Minecraft isn’t the only building/mining/fighting game on the block – or made of blocks, for that matter – but I digress. It seems like an age ago now, but Terraria was released just six months back and has since offered several major updates, adding new areas to explore, new weapons to use, new features and new bosses to fight. Things have been quiet on the development front since the big ‘V1.0′ update a while back. The reason just became clear; this next update is going to be huge.

As teased in this development blog page, as well as other recent updates in the dev-blog forum, V1.1 is set to add a lot more meat onto the bones of the game. Here’s a shortlist of key new additions, although it looks like there’s plenty more under the hood to be discovered.

• 4 new bosses, including a new ‘final’ boss – the Wall Of Flesh – twisted ruler of Hell.
• Hard Mode – beat the final boss? Don’t rest easy. The entire world hates you now.
• 39 new enemy types. Mummies, Unicorns and… Luck Dragons? Oh my!
• 222 new item types, including 4 full armor sets and 21 accessories – it’s Diablo all over again.
• A new loot system – randomly dropped items can have random stats. It really IS Diablo!
• 3 new friendly NPCs to rescue and house, along with a new easier housing system.
• A new enchantment/augment system. One of the new NPCs offers upgrades for a price.
• New lighting system – the whole thing looks prettier now. Colored torches are fashionable.
• The Mechanic System, akin to Minecrafts Redstone wiring. Design your own machines.
• Alternative full Female player sprite set, for those wanting a more feminine adventurer.
• More music – at least 5 new tracks, mostly likely corresponding to new regions.
• At least one new biome – Deep Corruption – is confirmed. Probably several more.
• More threats – not just monsters. Watch your step in dungeons – those pressure pads might do something.

Here’s some assorted teaser images and videos, harvested from the various dev blogs:

You want colored lighting? We've got ALL the colored lighting!

The gun to end all guns. Also a shark.

Handy! A new UI, helping you house your NPC allies.

Deserts now hold their own unique undead threats.

Not sure if a mining helmet is going to cut it. That's an awfully big hammer.

And if all that isn’t enough, then there’s a second content update planned for December 15th, adding a whole bunch of festive goodies (I’d be surprised if snowy biomes aren’t included) to keep you playing long into the winter. I personally can’t wait for this – while I’ve not played the game recently, that’s only due to completely exhausting all the content currently in the game. As soon as the next version is out, I’m starting a fresh world and character, and beginning the adventure anew.

[Terraria]