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REVIEW: Minecraft Dungeons offers encounters with zombies, creepers, skeletons, and assorted forces of the Arch-Illager

Minecraft Dungeons see you battling zombies, creepers, skeletons, and assorted forces of the Arch-Illager.

Minecraft Dungeons.
Minecraft Dungeons.

Minecraft is a global phenomenon that needs little introduction – even if you’ve never played it, it’s so popular with gamers of all ages you’ve almost certainly seen its distinctive blocky pixel artwork or characters around the internet.

The main game is a creative open world, often compared to Lego (there’s actually proper Minecraft Lego available too, now, in a case of life and art imitating each other), and it has spawned a range of spin-off products including books, streaming TV adventures, and even other games – including this latest one.

Developed by Mojang and published by Microsoft for PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch, Minecraft Dungeons is essentially a dungeon-delving adventure game (a staple of the pen-and-paper and computer gaming scenes for decades), featuring Minecraft characters, creatures, environments, and graphics – and it all comes together really well.

The story is your equally standard ‘evil villain wants to take over the realm’ stuff – in this case, an entity known as the “Arch-Illager”, whose minions (the “Illagers”) are the villains – and it’s up to you, the plucky hero, to stop them.

As you progress through the game’s levels – which include deserts, forests, castles, villages and, of course, mines, you battle various enemies from Minecraft – including zombies, creepers, skeletons, and assorted forces of the Arch-Illager. Defeating enemies provides new equipment such as armour, weapons or artefacts with special abilities.

Minecraft Dungeons. Story by Royce Wilson.
Minecraft Dungeons. Story by Royce Wilson.

The fact this is all so familiar to anyone who’s ever played a similar game like Diablo or Enter The Gungeon is a major plus, strengthened by how well it all comes together.

Unlike many games of the genre, there are no character classes in Minecraft Dungeons – your skills depend on what weapons you have equipped or what armour you are wearing or what special items you decide to use, not whether your character is a wizard or a paladin or a bard or what have you.

Combat is a mixture of ranged (using bows and arrows or crossbows) and melee (swords, daggers, maces, and so on), providing for a good combination of action type.

The game manages to be both accessible for younger players as well as a solid dungeon-delver in its own right, which is no easy feat.

The blocky Minecraft graphics mean the game isn’t gory or unsuitable – quite the opposite – and it also features that rare but welcome feature, couch co-op.

You can connect up to four controllers to the Xbox One and play together on the same screen, so in practical terms I, my son and my daughter could all pick a character (there are plenty of male and female characters to choose from) and play together and have a lot of fun doing so. There’s also online multiplayer available too.

Minecraft Dungeons. Story by Royce Wilson.
Minecraft Dungeons. Story by Royce Wilson.

In multiplayer mode, some of the item drops are ‘reserved’ by the game, so only a particular player can collect them, which is a great way to prevent fights over who gets that magical sword or cool armour.

The controls work well and are quite intuitive, allowing easy access to different inventory items with the push of the appropriate button, and my primary school-aged children had no trouble getting the hang of them or using them in-game in the Xbox One version being reviewed either.

There are nine missions in the game at release, with scalable difficulty for subsequent playthroughs (enabling tougher enemies and better equipment loot and rewards) – and the developers have said there will be more content coming as well.

An interesting point to keep in mind: If you have a Microsoft Xbox Game Pass for console or PC, the game is available free to play as part of that subscription, which is another point in the game’s favour – especially with many household budgets being on the tight side at present.

If you are after a hardcore dungeon-delver in the Diablo vein, this may not be your cup of stimulant beverage, but if you want something fun, accessible, and that your kids can get into as well, then this is well worth donning your pixelated armour for.

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Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/technology/review-minecraft-dungeons-offers-encounters-with-zombies-creepers-skeletons-and-assorted-forces-of-the-archillager/news-story/1d152f59a2da257707baf8c7af2f2c1b