Gaming reviews

High-performance playtime

It’s safe to say that Minecraft Dungeons doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s set in the same universe as its sandbox predecessor, but there’s no crafting or building in his world. It’s a dungeon crawler that challenges you to furiously hack-and-slash your way through hordes of enemies with an arsenal of fun enchantments and items. I’ve cleaved a swathe through hordes of slime cubes, shot a mass of burning (and exploding) arrows at spiders, and gone toe to toe with sinister, teleporting Endermen. It’s bombastic, frantic fun, and it offers four-player local or online co-op so your friends can get in on its blocky brawls too.

The story is fairly straightforward. The main villain is the evil Arch-Illager, who finds a powerful artefact called the Orb of Dominance and seeks revenge on those who shunned and bullied him. He’s gathered an army of familiar Minecraft foes to take over the world, and your party must stop him. Occasionally you’ll be tasked with freeing captured villagers as a challenge within a level, but the story is mostly just a reason for mindless brawling.

The world of Minecraft Dungeons

has been given a glorious glow up from its sandbox counterpart. There are a handful of different biomes for you to choose from, including woodland, mine, swamp, temple and canyon areas, each with their own loot drops and enemy types. One of my favourites is Fiery Forge, where glowing red lava cascades into the lower layers of the level. It looks amazing against the blueinfused iron walls of the forge. It’s also refreshing to see Minecraft’s

world from an isometric perspective. In another level, Redstone Mines, you can peer down the mine shafts and watch pulleys lift out the glowing Redstone, giving the level a great sense of depth and character. Minecraft Dungeons catapults the blocky world to new heights.

Although each level is procedurally generated, there’s always a clear pathway with plenty of nooks and crannies to explore.

Each level has it’s own mini-dungeon or crypt if you’re hunting for extra loot, and some levels even have hidden secrets to new areas or special weapons. You’re also given map markers at the edge of the screen to show where your goal is, a bottomless healing potion with a 30-second cooldown, and three lives.

Strategising and theory crafting are great, but charging in headfirst and hacking and slashing through a monster-filled cavern has its own charm. With only a handful of levels, you’ll be repeating the same runs a lot, but it’s more for finding an item you missed or a hidden secret than tedious grinding. Finishing the campaign, from tutorial to final boss, took me a handful of hours.

Minecraft Dungeons is the perfect introduction to dungeon crawlers for beginners, and a breezy adventure for veterans.

RACHEL WATTS

A chill and simple dungeon crawler that reproduces Minecraft’s playful attitude perfectly.