Terraria: My experience with the port
Hello, all! I have spent quite a lot of time with Terraria on my Switch since its release, so I thought I would give a review/assessment of the port for those of you who are considering to purchase the game. **There will be a TL;DR at the end** for those of you who prefer to just join in with the discussion. This review is based on my 40 hours spent with the port.
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This is less of a review of the game itself and more of a review of the Switch version. I have enjoyed over 400 hours of the vanilla PC version, so yes, I think it's a fantastic game.
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# Performance
The port performs well. There are framedrops every now and then, but it's nothing major. It rarely affects the gameplay substantially. I admit that I have no idea if playing docked improves the performance because I've almost entirely played in handheld mode.
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There are a few bugs that I have noticed. A couple of them are major and do affect gameplay quite a bit. I'll go over them here:
1. Sometimes when the game is autosaving it will freeze for 5-15 seconds. This isn't gamebreaking, but it sure can become annoying and takes your focus away from the game. 2. Placing an Item Frame or a Target Dummy will prevent the world from loading. An update to fix this has been submitted, but it is waiting for approval from Nintendo. It might not be a bad idea to wait until the patch is released since it is fixing quite a few bugs. I will update the post if there are any noteworthy improvements.
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# What I like about playing on the Switch
Console controls for Terraria are not as intuitive as PC, but the touch screen helps with that. You can build, manage your inventory, and aim ranged weapons with the touch screen. I have only found myself using the touch screen for inventory management and other parts of the UI. Building without a fine-tip stylus makes it difficult to place items where I intend to place them and aiming ranged weapons is awkward.
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Where I think the Switch version shines is in its portability. Being able to play on the go and while lounging around my house is a big deal for me. It is the perfect game to be able to take with you while traveling. As I previously mentioned, I have barely played it while docked. If I wanted to play in that setting I would play the PC version. I am aware that there are other portable versions of the game, but the 3DS and mobile versions are lacking a ton of content. I cannot recommend either version in their current state. (It's worth mentioning that the mobile version is being redeveloped by a new studio and will be updated soon. Hopefully it will become a version that I can recommend.)
# Is the Switch version worth it?
This definitely is dependent on you. If you are not looking to play portably, then I would recommend playing on PC or PS4/XBO. The Switch version's MSRP is $10 higher than the other console versions and $20 higher than the PC version. Terraria certainly has $30 worth of content, but if portability isn't important to you, then it doesn't make sense to get the more expensive version. Keep in mind that split screen and local multiplayer is coming in an update later on, so you should wait if that is a crucial feature for you. (Online multiplayer is there, though!).
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# TL;DR?
The port has a few noteworthy issues, but I do recommend it if portability is important to you or if you do not have another device to play it on. $30 is understandably hard to swallow when there are cheaper versions of the game. I do not regret my purchase, but as with any purchase it is ultimately up to you if it's worth it.