Terraria's Journey's End update isn't just rekindling the tireless sandbox game with new items (loads and loads of new items), it's also adding Journey Mode – an alternate, player-choice-driven way to play.
When it launches for PC on May 16 as part of the free update, Journey Mode will let you research and then duplicate items on an individual basis, control weather and the passage of time, fine-tune difficulty settings including enemy spawn rates, enable "god mode," and increase the item placement range.
That summary is only scratching the surface. If you have enough time (and interest) to dig deeper, YouTuber ChippyGaming has an extended hands-on showcase of Journey Mode running in Terraria1.4.
My first impression was that Journey Mode would be the inverse of the brutal new Master Mode (also arriving with Journey's End), but it lets players "create both the easiest and the most difficult experiences that Terraria has to offer," according to developer Relogic. "This is not Creative Mode."
A few other things to note:
Relogic's overall goal for Journey Mode was to come up with "a way to bring in all players of various skill levels and to be able to customize your experience to optimize the fun you have in game."
Terraria PC players – and the console crowd, eventually – will have a lot to dig into.