The gaming world has huge debates, from console wars to PC supremacy. Whether Terraria is better than Minecraft has emerged as another popular topic. As two of the most well-known sandbox-style games available, Minecraft will surely face stiff competition with these 12 reasons why Terraria is better than Minecraft.
From the content to the gameplay and all of the extra goodies you find along the way, Terraria has so much depth that makes it more of a complete game than Minecraft’s more simplistic party-driven style.
Depth only represents the surface of why Terraria is better than Minecraft and is still open for debate. So, we dug deep into both games to find 12 reasons Terraria is better than Minecraft, so you don’t spend all your diamond-digging time missing out on this lesser-known gem.
1. The Graphics: 2D vs. 3D
An interesting place to begin when comparing Terraria and Minecraft is always the graphics, as many fans of either game are firm believers in their approach being the best. Many people will conclude Minecraft is naturally superior due to its three-dimensional art style that allows for massive amounts of exploration and certainly helps with the game’s overall immersion.
However, Terraria’s 2D art style has benefits that lift it above Minecraft for many players. In Terraria, due to the 2D nature, you can see much more of the environment, making navigation a lot easier. This is also great for fighting enemies, as they often sneak up on you in Minecraft.
The downside is that while Terraria might offer a more concise gameplay experience, Minecraft’s three-dimensional exploration aspect is hard to compete with. Still, as the most controversial reason for lifting one project over the other, you can find people on either side of the fence.
2. Amount of Content
We will be going into individual areas of content as we progress. Still, it is essential to start with the overall takeaway: Terraria has much more content than Minecraft. From the weapons to the armor, the bosses, crafting, and many other options, Terraria ends up far outstripping Minecraft in total content.
With continuous updates by the game creators, you can always look forward to new additions that add even more inventive ways to enjoy the game. On the other hand, Minecraft is heavily lacking compared with most content being reliant on the creativity of the game players.
Minecraft is undoubtedly a lot more accessible with less content to explore, making it a more popular game with its simplicity. You don’t have to worry about defeating something to progress to something else in Minecraft instead of a game like Terraria.
This area could be debatable for individual players, but you can’t compare Minecraft’s content to what Terraria offers. While Minecraft is a great game for casual fun, the more in-depth gamers looking for a substance-loaded title will enjoy Terraria more.
3. Consistent Updates
Even more so than the content debate, one area where Minecraft really can’t compare with Terraria is the level of consistency in updates. Anyone who has played Terraria for a long time knows that the developers are proactive about letting players know what’s coming to the game.
They are continually releasing trailers and snippets of future patch releases that often radically change the game. Adding more places to dig, new bosses to fight, and new types of areas to explore, Terraria is continually looking for ways to make the game better.
On the other hand, you see a familiar suspect when you look at Minecraft. Anyone who has ever enjoyed anything massively popular knows that the creators can often get pretty lax about keeping their product current.
This is especially an issue in Minecraft, as most updates are disappointing. From minor changes that add a new block to the game, like granite, to small additions where they add a few animals, Minecraft updates have a reputation for being negligible.
Regarding which game is continuously growing without any help from the player base, Terraria is near a perfect game while Minecraft struggles to reach average.
4. Origin/Ethics
One of the lesser-known aspects of either of these two games is how they both came to be. With Terraria often being labeled a Minecraft clone, it is interesting to note that Minecraft was, in fact, the first of its kind.
Developed by a Swedish programmer named Markus Persson, Minecraft was originally made as an attempt for him to leave his day job. With its release in 2011, by 2017, Markus was worth over 1.4 billion dollars. In comparison, Terraria was developed to provide great content in the sandbox gaming genre.
The creator has said they could have charged a single more dollar on the many content updates and made millions of dollars, but it would be against company principles. The creators of Terraria have set their focus on creating great content for their users without too much worry.
You can see this in the follow-ups for the two games. Minecraft suffers from being a popular rag-to-riches story without much motivation driving its improvement. Terraria, on the other hand, while debatable, a Minecraft clone benefits from a developer focused on its players.
5 Gameplay
Most gamers started playing games because they enjoyed the fun, but what defines a game? Fans of Minecraft and Terraria will be on opposite sides of the spectrum on this topic as despite them both being classified as sandbox games, their gameplay is quite different.
While both offer numerous ways to enjoy the game, Terraria is more of the classic gamers’ round, thanks to its more traditional gameplay style. However, Minecraft is more of the classical ideal when it comes to sandbox gaming.
The main difference in the gameplay of these two games, though, is Minecraft is primarily focused on building, whereas Terraria is much more focused on combat. Combat is a more natural field for most traditional gamers. The many bosses and constant fight encounters you will encounter during a playthrough of Terraria keep things exciting and frantic.
Meanwhile, Minecraft offers a much slower-paced play style, as you rely on the community to enjoy most of the best interactions. The result is a much more reliant game on the massive number of users it has built up over time versus a game that brings more fun for the individual player.
6. The Weapons
With combat being so much of a more integral factor to the gameplay of Terraria than Minecraft, it should be no surprise that Terraria far outstrips its competitor regarding weapon customization. Minecraft’s simplicity is part of its charm, but that isn’t necessarily true for the game’s weapons.
In Minecraft, most users are left with five swords that only offer marginal increases in damage without many unique abilities. You might find a sword with more life steal or a unique mod, but this is rare in Minecraft.
When you compare this to Terraria, you will find over 20 swords, each offering distinctive abilities that make them feel different. From rotating projectiles to extravagant special attacks, the weapons of Terraria often offer a distinct change in play style.
Factors like scaling knockback and critical strike chance allow your weapons to scale as you play through. It is easy to stop with the swords and place Terraria ahead, but with consistent updates come various weapons that place Terraria in another League when it comes to this category.
You can use melee and ranged weapons like guns that also offer unique attributes. When switching between the two, you will find Minecraft’s combat incredibly lacking compared to the vast array of options and weapons you have to choose from in Terraria.
7. The Armor
Much like the weapons in Terraria, you will find many more options regarding armor in Terraria. Like with the weapon grades in Minecraft, the game’s armor grades are very similar, with only marginal differences in the different selections.
However, the options in Terraria offer much more customizability as you can cater to your chances for different areas and fights. You can find armor that will not only alter your defensive level but also change your offensive abilities.
You might add extra resistance to crit, or crit chance for yourself, or even options for increasing different types of damage like sword, gun, or rocket damage. Some players might focus on a build that increases the number of minions for a building’s necromancer type.
Other players might want to focus on increasing their ranged damage while preceding defense for a glass cannon ranger playstyle. You have many more options to choose from in Terraria than the armor options in Minecraft, which can sometimes feel little more than cosmetic.
8. The Caves
Despite being a game titled Minecraft, it is surprising how lackluster some of the caves you will find yourself mining ends up being. While the 3D style is fantastic for exploration, it can be impeded when spelunking through a cave dive.
The repetitive act of breaking down block after block as you try to reach a deeper area with the prospect of possibly falling straight into the lava is never great. This makes for fun and tomfoolery when playing with other players, but it also can be a bit frustrating.
In comparison, the caves in Terraria offer an engaging delving experience with everyone you find. This is an area where 2D can shine over 3D, as you can see much more of the screen for better navigation. As you dig through caves, you will find enemies to keep things interesting and options to dig into secret areas and sometimes explore beyond the standard 2D rails.
While it is debatable which cave style is preferred, you can’t debate Minecraft caves’ consistency when there is a game like Terraria.
9. Crafting
With Minecraft being the godfather of sandbox gaming, you would think it would hold the title for one of the most important aspects of any sandbox game, the crafting mechanics, sadly. However, this is another area where Terraria has outperformed its predecessor.
With so much more content, weapons, and armor, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the crafting system in Terraria is far more in-depth than Minecraft’s. This excellent crafting base comes with a simple change in the form of many more types of ores to collect than those offered in Minecraft.
All of your ore options build into your gear options, so having more variety in ore gives the game creators more variety in deciding how to change your gear. While Minecraft offers multiple ores, you are under double digits for unique types, severely limiting your customization options.
Terraria, on the other hand, has around 20 different ores, which you can see make up many different uses or a variety of the game’s content. Some types of more useful for combat, while others offer better digging or more customization for your home, leading to the next topic.
10. Better Beginner Structures
While Minecraft certainly offers better building options with a 3-dimensional style of graphics, this also comes as a gift and a curse. The positive side is that as you play the game and figure out different ways to do things, you can create more elaborate structures that use your environment.
This is great for the players who have dedicated themselves to learning Minecraft’s secrets. Though some players might prefer how Terraria does things right from the beginning, you can make a solid base.
While beginner houses in Minecraft are challenging to make more than a single brick structure, the options you will have in Terraria right off the bat will offer much more space and creative possibilities for organizing your loot.
With the game being much more featured on action gameplay over exploration Terraria allows you to construct a base and get on with the more fun aspects of the game. If you are a Minecraft fan, though, you might prefer agonizing for hours as you put your landscaping and structural engineering degree to work.
11. The Boss Fights
Even though we have mentioned how combat is much larger in Terraria than in Minecraft, you won’t find this more obvious than in the boss fights. There was only one boss in the original Minecraft game, the Ender Dragon though subsequent updates have added additional bosses.
Even still, there isn’t much comparison regarding the encounters that Terraria offers. Trading out simplistic attack patterns and slow-moving projectiles for heavy action, projectile-filled spam sessions, the boss battles of Terraria is intense.
When skipping between the two options, you will likely find Minecraft boss fights comical. Terraria has the potential to take you through the adrenaline-pumped old-school battles of games like Contra while building a new house is often more entertaining than some of the Minecraft boss battles.
12. Character Progression
While there is plenty of building progression and exploration in Minecraft, the game’s character progression aspect is severely lacking. This also carries over to the enemies you will face in the game, as you will likely be introduced to most of them within a few hours of play.
Terraria, on the other hand, offers many different enemies to fight and receive different types of loot from to progress your character in many different ways. By the end of the game, you can turn your character into an absolute monster that destroys any enemy.
Whether you are looking to find a new magical Unicorn to ride around, wings for flight, or to change your character’s look in many different ways, Terraria has the options built into its progression. On the other hand, Minecraft is much more reliant on the player continually pressing forward in the hopes that they find something new to enjoy.
Conclusion
With both games offering their unique addition to the sandbox gaming genre, there are many reasons to play either of these massive games. However, the gamer, in a traditional sense, is more likely to prefer the style of Terraria despite Minecraft bringing many new things to games that have revolutionized the scene forever.