14 DAY TRIAL // 
Terraria is a video game that plays on the age-old desire that most humans have to discover what lies beyond the next hill or over a fast running stream that they might have difficulty crossing.
I rationally know that if I venture too far or insist on exploring at night, I will get eaten by some powerful and brutish creature, but there’s so much 2D space to cover and dominate that Terraria instills a spirit of exploration that’s never fully satisfied.
The game delivers a rather unforgiving world where death is close for the player who fails to pay attention to his character’s power, but the fact that there’s so much content to see and dig through eliminates almost all potential frustration.
Developer Re-Logic has not gifted Terraria with any sort of story, but the fact that it uses so many simple fantasy concepts and allows the player to move at his own pace means that anyone can create his own narratives, built around crafting, battling certain monsters or finding the rarest of environments.
The gameplay remains largely unchanged from the PC version: a character is created and then dropped in a random location in a world, with a sword, an axe to cut down wood and a pickaxe to get minerals with.
These are very humble beginnings, but they are enough to build basic tools and defenses that can ensure short-term survival.
Days are marked for exploration, hunting and resource gathering, while nights are for hiding behind thick walls with weapons and sources of light while undead creatures and demonic eyeballs populate the outside world.
A tutorial makes the core mechanics of Terraria easier to learn on the PlayStation Vita, but it’s always easier to simply start exploring, die a few times and die from experience, especially given the relatively small penalties for the normal difficulty level.
For a newcomer, the best idea is to think about Terraria as Minecraft in 2D with more combat, scarier monsters and more possibilities to craft the tools required to take them on.
It still requires a ton of attention and care when placing content and when crafting, but with enough trial and error, the mechanics tend to become second nature for those who are committed to slaying a powerful enemy or those who just want to create a superb castle and surround themselves with NPCs.
The game on Vita is a little counterintuitive at first and I struggled with two opposing instincts: to use the touchscreen for all actions other than move and attack or to stick to the classic control scheme.
Each player will probably need to decide which set of potential choices he is most comfortable with, but playing with my big hands means that both options tend to lead to an uncomfortable sensation if I play for long enough.
Otherwise, the port is solid and the entire experience will be instantly familiar to those who have played another version before.
The graphics quality of Terraria on the PlayStation Vita is not changed in any way and despite the smaller screen, it’s easier to focus on the moment to moment crafting by pinching to zoom in and to then move out in order to get an overview of the surrounding areas.
The music meshes well with the overall art style and the throwback game mechanics, although I have sometimes found it a little repetitive and easily replaced with a podcast when I was doing repetitive work.
Terraria is a game that can offer a lot of enjoyment and fun to those who have the time and the determination to find its secrets, slay its monsters and create the most interesting items.
The feeling of freedom it can create is also almost intoxicating and the Vita, with its touch controls, is a good way to experience it.
But the port offers little in the way of entirely new content and the repetitive nature and sometimes unfair deaths of the original game are still there, ready to annoy less forgiving players.
