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‘Terraria’ on Mobile Will Be Getting Online Multiplayer with the Upcoming 1.3 Update

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Re-Logic’s action platformer/Minecraft hybrid Terraria ($4.99) has been tantalizing mobile players since its original launch on iOS way back in August of 2013, nearly five years ago. Even upon its release the mobile Terraria was a bit behind the full-fat desktop version in terms of content and features, but it was still a massive (and massively enjoyable) adventure, one we loved in our original 5 star review. The game did however receive content updates post-release, most significantly a local multiplayer update a couple of months after it launched, a Hard Mode update in August of 2014, the absolutely massive version 1.2 update in December of 2014, and an update that greatly increased world sizes in March of 2016. And that’s not even mentioning all of the holiday-themed updates and bug fix/optimization updates, of which there were MANY.

However, for the past few years the update activity for Terraria on iOS has remained stagnant for a variety of reasons. Back in April of this year, we learned that that was all about to change as Re-Logic and publisher 505 Games had brought on DR Studios to work full time on mobile Terraria, and that version 1.3 of the game (which originally launched on desktop back in 2015) would finally be coming to the mobile version. I can’t even begin to describe just how much new content this version update brings to the mobile version of Terraria that we known and love today, but crucially the 1.3 update will also bring support to all modern mobile device screen sizes as well as revamped touchscreen controls. It’s going to be like a brand new game. While there’s no release date for version 1.3 on mobile just yet, the beta for the update is just kicking off right now, and last week during a livestream showcasing this updated version the developers dropped a major bombshell that online multiplayer would also be included in version 1.3 on mobile. Play mobile Terraria with your friends no matter where they are in the world!

Of course, such a major new (and highly-requested) feature comes with a number of questions, and the developers have done their best to try and answer many of them over on the official Terraria forums. In a nutshell, the mobile Terraria’s multiplayer will work very similarly to how the non-Steam PC version works. This more or less means that all those playing in a game together will need to connect to each other manually by one person playing the host and any other players manually entering the IP address and port of the host, as well as a password if one is necessary. This is a bit clunkier than how online multiplayer is typically implemented in most other games, and may require the host to adjust some router settings like port forwarding, but it’s nothing that a quick Google search can’t help and this method also ensures cross-platform play between iOS and Android players. The dev team is also considering a service that would allow you to basically rent a professionally-hosted server similar to the Minecraft Realms service, but nothing final has been decided about that.

Whatever the case, if you want to play Terraria with your friends on mobile that will soon be a reality with the version 1.3 update, and I’m very excited about that. There should be a new “State of the Game" post for July over on the official forums sometime this week, and that typically has some juicy info and new screens or video of the game, so keep an eye out for that. And if you want to brush up on your Terraria knowledge in preperation for the 1.3 update, then be sure to check out our original 5 star review as well as Shaun’s extensive RPG Reload feature, and once a release date for version 1.3 is announced we’ll be sure to let you know.

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