If you’ve not experienced the Terraria Shimmer yet, you’re missing out. The mysterious new liquid was introduced with the Terraria 1.4.4 update, Labor of Love, and it’s among the most fun additions to one of the best sandbox games on PC since it launched over a decade ago. Now, it seems that making use of it might be about to get easier than ever, thanks to the much-requested addition of a Shimmer squirty gun.
Shimmer is a magic substance that can be found in a hidden mini-biome following the Labor of Love update. We won’t cover everything it does here, but suffice to say it offers up a huge range of possibilities. You can transform many crafted items back into their component parts, turn some specific resources and equipment into more potent new forms, and even apply some rather dramatic effects to your own player if you’re willing to take a dip.
Perhaps most crucially here, however, is shimmer’s ability to transform various enemies, critters, and even the looks of your town NPCs. This has a number of curious applications, not least of which is the ability to completely overhaul how everyone in your Terraria world looks to bring fresh new drip to your server.
The problem as things stand is that transforming NPCs is currently a slightly awkward process. You can only currently apply the effects by dunking characters or enemies into Shimmer pools. As such, you need to create a dunk tank somewhere convenient, and then convince your NPCs to go there so you can drop them in. Enter the squirty gun.
Highlighting how cool all the Shimmer NPC variants are on Twitter, Terraria YouTuber James ‘ChippyGaming’ Bennett says, “I wish one day we’d get a shimmer water gun so I can see them more often.” In response, Re-Logic president Andrew ‘Redigit’ Spinks simply posts an image of a sprite that looks to be exactly that. Great news, and we can’t wait to start spraying Shimmer all over the place – maybe it’ll even open up the potential to use it on some bosses for unique results, but only time will tell there.
Lead artist Victor ‘Crowno’ Moura adds, “Nothing like having your wish granted before you even asked for it,” suggesting that the tool was likely already in the works. Moura also gives some fun additional backstory on the designs, calling them his “favourite thing I’ve done on the last update.” He notes that the Shimmer Zoologist sprite is actually based on his original concept for the character, which ended up not being the design the team went for, so he’s pleased to see it make a return as the official Shimmer variant.
Please note that, while the Shimmer gun sprite featured is the one provided by Redigit, the header image for this article is purely artist’s impression on my part. The NPCs don’t get that large. At least not yet.
We’ll be sure to keep you up to date on the latest Terraria 1.4.5 news as we get it. In the meantime, take a look at the best Terraria mods in 2023 to keep things fresh. Take a look at our Terraria progression guide if you’re unsure where to go next, along with more of the best co-op games on PC to enjoy with your pals.