Conquering The Backlog Part 4: I'm Addicted To Terraria Again

Around this time last week, I was writing about how the release of Terraria: Journey's End threatened to derail my quest to complete as many games in my backlog as possible. Terraria is one of my favorite games, and with each major update, it seems I can't resist the urge to dive back in for another several hundred hours. Past Eric, however, was optimistic that even though this Terraria update looked like the most exciting one yet, he'd be able to at least keep some focus on his immediate goal of completing Ori and the Will of the Wisps.

Past Eric was a chump and too optimistic for his own good.

For the most part, my gaming over the past week has been dominated by Terraria, save for a single BWL raid in World of Warcraft Classic that went better than expected. A week in, Terraria has its hooks in me, and Past Eric was being very silly when he suggested anything other than this scenario as a possibility.

I will say that Journey's End is proving to be every bit as awesome as I hoped it would be. I haven't managed to get very far in the game yet because I'm playing with a couple of friends and we're taking things slow, but even in the early stages of the game, it's clear that there's a lot to this update.

Looking at the changelog that was posted a couple of days before Journey's End released really just drives home the value proposition of a game like Terraria. In a world where AAA publishers are trying every scheme they can to squeeze as much money out of players as possible, Terraria has never asked for more than however much I paid at the start – all of the updates have been offered free, transforming the game into something bigger at multiple points throughout the past decade.

I say "however much I paid at the start" because I'm not sure what I spent on Terraria all those years ago. I know I bought it around the time it launched in 2011, and I know that the most I paid would have been $10 because that's the most Terraria has ever cost on PC, but even then, I don't think I paid that much. I think I bought the game on sale for $5 or even less – a video game deal if there ever was one.

Regardless of what I paid, a game that costs a mere $10 has no business being this packed full of content, but here we are. Terraria has proven multiple times over the past 9 years that it's one of the best values in gaming, and even if you bought one its more expensive console ports (hello $30 Switch version), you still get a lot of bang for your buck.

I've made my love of Terraria clear plenty of times in the past, so I'll just say that you should buy it if you don't already own it. With Journey's End now here, the game is considered complete, and for someone who is playing for the first time, there's a lot of fun to be had. It's the perfect game to play while we wait for the COVID-19 pandemic to run its course, as it's one of those games that makes time melt away.

As much as I love Terraria, the game has put me in a strange position when it comes to this week's article, because my rekindled obsession with it means that my list remains unchanged from last week, which itself was unchanged from the week before. We've gone a few weeks without adding any new games to to the list, which isn't ideal since the entire goal of this is making that list as long as possible by the end of the year.

Assuming I get to the end of Terraria and beat the Moon Lord, Terraria will then qualify for inclusion on the list, because I've never defeated the Moon Lord before and that means I've never technically beaten the game. I have 18 Steam achievements left to unlock in Terraria, and my goal with this playthrough is to get them all. That means we could very well see an all achievements run of Terraria join the list of completed games at some point in the next few weeks.

In any case, here's the list of completed games as it stands on May 23rd, 2020. Prepare to be underwhelmed:

PC

• Cat Quest

• Chrono Trigger

• Turok: Dinosaur Hunter (100%)

PlayStation 4

• Journey

I can tell you right now that much of the next week will be more Terraria and WoW Classic, but I'll see if I can't polish off Ori and the Will of the Wisps during this long weekend. I'll have another update on my progress next Saturday, but for now, head down to the comments section and let me know what you're playing over Memorial Day weekend.