Terraria has been out for a while now, and it was included in Steam’s last sale. My friends raved about the $10 title even though it doesn’t look like much in screenshots. When an online buddy bought a copy for me, I took my PC to a friend’s house to play with a group.

Of course, I didn’t know what to do or how to do it. With a little coaxing, I was soon chopping down trees for wood, which I used to build a house with my friends. Soon, it was night and things became dangerous, so I holed up inside the house for protection. Before long, non-player characters moved in and began to help our cause. Then we started digging underground. I still had no idea what was going on.

As you can see from the screenshots and video, Terraria isn’t a game that’s going to tax your system, although the graphics are charming. Playing by yourself or with friends, you must begin to collect different materials to build your house, and then mine for ore deep in the Earth. This seems tedious at first, but it quickly becomes addictive. Some ore is easy to find, while other kinds require a more thorough search. There are also dangers to be found under the ground, and torches must be crafted so you can see where you’re going.

If you don’t have someone to guide you through this, expect some trial and error and a good amount of confusion in the early parts of the game. Stumbling around while gaining confidence is part of the fun.

For a while, that’s it. You mine, which is a repetitive but satisfying task, complete with the little tink, tink, tink sounds of your tools hitting the rocks. Soon you’ll become excited when you get a glimpse of a rare type of ore, and if you hit a deep vein of the specific type required to craft the next piece of equipment you need, that excitement will grow. I realize how silly this sounds, but when someone in your party howls with delight at finding a large run of silver and you rush to help him or her mine it, you’ll see what I mean. Spending time deep in the mines, working together and exploring, is rewarding.

That’s when you realize there might be strange things in the sky.

As you mine different types of ore, you’ll be able to convert it into bars, and then use those bars to create new objects, including armor and weapons. You’ll want to enlarge and improve your home and put new things in it. Creating paths through the world underground can become useful. The game world opens up, and soon you’ll feel as if you’re in control of your environment. That’s when things begin to happen that change your circumstances, and you realize there might be strange things in the sky….

But I’m getting ahead of myself. You can find guides and FAQs online that tell you what you need to do to trigger each new event or occurrence, but do your best to avoid them. Get a few copies of the game and play with friends who don’t know when things are going to happen. Part of the fun is going about your business and letting the game unfold naturally. It can be fun to take a new character through some of the early parts of the game, but for me, the learning process and the slow mastery of the game’s mechanics and rhythms did a lot to bring me into the world.

There are battles, places to explore, and new gear to craft. You will learn new ways of moving through the environment. You will find yourself in situations that you aren’t prepared for, and you will die. I feel like saying anything else about the game will only invite spoilers, and while I definitely feel this isn’t a game for everyone, I hope you give it a try if this sounds attractive. In minutes, I went from being annoyed at the simple graphics to seeing a grand and often hostile landscape I wanted to tame. The struggle to do exactly that is what keeps this game interesting.