Minecraft Dungeons

Genre: Top-Down Action-RPG

Players: 1-4 Co-Op (Local, Online)

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Review:

(Note: This game is included in Minecraft Triple Bundle, along with Minecraft and Minecraft Legends.)

Minecraft Dungeons, released on multiple platforms in 2020 including the Nintendo Switch, is a Top-Down Action-RPG in the same vein as Diablo, taking that gameplay style and marrying it to the aesthetic and world of Minecraft. This seems like it would be a “peanut butter and chocolate” sorta’ thing, where you combine two great things to get something even better. Unfortunately, it works out to be more like peanut butter and steak – both things great on their own, but combining the two seems to break them, resulting in something that’s far worse than either is on its own.

As one might expect from a game based on Minecraft, this game uses a similar 3D blocky “voxel” look for its visuals, however, while Minecraft made these simple visuals impressive by using them to build infinitely large, destructible worlds, Minecraft Dungeons does nothing of the sort, making these visuals purely aesthetic.

This in itself wouldn’t be too bad except that the Nintendo Switch version of the game seems to struggle with even these simple-looking visuals, with the framerate dropping and even shuddering at points. And while Minecraft players on the Nintendo Switch may be used to a visual downgrade in terms of draw distance, the terrible framerates in this game actually affect the gameplay in ways that are simply unacceptable.

These visuals are backed by a subtle soundtrack that tries to mimic the light fare of the original Minecraft, and does so reasonably well, but the result is something far less memorable. At the very least, the voiced narration in this game is something that sets this game apart from Minecraft, but not in a good way – the self-serious story and the tone it’s delivered in are groan-inducing, and the game depends far too much on the lore and characters established in Minecraft without introducing much of its own.

When it comes to the gameplay, Minecraft Dungeons doesn’t hold a candle to other great games in the genre like Diablo III or Children of Morta – its level-up progression is far slower, there’s far less in the way of rewarding exploration, and character customization is rudimentary by comparison. Also, simple mechanics like aiming a bow seem spotty at best.

However, perhaps more disappointing than this is how this game absolutely fails to make good use of the Minecraft license. There’s no crafting here, no environmental deconstruction or recreation, and in fact the most this game seems to take from Minecraft in its game mechanics are its randomized enchantments, which actually work against the game as they take what little customization players have access to and make it so players have even less choice in how to change their character.

At its core, Minecraft Dungeons is not a terrible Top-Down Action-RPG, but it is a painfully mediocre one with some pretty major flaws, and that’s really disappointing coming from a game that, at least in theory, seems like it would marry a spectacular franchise with a new style of gameplay that would be perfect for it. But make no mistake, this game doesn’t hold a candle to Diablo III or Minecraft, and even if it’s not held up to those impossibly high standards, it’s still a disappointingly poor entry in the genre.

tl;dr – Minecraft Dungeons is a Top-Down Action-RPG that combines the look and world of Minecraft with the sort of gameplay seen in games like Diablo. Unfortunately, this game is a sub-standard Diablo-style game that doesn’t do much mechanically to make use of its Minecraft license, and it suffers from serious performance issues on Nintendo Switch. No matter which angle you view it from, this game is a big disappointment.

Grade: C-

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