Desperate to scratch the Terraria itch while we wait for more news on its next update? Fellow multiplayer sandbox game Necesse has a brand-new patch packed with improvements, and you can try it completely free if you're fast. Transposing all the exploration, building, and combat elements that made Terraria a beloved PC game into a top-down perspective reminiscent of Stardew Valley with the base management of Rimworld, Necesse holds an impressive 94% Steam review score from players, and a free weekend is the perfect chance to test it out, with a discount also available if you want to keep going beyond that.
sandbox games like Terraria. There's that sense of gradually prodding ever further out into the world and traversing a sprawl of numerous biomes, each with its own threats and rewards.
Much like Re-Logic's masterpiece, in Necesse developer Fair Games has forged a strong, satisfying blend of gathering, looting, crafting, and upgrading your gear to take on increasingly challenging threats. The top-down perspective makes the base-building elements a lot more robust, however, and managing your settlement is more fleshed out than Terraria's fairly simple NPC system. Organize your settlers to work the fields and gather materials, set them up as guards to protect your town, and even trade with other communities.
In its new update, the studio has made changes to improve progression and exploration so that it feels "less repetitive." There are additional hazards to keep you on your toes in the snow, swap, and desert cave biomes, with a similar overhaul planned for the deep caves in the future. Elsewhere, there's a new critter to find, beet has been added to the crop list, and the hoverboard now has a dash ability as well as improved handling.
Finally, Fair Games has added four new types of staff that are specialized in delivering various team buffs. These are ideal for anyone playing Necesse as a Steam sale means it's cheap to keep if you like it.
That offer is clearly proving popular, too. Since becoming a free Steam game for the weekend, the Necesse player count has continued to surge on the Valve platform – it's at 7,284 active players at the time of writing, a dramatic 60% rise over its previous peak back in August 2024, and is still climbing. If you want to get in on the action yourself, you've only got a couple of days to do so, so don't wait around.
Necesse is free to play on Steam until Monday January 27 at 10am PST / 1pm EST / 6pm GMT / 7pm CET. You can buy the game with a 35% discount through Monday February 3, meaning you'll pay just $9.74 / £8.44 for your copy. Head over to the store page to try it free and see what you think.
Alternatively, try another of the best crafting games on PC, for plenty more ways to keep constructing something special.
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