Irie had the opportunity to play the new dungeon crawler from Mojang at Gamescom and thinks it could be a great family game.
What is Minecraft Dungeons? The new dungeon crawler from Mojang combines the iconic Minecraft look with the loot and dungeon-crawl mechanics of games like Diablo.
Players can explore procedurally generated dungeons alone or in groups of up to 4 players to search for new loot to upgrade their characters. You can watch a trailer here:
More Diablo than Minecraft
This is how Minecraft Dungeons works: The element of chance plays a significant role in the game. It affects not only the loot but also the dungeons. Game Director Mans Olsen explained to me in our interview:
The way the dungeons work is that they are procedurally generated. But we have certain set sections that are fixed to give them higher recognizability and a structure. You walk through a certain part of the dungeon that is randomly generated, then you come into the fixed part. And then it’s random again.
In each dungeon, players face a series of conditions they must fulfill to successfully complete the dungeon. Some examples of these are:
- Find the key to the next door
- Defeat the boss
- Defeat multiple waves of monsters
- Rescue all villagers
- Solve various puzzles
There will also be secret objectives that you unlock while exploring the dungeon.
Exploration is one of the pillars of Minecraft. So we tried to reward players who venture off the main path and explore different side paths accordingly. They will find secrets and other cool stuff.
David Nisshagen, Executive Producer
However, you shouldn’t rely too much on the Minecraft look of the game. The focus of the gameplay mechanics is more on exploring dungeons and collecting loot rather than building.
For example, the option to design your own dungeons will not be available at launch. You also won’t be able to build your own base in the hub for the time being.
We have no plans to implement such features at launch. We know that many people have asked for them, but whether that actually happens or not, we can’t say yet.
David Nisshagen, Executive Producer
We are a small team and want to focus primarily on completing the core of the game. The combat system is one of the most important aspects, and we are concentrating on that.
In the loot system of Minecraft Dungeons, the element of chance plays an even stronger role than in the dungeons. You can find more about this here:
A co-op game for families
This is what Irie thinks: Minecraft Dungeons features a number of characteristics that could make it a great family game:
- Controls are intuitive
- Gameplay is accessible and quick to understand but still has depth
- Couch co-op for up to 4 people is fluid, and you can spontaneously jump into a session and out again.
- The Minecraft franchise is popular among children and teenagers, and the graphics are child-friendly
I can imagine that especially parents who are not gamers themselves could have a lot of fun in Minecraft Dungeons together with their children. Executive Producer David Nisshagen also commented on this:
We now had the opportunity [at Gamescom] to watch people play for the first time. It’s great and very moving. We have also observed multiple times that parents stood at the consoles with their children and played together. Instead of standing by and watching. They played side by side, together.
And the children then said: “We should go this way and do that.” And the adults responded: “I don’t know what I need to do!”. Or when the parents themselves are gamers, they say: “Hey, check your inventory, there are new things in there.” And there’s this interaction, and it’s wonderful. I was very touched while watching.
Yet despite the high accessibility, Minecraft Dungeons aims to provide enough gameplay depth to entice players for more than just a single gaming session. The high element of chance and variety of loot allow for many different builds and options to continually improve your character and tackle harder dungeons.
Many of the people on our team have kids themselves and want to play with them. […] But we are also big fans of dungeon crawlers like Diablo and wanted to create something that is fun for us as well, with enough depth and complexity. Therefore, we are trying to find a good middle ground.
Mans Olsen, Game Director
I would certainly like to try Minecraft Dungeons with my nephews.
