How do people put so much time into this game?

[Apteryx]

I played a lot of terraria on PlayStation back during 1.3, and I put about 600 hours into it without even reaching Plantera. I did do a short PC 1.4 playthrough but after beating the game, I lost the motivation to play entirely. How do people put thousands of hours into Terraria when it's hard to play through the game more than twice?

[Smetrix]

Replayability, and mods. Its also ok to not like a game as much as other people lol.

[dandinks]

Increase the difficulty, put a mod on, do a challenge, build something new, keeping it different is what keeps it interesting, that's why I only do master hardcore now since the increased risk is what keeps it fresh

[NightStar]

You basically played it like an rpg. You focused on beating all the bosses and invasion events and then called it done.

As said mods add more to the game and increasing the difficulty makes it re-playable as well. However if you haven't looked in the screen shots and artwork sections then you should as another answer to your question is found there.

A lot of us keep playing to build. Everything from amazing houses for npcs to complex wire based contraptions. There is plenty of replay-ability for us who build.

Terraria isn't all about just killing bosses and getting the best gear. We can build, play golf, fly kites, and generally just hang out with friends in game as well. Some people just like the exploration aspect as each world generates differently. Terraria is NOT a one dimensional game. There is more to it then just killing all the bosses.

[Си́нтез]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2766599160
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2761699165
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2761710996

Every new world is a potential work of art that you have to paint into a perfect painting
But it takes time

[Xaelon]

This game gets crazy updates. So whenever a big content patch dropped, I'd come and do another playthrough. Beating the game took around 100 hours to beat at first, then it turned into 150 and later 200.

When Terraria first came out you'd beat the boss of hell and that was it. Now though? Well let's just say that's not the end anymore. Not remotely.

Keep in mind Terraria has been out for close to 15 years at this point. My 800+ hours are spread out over the game's entire lifespan. A 100 hours here and there over the years for various reasons really isn't that much playtime by itself. My most recent one was a playthrough involving the upside down seed for example.

Whenever the patch they're currently teasing arrives I will likely do my customary "NG+" style run and spend another 100+ hours beating the game again. Terraria is just that replayable to me. Even knowing as much as I do the gameplay loop of exploration and progression is still second to none.

TL;DR: BIG expansion-like patches entice people to return and play more or often replay the game entirely.

[prpl_mage]

As mentioned above. A lot of people have played this on and off for several years. When the devs drop a patch there are a lot of people who decide to start a new run on a fresh character to repeat the process.

And then there are different difficulties, special seeds and mods that might motivate people to play again.

I think I have less hours played than you do, but hours spent in games is not a competition, if you're done with the game then it's fine to move on.

[RJ casts Head Kick]

bro realistically, this game is ten dollars. And you said you have put 600 hours into the game. Maybe you got your money's worth and it's time to put the game down. most likely even. If you still have a burning desire to play the game, do what the other comments say, you have expert and master mode, getfixedboi seed, and countless mods.

[Zereph]

Realistically $10 for 600 hours is extremely good value for money, especially when you compare it to many recent 'AAA' games. That being said, I suspect you rushed through the game in your PC playthrough (where theres more than just defeating the main bosses that can be rushed very quickly) and with the knowledge from previous playthroughs on other platforms, it was expected you were going to "beat" the game much quicker than your first time.

Some recommendations I have:
Play in Master/Legendary mode
Set up a proper boss arena
Create a mob/money farm
Try playthroughs using different classes.
Craft and reforge end game accessories/armour sets/weapons for every class.
Beat every boss at least once/obtain their trophy statues
Craft Zenith
Craft the shell phone
Craft the Drill Containment Unit\
Craft the Ankh shield
Obtain the Terraformer
Obtain the Rod of harmony
Obtain the endless buckets of shimmer/lava/water/honey
Defeat the empress of light during the day for the Terraprisma summon
Obtain every villager/slime villager
Obtain all the developer/Journeys end vanity contest armour sets
Create an amazing base with access to the post game resources
Collect all the paintings/display them
Set up a golf course.
Complete the beastiary for access to universal pylons
Complete every achievement

And after that:
Download and play the Calamity mod that adds heaps of new content and look into other mods.
And with each game update, theres always plenty of new content of explore, so many people start fresh new playthroughs.

Then of course theres speedrunning, afk farming, challenges, doing massive highly detailed builds etc.

[Zemecon]

Multiplayer is another good way to add a lot of replayability. 1 or 2 other players is fine but I love joining servers that have upwards of a dozen or more players playing intermittently. You get to start projects together and even start multiple factions. I've found that no matter how boring it might feel to start yet another playthrough on your own, joining a multiplayer game always makes the game seem fresh again.

[Zemecon]

And for pete sake, stop thinking of Terraria as just a boss rush. Terraria is so much more than that. It's the players who always think "When do we defeat this boss?" and then "Well, done with this boss, on to the next one" that get bored the most often.

[Kascin]

Most people already said what I was thinking. Terraria is built in a way that allows you to approach progression from all sorts of different angles, like challenge runs and harder difficulties. Building is incredibly fun to me too. Go for achievements, do some fishing if you're patient.
Playing with friends can multiply that enjoyment as well. I don't play with mods (barring workshop resource packs for the lols) and can still enjoy this game for thousands of hours.

[TorinuxCthulhu]

For me, even though I don't have many hours in the game, what makes me keep playing it, is the idea of building a huge colony, with themed rooms for each NPC and pets, terraform (in a way) my world, get all the trophies and achievements. I came back when I recently read about the crossovers (Don't Starve) and now I'm running wild with my Don't Starve walking chest.

But at the end of the day, like someone already said, it is ok if you don't find anything else to do after beating the game.

[TaterTot]

The special world seeds are always fun.

[Kussin]

Mods for endless new gameplay and building

[MOW]

I don't fully understand how people so many hours in this day in day either. There are just so many other games with the whole survival crafting gameplay now. I was also a "2 playthroughs I am done." type.

For me Terraria was fun for me back in ver 1.1 back then it was compared to minecraft mainly because the whole crafting and survival game craze was just starting to boil. I've tried to play it again but haven't made it past wall of flesh since 1.2.x. With more survival and crafting games out now, I felt not as much need to play it and that there are better choices to play. Each time I play terraria the game is less exciting and less fun, it has done it's job and I will very rarely play it anymore.

A great example is this, 1st playthrough blood moon, oh my there are so many zombies this is so exciting and fun. 3rd playthrough omg when is this going to be over I just wanted to mine ore or fight the boss to move on... "congrats you killed 200 zombies." holy crap how many I have killed with all 3 playthroughs I don't wanna know.

The part I do understand is typically people who stay for long times are builders or simply don't mind killing 1000's of the same zombies. Most do move on to other games though. There isn't a right amount of time to play the game it is different for each person.

{{edit add}}: Oh one more thing is how much fun you have min-maxing the game each time you play. Expert and master can make the game feel less free since you are now prioritizing optimal gameplay some more rather than having fun. For example: unnatural farms I never do in any game. Things like minecraft iron farms. I know they exist in terraria too but I don't care about them so I don't know all of the types there are.