Terraria Labor of Love spoilers have builders smitten

Terraria
(Image credit: Re-Logic/Khaios)

Terraria developer Re-Logic has provided the community with a new look at two big features coming in the 1.4.4 Labor of Love update, with the rubblemaker and coatings leaving fans smitten with the building possibilities.

The rubblemaker is a new tool that allows to directly place the items which randomly spawn in the background of Terraria's various biomes. You can craft basically any background object, which means you've got over 200 more potential decorations to put down. Each category takes a different type of block - stone, wood, dirt, et cetera - to craft, and unlike normal background objects, you'll get that block back when the object is broken.

Re-Logic provided an early look at the rubblemaker to YouTuber Khaios, who's got an extensive breakdown in the video below. You'll be able to buy the rubblemaker from the goblin tinkerer at any point after you've beaten the Wall of Flesh.

As the video title indicates, Khaios reckons the rubblemaker "changes building forever," and that sentiment is echoed by the broader community. As Tumblrrito writes on Reddit, "Those crazy bastards actually did it! Holy shit!! This update really is a Labor of Love, so many creative solutions to highly requested features. Re-Logic is the GOAT."

"Jesus that's going to be amazing," WarmerPharmer says. "I only build small stuff, but I guess the building subreddit will explode!!"

Khaios and fellow YouTuber CheesyPaninie have also provided an early look at the new coating system. Illuminant coatings let you make any object in the game glow, but unlike the previous illuminant paint, you can apply the coating over the top of any other paint in the game, allowing for a much greater variety of glowing colors.

This new system will also bring us echo coating, which will essentially let you paint any block in the game invisible. A new echo chamber furniture item will let you flip the visibility of those blocks off and on like a light switch. Combined with the new echo platforms and echo walls, this will also let you manipulate the appearance of wall and block patterns for much greater control of the look of your builds.

Terraria 1.4.4 is expected to launch in "late September," so it seems there's not much longer to wait for the big update. In a first for the game, the PC and console versions of the update are set to go live simultaneously.

Terraria might just be the best-reviewed Steam game of all time.

Dustin Bailey
Staff Writer

Dustin Bailey joined the GamesRadar team as a Staff Writer in May 2022, and is currently based in Missouri. He's been covering games (with occasional dalliances in the worlds of anime and pro wrestling) since 2015, first as a freelancer, then as a news writer at PCGamesN for nearly five years. His love for games was sparked somewhere between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Knights of the Old Republic, and these days you can usually find him splitting his entertainment time between retro gaming, the latest big action-adventure title, or a long haul in American Truck Simulator.