Mini Biomes
The Terraria: Journey’s End update will bring a host of new content and features to the nearly decade-old sandbox game, including items, enemies, mini-biomes, and two new difficulty levels: Master Mode and Travel Mode. Master mode seems pretty obvious, it’s going to be difficult, and we’ve previously speculated that travel mode could be a creative mode of some kind.
Today, developer Re-Logic finally revealed what it is all about, saying that it is not a creative mode, but rather “a completely new way to experience Terraria” that allows for significantly greater levels of freedom and control over the game: to be able to play your Terraria, the way you want. “
“The goal of travel mode is to provide a more accessible experience by providing the player with unprecedented control over the gaming experience,” said Re-Logic. “A way to appeal to all players of various skill levels and to be able to personalize their experience to optimize the fun they have in the game.”
Journey Mode characters also start out with an “Advanced Starter Gear Pack,” as the studio calls it, which includes:
Research and Duplication
Obviously, that will make it easier to get started in the new mode, but where it starts to get really interesting (and where the creative mode similarities come in) is in “Research and Duplication.” It is a new option that allows you to “research” any of the more than 5000 items in the game, which is simply a matter of acquiring a sufficient quantity of the item in question, after which it can be duplicated at will. Once you’ve invested 100 lumber in R&D, for example, you can create unlimited lumber, at will.
You’ll also be able to share your wealth with others – R&D works in multiplayer mode, so after unlocking an item you can immediately create enough for your friends to unlock themselves.
The travel mode also allows you to control the rain, wind and even the weather: you can move the watch immediately at dawn, dusk, at noon or at night, speed up the time or freeze it completely.
Eliminate Enemies
If “easier” is not your thing, it will also be possible to go in the other direction. While the difficulty level for normal games is selected in the world creation menu, the travel mode will allow it to be adjusted on the fly – you can either eliminate enemies entirely or you can turn them into monsters from the master mode. You’ll also be able to adjust the spawn rate, so if you want wall-to-wall enemies to fight that’s doable. The difficulty slider will affect all players in a multiplayer session, but the spawn rate only affects the area immediately around your character, allowing for a little custom challenge.
The mention of Master Mode also seems to confirm what we were hoping for: that it will be a high-level challenge for advanced players. However, Re-Logic didn’t say anything more about it, so we’ll have to wait to find out more about that.
