Terraria July 2025 Update
Hello Terrarians! 🌳
This month, we’re finally able to share not one, but two gameplay videos with you! It’s been a delight to play the game with some very special guests, and we can’t wait for you to see their reactions to the game 🤩 We’ll also be providing information about our estimated timeline, updated boss cards, development news and a sneak peek at the game’s special-edition Pwnhammers!
Let’s dig in...
⏰ Updated Timeline
TL;DR: We’re updating our estimated shipping date to November 2025.
In March, we revised our timeline, updating our estimated shipping date from June to August. We’ve been working as hard as we can to meet that goal, but we’re going to need some more time to ensure that the game is the very best it can be.
Why is the game taking longer than expected?
From a development point of view, reworking and improving the rulebook, updating the game’s boss mechanisms and preparing for the game’s consistency pass have taken longer than anticipated. Nothing has stalled - we’re making progress every day - but they’re complex, involved processes that move slowly and can’t be rushed without compromising the quality of the game. We’re confident that the time spent on these steps will be reflected in the final product, and if you’re interested in the details, you can read more in the ‘Development news’ section below.
Graphic design is deeply intertwined with development; it relies on the preceding steps being completed. We’re always doing as much as we can in parallel, but the design of a component can’t be 100% finalised until we’re sure of its content. For most of the game’s components, that’s not an issue, but for the game’s cards and rulebook, the final text must be locked in for the files to be generated and submitted for printing. The good news is that most of the game’s components (those with little or no text) *have* been finalised, so the cards and rulebook represent the lion’s share of the remaining graphic design work.
Terraria: The Board Game contains *lots* of components, the vast majority of which have been approved, but as with all large physical games, there have been a stubborn few that have required multiple rounds of physical prototyping. The King Slime miniature, for example, has gone through many rounds of alterations and improvements – there’s a drawer in the office that looks like a King Slime graveyard, filled with past iterations of the modular design! This miniature was recently approved, but it’s often the things you least expect that cause the most headaches. When you multiply these alterations and improvements across all of the components in the game, then add in the time it takes for samples to be sent and received, it can add considerable time to the process. In addition, our manufacturing partner’s print run estimate (i.e. the length of time it takes from approving all manufacturing files having pallets of games ready for pickup from the factory) was recently adjusted from 5 to 8 weeks, which we’ve needed to take into account.
Finally, we’re mindful that tariffs have affected sea freight demand; congestion on shipping routes and at ports can add time to the shipping process, so we’re also taking this possibility into consideration as we make our new timeline forecast.
What does this mean for backers?
It means that the game is going to take a bit longer to get to you; we’re updating our estimated shipping date to November 2025. As we mentioned in March’s update, we back many projects ourselves and we know that delays can be frustrating, but we want to reassure you that it’s in pursuit of making the best game possible, and as always, we promise to keep you in the loop throughout the whole process.
We really appreciate your patience; there’s just one final push needed to get the game over the finish line 💪.
🎬 Gameplay Videos
“…I love it… it's Terraria, through and through. All the attention to detail, all these cards and model pieces - I could go again!..” – Chippy
Earlier this month, Chris and three very special guests gathered in Nottingham to record a brand-new playthrough video. Join Chris, Chippy, Alex and Hannah as they Dig, Fight, Build and Explore their way through Terraria: The Board Game!
About the players:
- Chippy is a community-focused Terraria superfan and YouTuber sharing tips and tricks, gameplay streams, mod overviews, update summaries and much more! Find his videos over on the ChippyGaming YouTube channel.
“…I love it… it's Terraria, through and through. All the attention to detail, all these cards and model pieces - I could go again!..” – Chippy
- Alex creates tabletop game content on Instagram, with a focus on light to medium strategy games, often at two players. She also enjoys delving into storybook games and discovering new games with her friends from the board game community - find her at @pink_meeple.
"...Absolutely fantastic; I got beaten really badly by slimes, but on another day I might have been king of the slimes - I’ve learnt so much about the world; I’d play this again!.." - Alex
- Hannah creates tabletop game content with a focus on light to medium games, bringing friends and families together at the table whether she's at home, travelling across the UK to see friends or visiting conventions. Find her at @han_playsgames.
"...I’d play it again in a heartbeat… it was incredible! Every turn I had felt really dramatic, really fun and really immersive; I’m going to have to play the videogame as well now! .." - Hannah
A huge thank you to Chippy, Alex and Hannah for travelling to Nottingham and taking the time to play the game; it was an absolute blast!
We’d also like to thank the team at Natural Twenty Tables, who kindly loaned a snazzy gaming table for the day; they even delivered and set it up for us! Explore their customisable setups at https://naturaltwentytables.co.uk/ .
But that’s not all!
We’re also delighted to share another playthrough, this time from The Brothers Murph – see how Mike and Nick fare as they push beyond King Slime (it's a nailbiter!):
We know you’ve been eagerly awaiting these videos and we’re very excited to share them with you; thank you so much for your patience! 🙏
✨ Ooo…Shiny Pwnhammers!
Our final stretch goal of the Kickstarter campaign was the addition of limited-edition, uniquely-numbered Pwnhammer cards for every backer – we just received photos of the sample cardsheet showing the beautiful holofoil effect! 🤩
👇 Squishy Slimes
Another stretch goal unlocked during the campaign was the ‘squishy' slimes slain token – this soft, compressible rubber token can be used in place of a wound token when you’re tracking King Slime’s spawn condition. It’s very satisfying to fiddle with!
👀 ICYMI: Sample Box Tour
Last month, we shared a guided tour through our latest sample box, explaining how various components are organised, pointing out small but important changes that are being made and showing off some features that you won’t have seen yet. If you missed it, you can catch up here!
📝 Development News
🃏 Boss Cards
Our revamp of the boss cards and boss-related mechanics is almost complete; just a few more tests to go. As mentioned in previous updates, Allies now power up bosses via a ‘buff’ card – each turn, players must decide which space an Ally is added to, requiring interesting tactical decisions and discussions around the table.
While we make the final tweaks, the art and graphic design on these cards has been underway; you’ll find examples of WIP (but near-final) card designs below:
Each boss has 6 -double-sided cards, including spawning cards, setup and loot cards for 1-2 and 3-4 player games, forms, buffs and behaviours – we’ve just shown a few above. All of the KS-edition boss cards will have holofoil backgrounds to set off the art, sparing the text box areas so the wording remains easy to read. Holofoiled samples of the boss cards are on their way to us and we’ll share them next month!
📖 Rulebook
This has been a tough nut to crack, but we’re nearly there. Our outside editor, Anthony, did a fantastic job in reordering and streamlining the structure of the rulebook, as well as helping us identify some edge rules that could be eliminated to make the gameplay experience smoother. Since the edited draft has been back with us, Chris has been working on finalising the rulebook, but this has been alongside game development and liaison with the manufacturer, so the process has taken quite a while.
Earlier this month, we sent the latest draft to the Brothers Murph (who recorded our second gameplay video above), and despite no prior knowledge of the game, they were able to set up and play it with very few clarifying questions needing to be answered by the Paper Fort team; a huge relief!
Once the final draft edit of the rules is completed, it will need a consistency pass (more about that below), diagrams will be created and updated with the game’s final art assets and the document will need to be laid out; unlike some other components, graphic design work can’t properly start on the rulebook until the content is finalised. Following that, there will be some further blind testing of the rules and a final round of proof reading.
📑 Consistency Pass
It’s amazing how easily terms can be inadvertently used ambiguously or interchangeably when creating a game with lots of cards and a detailed rulebook. We don’t want these issues to affect a player’s experience, so one of the final jobs before sending the files to print is to check them meticulously for consistency. If you were wondering what the most boring part of game design is, this might just be it, but it’s a hugely important stage of the process!
Did we say ‘draw a card’ in one place but ‘take a card’ somewhere else? Are bulleted and numbered lists all formatted in the same way? Are words capitalised in a cohesive way throughout? We keep a document that tracks every one of these considerations, and it currently contains over 100 checks that need to be performed on every icon, component and piece of text.
👋 We’ll Be Back in August!
Next month, we’ll be providing information about locking of addresses and shipping charges (including tariffs). If you need to change your address based on our updated timeline, now’s a great time to do it; please follow the instructions here: https://help.backerkit.com/article/638-how-do-i-update-my-shipping-address . As always, if you have any problems, please reach out to us at hello@paperfortgames.com
Thank you so much for your support and patience – we really, really appreciate it.
Until next time, Terrarians!
-The Paper Fort Games team