it to be empty. Don’t leave empty chests for your friends, either. That’s not what friends do.
Keep building more housing for NPCs
There are over 20 NPCs in Terraria, and they all require a housing area before you get access to them. Keep building housing until they all move in. You’ll know they’re all there when the final NPC, a princess, moves in. You can build small rooms with a torch, a table, and a chair, and this will be enough for the NPC to stay.
Store the accessories and weapons you find
As you explore, beat up baddies, and open chests, you’ll find lots of weapons and accessories that you won’t necessarily use. Rather than chucking these, keep one of each in a chest. Lots of accessories and weapons build into bigger and better tools later, and some of them can be hard to find again. You don’t want to toss a weapon only to find out that you needed it later.
Also, you can sell extras for money to any NPCs with a shop, to help accumulate a small fortune over time.