Minecraft Dungeons

Unlike Minecraft, Minecraft Dungeons doesn't feature an open world, nor mining or building. Instead, it is a hack and slash-styled[2][3] dungeon crawler, rendered from an isometric perspective.[4] Players explore procedurally generated and hand crafted dungeons filled with randomly-generated monsters and also deal with traps, puzzles, bosses and finding treasure.[5][6] There is no class system; players can use any weapon or armor they wish.[7] The game includes a four-player local and online multiplayer.[8]

Minecraft Dungeons is set in the same fictional world as Minecraft, consisting of rough 3D objects—mainly cubes and fluids, and commonly called "blocks"—representing various materials, and inhabited by both peaceful and hostile mobs. Unlike Minecraft, the game features a linear, story-driven campaign, and cutscenes.

The opening cutscene tells the story of a homeless "Illager" named Archie, who was rejected by all those who met. One day, he stumbles upon a powerful artifact known as the "Orb of Dominance", which grants him great powers, but also corrupts him. Now called the "Arch-Illager", he seeks vengeance on all those who wronged him, and subjugates the world with his new army, raiding villages and forcing villagers to work as slave labor. The player explores various locations and completes quests in order to pass on to the next level. Ultimately, they face the Arch-Illager in his castle, defeating him and destroying the Orb of Dominance in the process, which frees Archie from its influence. Afterwards, they show kindness to Archie, much to his surprise, and together they celebrate that evil has been defeated and the world saved, though the Orb is later shown to be rebuilding itself.

Dungeons is developed by Mojang Studios for Xbox One, Windows 10, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch using Unreal Engine 4.[9][10] Console ports are being done by Double Eleven.[11]

With the continued success of the original Minecraft, Mojang thought about other possible games that could bring something new to the Minecraft universe.[12] Experimenting with different ideas, the game was originally meant to be a single-player dungeon crawl game, inspired by The Legend of Zelda series, for the Nintendo 3DS.[12][13] However, as the game began to take shape, these elements were changed or removed. For example, after adding in multiplayer features, the development team realized that these changes made the game more fun.[14] According to game director Måns Olsen, the game was inspired by Diablo and Torchlight,[10] as well as co-operative first-person shooter games like Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide and Left 4 Dead.[12]

One of the primary challenges the development team faced was figuring out how to adapt the gameplay of dungeon crawl games like Diablo into the world of Minecraft. Since Minecraft characters did not have any special innate abilities, Mojang had to think of alternatives to things such as character class that would normally be found in games of that genre. Their solution was to focus on creating weapons and armor that the player could make more powerful through enchantments, allowing the player to explore their creativity through customization.[13][15]

In addition, Mojang wanted to streamline the traditional dungeon crawl game experience into something more accessible. Olsen remarked that other games in the genre "are approachable to some degree, but they’re typically games with very deep, interconnected systems", and that they wanted to make getting into Minecraft Dungeons "super easy" yet "instantly familiar".[16] The decision to not allow building or crafting, a staple of the original Minecraft, was also made in order to focus on the core dungeon-crawling experience.[12] To give more experienced players a challenge, the team added options to change the game's difficulty, which would reward players with better equipment and new secret content for playing on harder difficulties.[15]

Minecraft Dungeons was first announced on September 28, 2018 during the Minecon live streaming event.[17][18] A video showcasing gameplay was released during E3 2019.[19]

Minecraft Dungeons was released on May 26, 2020, after being delayed from its original April release date[20] due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[21] The closed beta for the game ran for a month from March 25 to April 24, 2020.[22][23][24] The game is available in either the "Standard Edition" or the "Hero Edition", which contains downloadable content packs and cosmetics.[25]

Reception
Aggregate score Aggregator Score Metacritic (PC) 70/100[26] (NS) 70/100[27] (XONE) 73/100[28] Review scores Publication Score Destructoid 8/10[29] Eurogamer N/A[30] Game Informer 7/10[31] GameSpot 7/10[32] GamesRadar+ [2] IGN 7/10[33] PCGamesN [3] Shacknews 7/10[34] The Guardian [35]

Minecraft Dungeons received mixed reviews from critics, according to review aggregator Metacritic.[26][27][28] Critics generally found the game fun and charming,[2][32][33][35][3] complimenting its visuals[29][2][33][35] and music.[35] Some were divided on Dungeons's simplicity[34][33][36] and the procedural generation system used to generate loot and dungeon layouts.[34][30][31][2][3] Most reviewers were critical of the game's short story mode and perceived lack of depth.[34][2][34][29] Shacknews called it "a fun, laid back dungeon crawler for friends to get into."[37]

• Official website
• Minecraft Dungeons on the Minecraft Wiki.