The Game Pass PC adventure continues, and I'm running out of things to say in the intro. BACKGROUND:
I remember seeing gameplay of Minecraft Dungeons and thinking "this looks fun," but I was never really sold on it. There's a running joke among my friends that it was essentially "Diablo for Children" and that we should play multiplayer together, but other than that, I didn't have so much as a passing interest in actually trying the game. Since it's on Game Pass, I thought it'd be fair to give the game a chance I probably otherwise wouldn't have tried. PLOT: In a surprise twist, this Minecraft game has a plot (well, an explicitly told one). The game sets up a villain called the Arch-Illager, who is amassing power to take revenge on the Villagers who treated him like shit. It falls to you, unnamed hero, to thwart his plans by journeying across the land and fighting your way to his castle. It's a pretty standard plot, but it does have a bit of humor and heart to it, and it cleverly incorporates established Minecraft lore and puts its own unique spin on certain elements. If the Minecraft IP had a stronger focus on story, this game is a good example of the kind of narrative they could build using the elements they've already established within the game's world. PRESENTATION: The game looks and sounds pretty much like Minecraft (blocky visuals, pixelated textures, more ambient music), so there isn't much to say. As far as visuals go, there are all sorts of new monster, item, and location designs that you won't see in the original Minecraft, and there are more upbeat battle themes in the game to go along with the typical ambient sounds you hear when exploring. GAMEPLAY: Minecraft Dungeons is, as the name suggests, a dungeon crawler RPG where you navigate through dungeons to kill enemies and find loot you can use to make yourself stronger/give yourself better gear. Like I said, it's basically Diablo for kids. The game is also Minecraft only in name and not in gameplay; no mining or crafting here. Apart from being a kid-friendly IP, this game is "Diablo for kids" in the sense that it's much simpler than Diablo or other similar games in the genre. Here, you don't have to worry about character classes, exclusive weapon/armor types, or any complicated minmaxing. Just equip the weapons you like, and try to pick the ones with the biggest numbers; even if you choose to read all the numbers and really plan out your builds, all the information the game gives you is straightforward and easy to digest. Plus, fighting itself is pretty simple; you have a straightforward melee attack, an easy to use ranged attack, and only three "spells" to keep track of. On the subject of combat, your character has a regular melee attack, a bow shot, a dodge roll, a reusable healing potion (with a lengthy cooldown), and three Artifact slots. On top of that, you also wear armor that determines your max HP. I'll break down some of these elements in their own paragraphs. Your melee attack is determined by the melee weapon you have equipped. These weapons come in all forms, from swords, dual daggers, glaives, and even pickaxes. Different weapon types have different properties (like attack speed, area of effect, and even unique properties), so it may behoove you to experiment a bit and see what works best for you. Having a bow equipped allows you to shoot arrows, of which you have a limited supply. You can reload by acquiring occasional drops from chests or enemies. There's also a decent amount of variety in terms of bow types, like ones focused on rapid fire, ones that shoot multiple arrows, and ones with powerful charged shots. You can even choose to equip an assortment of crossbow types if that's more your style. The bow, melee weapon, and armor can all be enchanted using Enchantment Points, which you acquire by leveling up (which, naturally, happens when you kill enough shit and gain enough XP). These enchantments add passive effects such as additional damage, added effectiveness against specific enemy types, fire damage, and more. A piece of gear can have a maximum of three enchantments, and the enchantments offered to you are completely random. I wish there were a way to reroll enchantments, but that doesn't seem to exist; you'd have to grind to get that exact same gear again and hope you get what you want, which isn't as fun. Bows, weapons, and armor also have rarity values, which determine things like stat bonuses and such. One of the rarity values is called Unique, which usually means that the particular item has a special passive on top of everything else (e.g. the Frost Fangs are like normal daggers, but they have an additional passive that inflicts slow on enemies). Again, there doesn't appear to be a way to reroll the rarity of the gear you already have, which is a bit of a shame. In addition to your normal gear, you can also equip three Artifacts, which are essentially this game's take on skills. Artifacts have a wide array of effects, from healing, giving passive buffs, casting powerful attacks, and even summoning helper to fight for you. Unlike gear, you don't have to worry about enchantments, so it's adequate to just pick the one with the biggest numbers. Some Artifacts use Soul, which is the game's equivalent of magic. Soul is acquired by killing enemies, and you'll need to kill a bunch to fill up your meter. There are plenty of items that allow for Soul-focused builds, but it's nothing complex. The game only has a little over a dozen levels, but each are procedurally generated and are pretty large, often featuring branching paths with secrets to find. Some of the required story levels have secrets that unlock completely new maps for you to explore, but there are only a handful of these to speak of. Enemies are a mix of classic Minecraft mobs and brand new mobs, but the variety overall isn't that astounding. Generally, your problem isn't so much countering them individually but managing their numbers so you don't get overwhelmed, but there are a few enemy types that can kick your ass one-on-one. Bosses (of which there are a few) are the same way, except they have more health and tougher attacks. I'm a little underwhelmed with the number of maps you can actually play through. Sure, they're procedurally generated and you can get different rewards, but the main objective for each one never changes at all, so it can still feel repetitive in a sense. There are Daily Trial maps that add modifiers, but as far as I can tell, they're set in the same locales. The way the game adds replay value is by giving you the option to scale the difficulty of maps, as well as bumping up the difficulty overall on each clear. Higher difficulties are obviously more challenging, but you'll also be able to encounter brand new items (or at least higher rarity items) to play around with. It's nice and all, but you're still playing on the same set of maps. In between missions, you have access to a couple of merchants who offer assorted wares, as well as a blacksmith that can enhance your gear while you play. You can also sell any unwanted gear any time you want, and this gives you emeralds (the game's currency). If you sell enchanted items, you get the Enchantment Points you spent back, allowing you to reinvest them in your other gear. If you're particularly starved for content, there appear to be a small assortment of DLC maps you can buy. Plus, you can play this game in multiplayer, and I'm sure this is more fun with friends (as most things are). VERDICT: Minecraft Dungeons is an enjoyable, simplified take on the dungeon crawler genre that nearly anyone can get into, but I found the sparse content and issues with the handling of loot to be a rather glaring issue. I still had a delightful time playing through the main campaign and messing around with its simpler mechanics, though I can't help but wish that there was more game other than "play it again, but harder." As much as I like to say "Minecraft Dungeons is Diablo for children" as a joke, I legitimately think this is a fantastic entry point into the dungeon crawler genre for both children and people who've never played something like Diablo. Very little about its mechanics is complicated, and combat is easy to grasp but can still offer a bit of room for experimentation. If you want to get a sense of what the genre has to offer, or want to give your nephew (or whatever) a taste of something other than Fortnite, Minecraft Dungeons is a solid gateway into the world of dungeon crawlers. On the other hand, if you're more seasoned with RPGs, you may not enjoy this as much. You can certainly grind this game out to the max if you want, as the game stacks the difficulty pretty much ad infinitum on each run-through, but I feel like it would get boring real quick playing through the same few levels over and over (even if the layouts are random). And as much as the gameplay is fun despite its simplicity, it may not end up being as deep as some players want; you can certainly do some wacky stuff in this game, but don't expect any insanely complex character builds. Plus, with no built-in reroll systems, it may be too much effort to even put together a full build. - end -
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Derryck
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