A great encapsulation of the Diablo-style gameplay loop.
Welcoming to All
I was never really big into Minecraft and only really played it for extensive periods of time during the beginning of its beta phase and the game’s launch on Xbox 360. However, the thing I’ve always respected about Minecraft is its ability to meet the varying skill level of its players. Minecraft can be a simple way to build and create for newcomers, or it can help bring about the creation of complex worlds from more advanced players. Minecraft: Dungeons continues the franchise’s ability to handle this skill gap in an impressive way.
Experienced isometric RPG players might have the first impression that Minecraft: Dungeons is “baby’s first isometric action RPG”, but this isn’t the case and it becomes quite clear once you progress further into your second and third playthroughs on Adventure and Apocalyptic difficulties. In these end game playthroughs, Minecraft: Dungeons sheds its “kids game” stereotype skin and puts players through the ringer.
As previously mentioned, Minecraft: Dungeons has three difficulties that players are required to play in order starting with Default. The twist with this is that before every level in the game players can adjust the “tiers” of the current difficulty up to six times. These tiers strengthen or weaken the enemies within the level but also provide players with rarer loot drops.
Then the game provides an even bigger challenge once you hit the final levels in your Adventure and Apocalyptic playthroughs by locking your “tier” to a minimum of the 3rd or 4th tier. This is where the game’s loot grind takes place, encouraging players to replay levels to find those loot drops that will help them get past their next desired level.
Not “Diablo” Enough At Times
Throughout my time with the game, there were several points where I wished that Mojang had gone a little further than just pulling inspiration from this genre of games, namely Diablo. The central hub is called “Camp” and after the first playthrough players will have two merchants show up from whom they can buy random artefacts and random equipment. A down side being that these merchants seemingly only sell”common” rarity items unless the RNG is so bad that I simply wasn’t able to get better drops out of my purchases.
After these two additions to the camp I quickly started to speculate on what other additions would show up in my camp throughout the rest of the game. Unfortunately, as of the time I’m writing this, these are the only two means to spend gems earned in the game. It’s unclear whether Mojang plans to add any further in-game economy aspects to Minecraft: Dungeons, but I would hope so.
Another way that Minecraft: Dungeons didn’t fully commit to replicating the Diablo type of gameplay is with its level design. While there are multiple paths for players to explore in each level there is often very little, if any, reward for doing so. Diablo does a great job of rewarding players for branching off of the beaten path and finding events or side quest type content that results in earning a chest or two. Minecraft: Dungeons, however, has its players travel somewhat of a great length in order to only find a group of mobs that might not even provide a loot drop for defeating them.
Conclusion: 8/10
At the end of the day, Minecraft: Dungeons is a great departure from the IP’s natural formula. However, at times it certainly feel like a budget version of a Diablo-style game with it’s lack of full commitment to the genre or some shallow mechanics. Though the game’s shortcomings can be overlooked when considering the launch MSRP of $20. It has great replayability factor for those wanting to completely loot each level and difficulty for the perfect gear set. I’m definitely keeping an eye out for updates from Mojang about the future plans for Minecraft: Dungeons support.
LongLivePlay 