11 Best Games Like Terraria in 2025: The Adventure Continues
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This list is regularly updated to match what’s trending and in-demand among gamers.
After finishing Terraria, there are only really two things to do: play modded or look for games like Terraria. Modded Terraria is great, don’t get me wrong – but after playing such a good game (hard to believe it was released over a decade ago!), it’s a good idea to cleanse your palate and take on a different kind of adventure.
That’s why I’m here. In this list of games like Terraria, we’ll do a quick rundown of some fantastic titles that include sandbox games, farming sims, and difficult open-world survival craft ones that are sure to help you scratch the Terraria itch!
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Our Top Picks for Games Like Terraria
Now, every game on this list is fantastic, but some of them stand far above the rest:
- Minecraft (2011) – the forerunner of every open-world survival craft is 100% worth a try.
- Stardew Valley (2016) – if you liked Terraria’s crafting and building side most of all, this will scratch the itch.
- Starbound (2016) – Terraria in space!
- Core Keeper (2024) – mine, craft, explore, and level up in a vast underground complex.
- Dragon Quest Builders 2 (2018) – a Terraria-like with the distinct Dragon Quest flair.
But while these are the best on this list, you should definitely check them all out as they’re all great games!
11 Best Games Like Terraria
It’s hard to quantify what makes a game similar to Terraria. Maybe it’s the 2D perspective, maybe the adventuring side, some may like the combat, while others may just like building. There’s something for everyone on this list, and whatever aspect of Terraria you like best, you’re sure to find something to love here:
1. Minecraft
| Platforms | PC, Linux, Mac OS, New 3DS, Wii U, Switch, PS Vita, PS3/4/5, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Android, iOS |
| Release Year | 2011 |
| Developer | Mojang Studios (acquired by Microsoft) |
| Average Playtime | Variable (moddable) |
When it comes to games like Terraria, none can question the preeminence of Minecraft.
Minecraft is often compared to virtual Lego due to its voxel nature, but it’s so much more than that. When it comes to sandbox games, Minecraft is the full suite: you can build huge monuments to your hubris (or maybe just a humble cozy hut), delve treacherous caves and deep dungeons in search of loot and house decorations, explore the endless procedural world in survival mode, or just do whatever you want in creative mode. And while vanilla Minecraft already has a boatload of content, that’s just the surface: Minecraft (Java edition, preferably) boasts an incredibly robust modding scene featuring crazy things like factory automation, magic, even more monsters, and so many new systems that it’s impossible to list them all!
2. Stardew Valley
| Platforms | PC, Linux, Mac OS, Switch, PS Vita, PS4, Xbox One, iOS, Android |
| Release Year | 2016 |
| Developer | ConcernedApe |
| Average Playtime | Variable (moddable) |
If you enjoyed the farming, crafting, and building side of Terraria, then you’ll most likely enjoy Stardew Valley as well. While there are a lot of Stardew Valley-like games, I still think this one takes the cake, especially since it’s still receiving updates almost a decade after its release.
Stardew Valley is ConcernedApe’s entry into the farming life sim, and I like to describe it as the refinement of the trend put forth by the Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons series.
As with many farming sims, you’ll receive free real estate in the form of your grandpa’s old farm. From that point on, you’re free to pursue life as you please in idyllic Pelican Town: you can spend countless hours trying to restore your farm to its former glory by farming, raising livestock, and crafting goods, exploring the mines and caves of the valley in search of treasure and/or danger, or even hitting up the locals to find friends and maybe something more.
3. Starbound
| Platforms | PC, Linux, Mac OS, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S |
| Release Year | 2016 |
| Developer | Chucklefish |
| Average Playtime | 30 hours |
While Terraria is widely renowned for its spin on the 2D sandbox, there other games – mostly great indie games – have also taken their shot. Starbound is one such game, and it’s easiest to describe it as Terraria…in space. As a new graduate of the Terrene Protectorate, you swore to uphold peace, cooperation, and harmony among the various species under the Protectorate’s banner.
Starbound distinguishes itself from its peers via its story. While sandbox games like Terraria don’t really have a story, Starbound has an overarching narrative of contacting members of other races and banding together to defeat the evil that attacked Earth, destroyed the academy, and spent everything spiraling into chaos.
But challenging this entity will require a lot of prepwork: you’ll need to explore procedurally-generated planets to harvest resources, craft new equipment, make new friends, complete quests, and even build bases to serve as resting points!
4. Core Keeper
| Platforms | PC, Linux, Switch, PS4/5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S |
| Release Year | 2022 (early access), 2024 (full release) |
| Developer | Fireshine Games |
| Average Playtime | 40 hours |
Next up is Core Keeper, a great adventure game with similar gameplay elements as Terraria, with a more defined progression and more of an RPG flavor to it.
In Core Keeper, you’ll find yourself as the sole (or not, with up to 7 other friends) explorer of a vast underground complex. To thrive in this world, you’ll need to not only perform the usual survival sandbox stuff: resource gathering, engage with crafting elements, and challenge increasingly difficult boss fights, but also hone your skills.
Core Keeper stands out among Terraria-likes for its RPG mechanics, specifically its multiple skill trees. Each action you perform net you some skill experience, which can then in turn be spent on the skill tree for that respective talent. Whether it’s fighting, cooking, smithing, magic, or blowing stuff up, you can play things your own way!
5. Dragon Quest Builders 2
| Platforms | PC, Switch, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X |
| Release Year | 2018 |
| Developer | Square Enix, Koei Tecmo Games, Omega Force |
| Average Playtime | 60 hours |
There are many genres that Dragon Quest could have spun off into after its RPG roots: real-time action RPGs, life sims, maybe even a platformer game. Instead, we got Dragon Quest Builders 2 – a sandbox survival-adventure game, and a welcome surprise.
Dragon Quest Builders 2 is a game set in the world of Dragon Quest II, after you’ve saved the world. As a shipwrecked survivor caught in a raid by the remnants of the Children of Hargon, you’ll find yourself washed up with an amnesiac man named Malroth on a deserted island. Which, of course, is more than it seems.
You’ll need to use your Builder abilities to not just build things to restore the island to its former glory (and maybe put up more than a few monuments to your greatness) but also unearth the secrets it guards.
6. Necesse
| Platforms | PC, Linux, Mac OS |
| Release Year | 2019 (Early access) |
| Developer | Fair Games ApS |
| Average Playtime | 30+ hours (moddable) |
Necesse is a game that’s almost always brought up when talking about games like Terraria or Minecraft. This indie game is the project of solo developer Mads Skovgaard, and his love for the genre really shows in how Necesse not only utilizes but refines the gameplay that Terraria offers.
As with most other entries on this list, Necesse puts you in the boots of an adventurer, who spawns on a lonely island with a top-down point of view. From there, you’re free to play the game as you wish – craft ladders to dig deep into the earth and mine treasures, build a cozy homestead or palatial manor for your needs, refine equipment to take down more and more bosses, or even build a town and invite NPCs to take up permanent residence.
That last part is especially relevant as NPCs allow for pseudo-automation, taking away a lot of the grind in these types of games and allowing you to focus on having fun!
7. Valheim
| Platforms | PC, Linux, Mac OS, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S |
| Release Year | 2021 (Early access) |
| Developer | Iron Gate Studio, Fishlabs (Xbox) |
| Average Playtime | 100+ hours (moddable) |
Valheim – the viking sandbox game – was a surprise hit release in early 2021.
You play as a fallen warrior who, instead of ascending to Valhalla, has been tasked with vanquishing the Forsaken – powerful monsters chained to the realm. To do this, you’ll need to forest, mine, chop, build, and improve your many skills via practice.
Progress, much like Terraria, is defined by the resources you have access to – more difficult biomes require stronger equipment and better food, for instance, but there’s a lot of room for skill expression in the game.
And when you’re done fighting and exploring, you can always kick back and feast in your hill fort (or cave with a door, I’m not judging). Skål!
8. Palworld
| Platforms | PC, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S |
| Release Year | 2024 |
| Developer | Pocketpair |
| Average Playtime | 70+ hours |
At first glance, Terraria and Palworld might seem worlds apart – but that gap just closed with the massive Tides of Terraria update.
This free crossover brings iconic Terraria bosses like the Eye of Cthulhu and Moon Lord into Palworld as catchable Pals, alongside a new dungeon, three fresh islands, Terraria-themed gear and weapons, and the addition of fishing and salvaging systems.
Players can now deepen bonds with Pals through a new trust system, engage in solo battles in the Arena mode, and explore overhauled NPC villages. It’s a wild blend of sandbox chaos and pixel nostalgia—and it’s only expanding in both directions, as Terraria will also soon feature Palworld content in its upcoming 1.4.5 update.
9. Enshrouded
| Platforms | PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S |
| Release Year | 2024 (Early access) |
| Developer | Keen Games |
| Average Playtime | 60+ hours |
In Enshrouded, you play as one of the Flameborn, a rare type of human that’s immune to the pervasive and corrupting Shroud that’s invaded the land while you slept.
Once you awaken, you’ll need to gather, mine, and craft to create weapons, armor, and magic capable of withstanding the threat of the Shroud and to save your fellow Flameborn–artisans who can populate your bases and provide their services.
As you destroy the sources of the shroud and gain experience, you’ll eventually level up and gain points that can be spent on an expansive skill tree.
As with Valheim, Enshrouded is an early access game that provides a ton of content. It should also be mentioned that Enshrouded looks absolutely gorgeous, despite being a voxel-based game, and that Keen Games developed their own engine (from scratch!) for Enshrouded!
10. Don’t Starve Together
| Platforms | PC, Linux, OS X, Wii U, Switch, PS Vita, PS3/4, Xbox One, Android, iOS |
| Release Year | 2015 |
| Developer | Klei Entertainment |
| Average Playtime | Variable (moddable) |
Few games have their premise stated so openly in their title; Don’t Starve Together tells you exactly what you’re going to get.
As the name suggests, the game revolves around trying not to starve in a Tim Burton-esque world. Unlike most open-world survival craft titles, this survival game has teeth – hunger is a constant concern, the environment will almost always work against you, and you will literally die from darkness. Losing can be fun!
To thrive in this world, you’ll need to not only find a way to feed everybody before they grow insane, but also build things and invent new machines and tools to exploit the many, so very many hazards to your benefit.
And while numbers can give you an edge, don’t get too comfortable. Disaster is always lurking just around the corner, whether in the form of literal giants, crazy weather, or a simple cooking fire gone out of control!
Every inch of progress is hard-won, and death is virtually unavoidable. Still, playing together means that as long as one survives, you can always bounce back. Someone’s still alive, though…right?
11. Hollow Knight
| Platforms | PC, Linux, Mac OS, Switch, PS4, Xbox One |
| Release Year | 2017 |
| Developer | Team Cherry |
| Average Playtime | 30 – 40 hours |
Unlike Terraria, which is a survival sandbox with action elements, a great game like Hollow Knight is a more straightforward Metroidvania. In this game, you’ll play as a nameless knight exploring the lost kingdom of Hallownest, and gameplay revolves around discovering just what happened here as well as figuring out your role in all of this.
The real star of Hollow Knight is the combat. Unlike Terraria, where fights can feel like a clickfest, Hollow Knight is more like a dance. Every strike, dash, and jump has to be timed with care. You’ll need full focus. Master your needle for advanced moves.
Use the environment – wall jumps, tight spaces, mobility tricks – to gain the edge. And don’t forget your SOUL meter. Spend it wisely to unleash spells at the perfect moment.
FAQs
What game is most like Terraria?
Minecraft comes closest to what Terraria has to offer, but each game on this list draws upon some of Terraria’s elements. In particular, Core Keeper, Starbound, and Necesse are most similar to Terraria in terms of gameplay.
What game category is Terraria?
I would classify Terraria as a 2D survivalcraft sandbox with heavy action and adventure elements – that’s just my definition, though, and some might also label it a life sim, a cozy game, or a Metroidvania!
