Best Games Like Terraria (2026): 9 Dig-and-Build Picks

Quick answer: play Starbound if you want Terraria's 2D digging and building in space, Core Keeper if it was the mine-craft-boss loop with friends, and Noita if you loved the digging but want every pixel to burn, melt and explode. For a bigger 3D world with the same boss-gated progression, play Valheim.

Terraria (Re-Logic, PC in May 2011, then on every console and phones) is a 2D side-on sandbox in which you dig down, craft better gear from what you find, build a base for the townsfolk who move in, and fight a long ladder of bosses that each unlock the next tier of the game. The nine games below share at least two of those four things. Each one says which, and where it parts company with Terraria.

• Digging and mining — the world is made of blocks you can remove, and the good stuff is deeper down
• Boss-gated progression — beating a boss unlocks the next materials, gear and areas
• Building — a base that matters, not just decoration
• Co-op — the same world shared with friends

Chucklefish · PC (Windows, Mac, Linux) · 1.0 in July 2016

The most direct answer to "Terraria, but more": the same side-on view, block-by-block digging and crafting, moved onto procedurally generated planets you fly between in your own ship. It adds a story campaign, quests, settlements and colonies you can furnish for tenants. Shares with Terraria: digging, building, co-op. Different: fewer and easier bosses, and the progression is driven by quests and planet tiers rather than boss kills.

Pugstorm · early access 2022 · 1.0 in August 2024 on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and Switch

Terraria turned 90 degrees: a top-down underground world you mine outward from a central core, with bosses that unlock new biomes, fishing, farming, cooking and automation. Up to eight players can share a world. Shares with Terraria: all four. Different: top-down instead of side-on, and a calmer pace.

Nolla Games · PC · early access 2019 · 1.0 in October 2020

A 2D roguelite in which every pixel is physically simulated: wood burns, water puts it out, acid eats through the floor and a badly aimed spell can bring a cave down on your head. You dig with wands you build from spells you find. Shares with Terraria: digging, a deep and dangerous underground. Different: permadeath and no base-building — every run starts from the top.

Iron Gate Studio · early access on PC from February 2021 · Xbox from March 2023

A 3D Viking survival game with the most Terraria-like structure of any 3D game: each biome's boss drops what you need to craft the gear for the next, harder biome. Building is physics-based, so a roof needs real support. Up to ten players can share a world. Shares with Terraria: boss-gated progression, building, co-op. Different: 3D, and much less digging.

Klei Entertainment · PC · 1.0 in July 2019

A side-on colony sim set Inside an asteroid. You don't dig yourself — you order a small crew of colonists to dig, build and plumb a base, then keep them supplied with oxygen, food and a survivable temperature. Shares with Terraria: the side-on cutaway world you excavate, building. Different: management instead of direct control, and no combat to speak of.

Klei Entertainment · PC 2016 · also on PS4, Xbox One and Switch

Gothic, hand-drawn survival in which hunger, sanity and the coming winter are the real bosses, though there are plenty of the other kind too. The seasons and a big boss roster give it Terraria's sense of getting stronger to survive what comes next. Shares with Terraria: bosses, building, co-op. Different: top-down, no real digging, and a much harsher start.

Mojang Studios · PC 2011 · on almost every platform since

The other half of every "games like Terraria" argument. Minecraft has the bigger world, the deeper building and redstone engineering; Terraria has far more bosses and gear. If you've only played one of the two, the other is the obvious next step. Shares with Terraria: digging, building, co-op. Different: 3D, and only a handful of bosses.

HopFrog · 2019 · PC, PS4, Xbox One and Switch

A short, bright, top-down crafting game about gathering, upgrading and buying new islands to expand onto. It strips the genre down to the satisfying part — numbers going up as your production grows. Shares with Terraria: mining, crafting, a few bosses in dungeons. Different: much smaller, single-player, and built around automation rather than exploration.

Keen Games · early access on PC from January 2024

A 3D survival-action RPG with a voxel world you can dig into and build on freely, and up to sixteen players per server. Quest-givers you rescue move into your base and unlock new crafting, much as Terraria's townsfolk do. Shares with Terraria: building, digging, co-op, NPCs who move in. Different: 3D, with an RPG skill tree.

• Core Keeper — PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and Switch.
• Don't Starve Together — PS4, Xbox One and Switch.
• Forager — PS4, Xbox One and Switch.
• Valheim — Xbox.
• Minecraft — every current console.

Starbound, Noita, Oxygen Not Included and Enshrouded are PC games.

Core Keeper if you want the same loop with friends on any console; Starbound if you want 2D Terraria somewhere new; Valheim if you're ready for 3D; Noita if digging was always your favourite part.

For more open-ended building, see our best games like Minecraft. For the calmer side of crafting and farming, see games like Stardew Valley, and for underwater survival, games like Subnautica.

Starbound and Core Keeper. Starbound is a 2D side-on sandbox from Chucklefish — the studio that published Terraria's first console ports — moved to procedurally generated planets. Core Keeper keeps Terraria's mine-craft-fight-a-boss loop and switches to a top-down view, with co-op for up to eight players.

Core Keeper, Don't Starve Together and Forager are on Switch and PlayStation, and Minecraft is on everything. Starbound, Noita, Oxygen Not Included and Enshrouded are PC games.

Core Keeper (up to eight players), Valheim (up to ten), Don't Starve Together, Starbound, Enshrouded and Minecraft all have online co-op. Noita and Oxygen Not Included are single-player.

Not for most players. Starbound has more story, quests and a wider sci-fi setting; Terraria has deeper combat, far more bosses and years more updates. If you want more Terraria, Starbound is the closest change of scenery rather than an upgrade.