Minecraft transposes itself into a dungeon crawler format so well you'll wonder why it took this long to happen

Minecraft Dungeons is the latest entry in the wildly popular Minecraft franchise, capitalizing on the success of Minecraft, which is the most popular game of all time. It takes everything that you love about Minecraft - the inventory, charming graphics, Creepers, and story - and turns it into a dungeon crawler.

Concept A Natural Evolution of the Minecraft Franchise

Like any good dungeon crawler, Minecraft Dungeons is really about survival. Your goal is to defeat the various dungeons that the game throws at you and collect loot after killing the various bad guys. The game casts itself as a Dungeon crawler with surprising ease.

Of course, the real charm of this game is that it takes well-known Minecraft enemies, like Creepers and Skeletons, and places them in a dungeon format. You now have to use your various weapons, skills, and techniques to defeat these enemies, collect their loot, and ultimately become stronger for future battles.

Thankfully, the game doesn't just rest on its past successes and introduces new bad guys, loots, skills, and techniques as you march deeper into the dungeons.

Graphics and Audio: Blocky Death

The game's graphics look like they came straight from the mother game. It's genuinely impressive. At the same time, framerates are smooth and actions are richly detailed. A good dungeon crawler must meet a series of extensive challenges, including maintaining frame rate, hinting at hidden loot, and showing weapons and enemies in detail. Minecraft Dungeons succeeds in doing that with aplomb.

Gameplay A Whole New Sense of Community

There are nine levels, or "biomes," that players must transverse. Each level has a different theme, like ruined villages or Redstone Mines, and each theme comes with a particular gimmick or design which you must defeat or survive. The levels are highly detailed and well designed, but the fact that there are only nine levels does leave wanting more.

You can play this one alone, or with friends. You can also team up with strangers before going on a run. Like any good dungeon crawler, this game isn't really about your skills and your skills alone, but about the chemistry of your team. Can your enhancer see when its time to cast a buff or when its time to conserve power? Does your healer know when your tank is in trouble?

Furthermore, this is Minecraft we're talking about. "The game practically launched the "Let's Play" genre of YouTube videos on its own, so it makes perfect sense that the game comes with a robust online community." Developers created easy to use, built-in tools that game players can take advantage of in order to find online communities, join clans, and learn how to play better. This is important: A huge part of Minecraft's success has always been its broader community, and Dungeons clearly understands this.

Conclusion

The game premiered on May 26 and is available for download via PC, PlayStation 4, XBox Game Pass, XBox One, and Nintendo Switch. The standard price is $19.99, but you can download a "Hero's Edition" that comes with more content for $29.99.

The game was made with replayability in mind, coming with a scalable difficulty system that will adjust based on your play. However, if you are good and someone in your party isn't, your lower-leveled friend will find themselves at a disadvantage, as the game will play for higher difficulties. This is an unfortunate problem for new players.

TL/DR

Minecraft Dungeons is an excellent addition to the Minecraft franchise for both old and new players.