I am sure the old-school sensibilities of Terraria have caught the fancy of many a GOG community member, so I figure this is a good enough place as any to ask for a specific recommendation.

I am intrigued by this game. I do not play Minecraft, but I love 2D platformers and I love action/adventures. The only recommendations I see for Terraria, however, are always in reference to multiplayer shenanigans. I know for a fact that I wouldn't be able to get my friends into this game, so my time would be spent alone if I were to make a purchase. So, I would really like to know some thoughts on the single-player experience and whether it is worthy of a busy adult's time investment, and perhaps a word or two about the multiplayer experience as an interaction with random strangers across the interwebs. Thank you in advance for your time.

Have it, play single-player only (I like the bunker I'm living in - thank you), love it.

That's my small world in Terraria (you could also play medium or large). You see a small 12 room building (nothing fancy) under the center floating island, which is my current base and home.

To the left of it you'll see 3 green paths downwards and 1 on the right side. This is where I've taken extensively mining / farming trips up to now, even reaching hell (the red part at the bottom) several times.
I've also taken trips topside to the right reaching the corruption zone (purple caves) and to the far left reaching the dungeon.
Killed 1 boss enemy, explored maybe 10% max of the map and having a blast. I actually just downloaded a mapviewer to see where I'm standing.

From an explorer standpoint, it's a wet dream without being completely overwhelming. You could go totally nuts and build something like those guys did.

There may or may not be limitations on how far you can get playing solo, since there are certain bosses you have to kill to progress further and may be too difficult to achieve alone - I can't really say. However up to that point, you have waaaaay too much what you can do.

For 10 bucks well worth it, even for just single-player.

A single player game is fine once you get up to speed but I found it incredibly boring at first. I haven't tried multiplayer yet so I can only speculate the main advantage is pooling resources to get to the adventuring that much quicker.

Gah, I really wish this game worked in Linux. Looks like it would be fun to play.

Your bunker is cool :)

there ain't. however, for the eater of worlds / skeletor you need two basic things: running room & height. And missile weapons.

and why is your startpoint so far away from your base? any particular reason?

Just wait until you hit the Underworld/Hell. The 1.05 patch made that place quite a bit harder than before. Not impossible, but you do need decent tactics down there. I have less issues soloing any of the three bosses than I do with that place.

You also need to watch your step in the jungle, once you get deep enough. If you don't, you risk falling into a pit with a couple of Man Eaters and a small swarm of Hornets.

Solo is still quite fun, I've logged almost 150 hours of solo play so far. There are still items I haven't found/made yet (1.04 & 1.05 additions).

Also, if you're getting a bit bored, there are adventure maps available, mostly meant for new characters with various (self-enforced) restrictions, such as not mining most/all block types.

yeah, restarted a couple of hours ago, i'm going to make a pirate ship. or something. Also, waiting for the underground to be flooded here - i've made a tunnel from the right sea right into hell. takes a while to fill up tho.

also, hell seems a bit easier ... less imps?

Don't expect to flood hell in 1.05, now water evaporates if it comes into contact with obsidian/lava down at that level. Not completely, but quite noticably.

I'm with this. I don't get why people think hell is tougher now. Me and the gf could barely stay alive there before. She has a little lag so she can't avoid the imps fireballs well (they get through), and we *regularly* had 3-4 damned worms *at the same time* down there, it was insane. with the new mobs it's easy.

Imps were never really an issue for me, so getting a mix of enemies with different AIs do help make it harder.

I've played the game solo and multiplayer. I have to say you will enjoy playing this game single player due to the crafting, items, discovering new locations, boss fights and the nice updates they bring to the game.

There are also bosses you can fight which brings a nice bit of challenge, though they seem rather limited in what they do.

I definitely recommend this game though, you will be attached for a little while and considering its price, it is definitely worth a purchase.

My biggest problem with the game is it will wear out your mouse. xD

Not really. Just that the place offered an even ground to start building with a "natural" cave downwards in front of my door. It looked like a more promising spot (didn't had mapviewer back then).

How do you build something properly? I've just started and I don't really get it.

Anyone able to link me to NOOB tutorials (must be text not video) that explain how this game progresses?

Chop down trees. Use the wood to craft items (which can be brought up with a right click). Place wood tiles down in a box form. Use crafted wood walls to cover the back of the wood box. craft a wood door, craft a wood chair, and craft a wood table. Then kill some slimes to get gel, then craft torches. Place all that in the wood box with two/three torches, and presto you have a house.

Personally, both solo and multi have their purposes. But one thing that's good about Solo, is anything you find is yours. Even with friends, there'd be the occasional game where it turned into a grab bag for goodies. Or they'd find an underground house and instead of turning it into a neat house, they'd tear it down. Things like that. Like all multiplayer games it depends on the mood of everyone.