Ladies and gentlemen, there are murmurings on the internet. Only a short while ago, Terraria, also known as “Terraria: Shut up and Dig Gaiden!”, a game that seemingly came out of nowhere, has begun its imperial march upon Steam. In a little over a week, this independent title has seen an obscene amount of traffic that have now dwarfed both The Witcher 2 and Portal 2 in its opening week. Re-Logic, the developer of the sandbox PC title, could not begin to imagine the reception that awaited this Castlevania version of Minecraft. But then again, how could adding game play elements to the underlying sandbox design of the monolith title that has defined user game design over the last few years?

Actually, it does its job great.

Much like Minecraft’s story, there isn’t much of one. The character that you create is dropped into a randomly generated world of your choice in size (small, medium, large). You are given a mining pick, an axe, and a NPC guide to help you with creating your first home, as well as tips about mining and how you can coax other NPC’s to move into outlying homes, This may sound like a boon having so much information at your fingertips, but eventually you will find that the world works against you in such an unforgiving manner.

Security in your home is a key to survival, as there is a never-ending spawn of monsters that assail players from the get go. Both the slimes above ground during the day, and zombies with floating eye pets during the night require you to have a base of operations in the early game, so that you can have a secure holding to bunker down and dig into, while the undead roam the night. While zombies are not the smartest creatures in the realm of fantasy, they can quickly overpower you if you don’t have your back to a wall.

Here's your gear. Don't let the door hit you on the way out!

The true enemies of Terraria lay in the caverns and holes of the world, housing beefier slimes, more versions of undead, and unknown terrors that lay at the bedrock of the world, waiting for those who dare to invade. What’s more is that there are random events during playtime that change the behaviour and pattern of the monsters. Every time the sun sets, there is a slight chance that the blood moon will rise, doubling the monster spawn rate and increasing their intelligence to open doors into buildings, and every time the sun rises, there risks the small chance that a Goblin Army will invade your abodes in an attempt to kill every NPC and PC in sight and loot everything that isn’t placed or secured in a treasure chest.

If you heard from someone that Terraria’s game play was similar to a “Metroidvania” title, they would be about half right. While the game play is very much like a side-scroller adventure, you are the one who has to master the crafting system to gain superior tiers of armor, weapons, and tools to continue the adventure downwards. There are treasure chests full of loot, health power ups, spells, and other useful stuff in the deeps of the earth, while mana is acquired by venturing out into the night to collect falling stars. Like I said before, there really isn’t an overlying story to the game. Much like Minecraft, you have to make your own.