The epic open-world sidescroller from Re-Logic, Terraria, shines as an endlessly enjoyable odyssey that beckons you to build, collect riches, and explore the game's vast, colorful worlds. One area where this sandbox adventure excels is the diversity and richness of its imaginative biomes, which keep things exciting as you venture onward.
From lavish jungles to barren snowy fields to creepy, hostile wastelands, Terraria has no shortage of unique, wondrous areas to explore and exploit.
In this list, we'll rank the 10 primary biomes of Terraria in terms of their entertainment, their treasures, and overall aesthetic. We'll be focusing on the major biomes, and combining surface biomes with their underground counterparts. We'll also be disregarding what's considered the "mini-biomes" such as those aggravating spider nests. So let's grab those pickaxes and get to exploring!
10 Ocean
A recent update has somewhat improved this otherwise dull biome with some more solid underwater physics - along with the amusing sight of some mid-air flipping dolphins. Still, unless you're a big fan of fishing, or keen on going through the hassle of building ocean bases (which can be safe and aesthetically cool, in fairness), there's not much to do here.
Stumbling upon a massive ocean basically forces you to either painstakingly build a bridge as you walk, or start swimming to safety as you're harassed by annoying Squid or Sharks. No Thanks.
9 Desert
Once you've gotten past the novelty of decorating your house with cactus furniture, there's really not a whole lot of charm to this open, largely bland dessert area; especially above ground. You don't often find many valuables here, and there aren't a wide variety of useful crafting materials, unless you're looking for a hefty supply of glass from sand.
Enemies can be on the tricky side, with annoying vultures swooping down from the sky and blindsiding you without warning. Still, the subterranean desert areas can be pretty memorable; especially in hard mode. Treasures are more bountiful, and you get to take out some mummies, which offer loot that can be put towards the strong Dao of Pow flail weapon. Just watch out for those pesky Antlion Swarmers...
8 Forest
It's easy to take this one for granted, being the default biome from which you spawn on normal mode, and spanning the majority of the map. Too bad it's on the dull, uneventful side when it comes to exploration and mining. Even when mining fairly deep, it's tough to find much that extends beyond Iron Ore in terms of its rarity.
Still, this biome is good for resource gathering in the sense that it's abundant in many staples, universal items. You've got plenty of trees, along with gaggles of slimes that yield gels - which are used to make torches. And lead and iron ore tend to be abundant underground, which largely acts as the foundation for crafting tons of key items and gear. Basically, the forest is more about safety and practicality, rather than offering awe-inspiring landscapes and thrills.
7 Snow
Fittingly, this charming biome was churned out as part of the 1.1.1 update that took place during Christmas. While its appeal lied mainly in its cool aesthetic - pun not intended - a more recent 1.2 update fleshed out these landscapes with more concrete elements, rather than relying on visual flair.
Even though there are still more interesting biomes out there, it's definitely fun to face off against the recently added baddies, which include Eskimo Zombies, Vikings, and even Ice Golems. The difficulty resides in a pretty comfortable middle ground, where it's exciting to explore and fight without being overwhelming - like, say, the Underworld or Crimson.
6 Jungle
This area is rife with all sorts of wildlife, lavish backgrounds, and deep green hues, all of which add a pretty thick sense of atmosphere to your Terraria escapades; especially the jungle's subterranean portions.
As the name would imply, there is no shortage of trees and other growth to hack your way through and gather with your axe/pickaxe. The difficulty is steeper than the biome's pretty and peaceful decor would imply, as it's often crawling with some tough foes. These include giant turtles, swift piranhas, and deceptively tricky Jungle Slimes. Where is George and his ape named Ape when you need them?
5 Mushroom
A personal favorite of this writer - the Mushroom biome offers a neat visual display, a uniquely awesome retro-style soundtrack, and a plethora of cool mushroom-themed items to gather. This area really has an authentic atmosphere, with its crazy music and its glowing, vibrant aesthetic that's easy to get lost in - both figuratively and literally.
There's usually a solid amount of crafting material, treasure chests, and strong foes that yield good loot in these often vast caves. Despite this, you'll likely be tempted to clear out as many of the mushroom stalks as possible to put towards your dedicated room with mushroom-themed decor.
4 Dungeon
Probably the coolest aspect to these vast, ominous dungeons - besides their solid loot - is that the amount of digging work required is kept to a minimum. The corridors are already opened to you, meaning you can focus on slaying baddies and scouring the area for treasures. This is when the "Metroidvania"-style gameplay really comes to the forefront, and the vibe becomes more similar to a 2D dungeon crawler than Minecraft.
This won't be for everyone - particularly those who prefer the sandbox-y survival traits of Terraria. Still, you'll usually want to seek this place out (and there is only one per generated world). Not only is it fun to fight your way through and reach the endpoint, but you'll also emerge a richer, more well-equipped hero - assuming you survive.
3 Underworld
At least when it comes to Terraria's default mode, The Underworld is about as close as you can get to hitting a tangible "endgame" in this otherwise free-roaming journey. This large cavern extends all the way from one end of your generated world to the next. It's quite an exciting feeling when you first drop into this massive corridor of doom, where danger lurks just about everywhere.
Even some of the lesser foes feel like bosses here, and range from flying demons and huge skeletal snakes to Lave Slimes. This all reaches a "boiling point" so-to-speak when you finally summon the massive Wall of Flesh; basically the "end boss" of normal mode.
If you can manage to ward off the onslaught of beastly enemies, this place is rife with treasures and valuable crafting goods, largely consisting of Hellstone. This is used to create Molten Armor, which is some of the strongest armor in the game. The thrills, chills and grueling difficulty that radiates from this ominous, molten land feels very "oldschool NES."
2 Corruption/Crimson
While these unsettling regions don't yield quite as good a bounty as some of the others on our list, The Crimson/Corruption are thrilling and memorable in their own way.
Each generated world will come with either a Corruption or a Crimson biome; but are pretty much equally tough to get through. As its name might suggest, the Crimson takes on a blood-red aesthetic and leans on gory themes, punctuated by enemies like a large floating brain and monsters with sharp fangs. You can also destroy glowing Crimson Hearts (Shadow Orbs in The Corruption) which can provide some solid gear.
The Corruption, on the other hand, takes on more of a spooky Halloween theme, with its deep purple hues and more ghoulish foes. Basically, if The Crimson is the "death metal" equivalent of Terraria biomes, The Corruption would represent black metal. And they're both equally awesome.
1 The Hallow
This whimsical, colorful biome resembles ToeJam & Earl's home planet of Funkotron more than a region in Terraria, but this is the cool fantasy world you're dropped into as a reward for defeating the Wall of Flesh. Basically, these majestic lands are what replace the more sinister Crimson/Corruption once you've knocked out normal mode and initiate hard mode. And it somehow manages to top those in greatness.
It really doesn't get much more epic than this in Terraria; not just from an atmospheric standpoint, but in terms of The Hallow's enjoyable content and abundance of great loot. After all, how many areas in games allow you to take out crystalline sea creatures and Unicorns?