Terraria

It's easy to get sucked into thinking this is just 2D Minecraft, but after spending *hundreds* of hours in this game, it's worth noting that this game competes much more with Diablo/Torchlight and Zelda than it does with Minecraft. You need to play this game on a private server with friends. There is no better way to experience it. Working together is super satisfactory. There are so many fun things to build. The bosses are amazing and give you real purpose in the game. There is little to no guidance, and that's a good thing. The game is all about exploration and discovery. Also, the price is criminally low. The game has been through multiple major content updates. The game was worth its price on day one, but now it's jam packed with stuff to do. Frankly, it's ridiculous how inexpensive this game is. Buy it now. Buy extra copies for your friends.

Ah, this really goes down as one of my favorite games of all time. Such an incredible game! Nearly never-ending exploration and discovery, all for under 10 USD. You really can't beat this value.

Great controls. Fun progression. Loads of interesting items. Best 2d game ever? Yes!

I have a lot of hours on this game, and I don't regret anything. The last updates have added visual effects that have re-awaken the spark in me. You will not regret this if you like survival/crafting/building games

Funny, I kept being recommended this game for years yet it never really grabbed my attention until one day - can't quite remember what changed, I think it was because I found out it was one of the 5 highest rated (by users, not reviewers) games of all times. This game got me hooked like .. can't remember any other (ex: starting 11h30 and only forcing myself to leave at 23h30 and realize I had forgotten to eat anything at all). The run-through and character buildup were absolutely majestic - as I increased in skill and equipment it started exploding in fun. The game ran absolutely flawlessly on Ubuntu Linux 22.04. I remember that the graphics were really poor at first but after some time it became second nature and I no longer noticed it. I also remember very well that the recipes were VERY frustrating - often playing the game was playing 2 games: Terraria + browse for recipes and how to get the ingredients. Very oddly, though - considering how much I enjoyed my 1st run-through, the maps being randomly generated and so many users reporting many 100s of hours played - I was expecting to have many glorious run-throughs, yet unfortunately that didn't happen. New run-thoughs didn't bring me enough new excitement (having Copper and Lead instead of Tin and Iron is meaningless) and the enjoyable slower and simpler early game was no longer appealing for someone who had gotten used to the more advanced style of late game. I wish I could go back and relive all that fantastic joy I lived in the 80h of my 1st run-through. Fingers crossed we'll have a new Terraria game or expansion.