Review for Minecraft: Dungeons. Game for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch, the video game was released on 30/06/2020
The pixelated world of Minecraft has been one of the biggest successes in the field of video games ever. There are dozens of releases including various editions, maps, mods and over 450 million copies sold for practically any platform, without of course counting the game worlds created and shared by users. Of course the boys of Mojang did not miss the opportunity to create a variant dungeon crawler, with procedural maps and Diablo-Like style, available from May in digital version and now landed in the role of Minecraft: Dungeons - Hero Edition in physical edition (and including all the DLC released so far) for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 PC e Xbox One.
This Hero Edition has many positive aspects and some sore points, making it a great product anyway: let's go and analyze it together.
The plot of Minecraft: Dungeons - Hero Edition is, as often in these cases, a mere excuse to lead your hands. An inhabitant who, disconsolate and sad, seeks refuge for the night in a village is mocked and chased away by the inhabitants; seeking shelter he comes across a dark temple where, completely defenseless, lies the Sphere of Predomination - an artifact of an incalculable level - which transforms the traveler into Arch-Dweller, a practically omnipotent and decidedly angry being. Our task will therefore be to find it and bring it back to mild advice, to put it mildly. As we said it is not that the plot is particularly deepened, neither in the initial phase nor in the course of the adventure: everything can be summed up in "find the bad guy and beat him up". This if we want is the first of the defects attributable to Minecraft: Dungeons - Hero Edition, given that perhaps a richer storyline could have involved the player more even if at the same time it cannot be said to be a defect which really penalizes the title.
The adventure therefore begins with a first dungeon - in a fixed isometric view and with the style that has always distinguished Minecraft - which sees us culminate at base camp, the hub where we will constantly stop at each death or at the beginning of each new section. Our camp will take shape and life over time, also populating itself with NPCs, merchants and shops once various characters are freed during the adventure. Back here, we will then be able to spend the recovered emeralds to purchase new items and status upgrades.
At the level of gameplay in Minecraft: Dungeons - Hero Edition we find ourselves in front of an extremely simplified Diablo-Like. The player will have one slot for the short range weapon, one for the long range one and one for the armor. Each of these slots will then be equipped accordingly and each weapon or armor will have features that can be upgraded with experience points that will give them unique and magical peculiarities. Three spaces per weapon or armor, not all of which can always be used (this varies according to the rarity of the weapon), and once each perk is upgraded to the maximum level, you move on to the next. This practice is dwarfed by the fact that finding a weapon with higher damage in each dungeon faced is pretty simple, at least for a good part of the adventure. In any case this feature works, without infamy and without praise, providing a good variety of fighting styles and approaches to play.
Three slots complete the attack landscape in which we can insert three artifacts capable of providing attack, defense, healing and even summoning techniques. In this case the artifacts cannot be leveled up but here too the great variety of recoverable items makes up for the gap. Each slot is mapped to a specific key and as in Diablo it can be called up indefinitely as long as you wait for the countdown and have enough energy, energy that is naturally collected by mowing down enemies.
The graphic and stylistic aspect of Minecraft: Dungeons - Hero Edition are very pleasant. Enemies and backdrops are of course in the style we all know and that has won the hearts of fans; only the main character is a bit too simple in style. While it is true that you can choose different skins, it is equally true that they are all similar and none of them affect the characteristics of the character.
The armor, however, changes the physical appearance of the PC and the addition of some optional accessories and some pets is welcome. Many maps vary in conformation and the environments they face are quite varied, accurate and vast, which makes the gaming and exploration experience a point in favor of Minecraft: Dungeons - Hero Edition, which also boasts two complete DLCs with environments, enemies and new weapons, plus some additional accessories to embellish the protagonist.
To complete the main adventure of Minecraft: Dungeons - Hero Edition it takes from five to ten hours, to which must be added about three hours for each DLC, of course, all according to your desire to re-face the same dungeons at an increasing level of difficulty. But what makes this title greedy is the online and local multiplayer sector: with Nintendo Switch it is possible to play Minecraft: Dungeons - Hero Edition with three friends directly on your home TV or online in coop. Unfortunately, for now, it is not possible to do both things together nor can you collaborate with gamers who have the same title but for a different platform.
However, cross save and cross play are under development and we can only hope for the best. It should also be said that the development team has promised to support this title for a long time with extra content and new gaming experiences.
The port for Nintendo Switch, unfortunately, only tears enough. First of all, the resolution is lower than that proposed for the other systems and, despite this, the title suffers from some slowdowns and lag which, given its simplicity, we do not feel like justifying. In addition it must be said that deeper and more complex titles, such as the aforementioned Diablo, have achieved much better ports for the Nintendo hybrid laptop. Controls and multiplayer instead get along great, without problems and with simplicity. In general, as always, Switch offers the added value of portability and manages to make up for the shortcomings on its own, and the Mojang guys are known to provide support and patches based on user feedback.
In any case, for the sake of completeness, we remind you that the Minecraft: Dungeons - Hero Edition includes: the physical game card which in turn includes the Hero's Cloak skin, two PC skins, a pet animal and the "Awakening of the Jungle" and "Overwhelming Winter" DLC packs.
Minecraft: Dungeons - Hero Edition lands in physical edition in a version that includes juicy content that will accompany the player in a simple but not no fun experience. While more depth and customization could have been appreciated, Minecraft: Dungeons - Hero Edition offers a Diablo Like adventure that convinces especially when supported by the portability offered by the Nintendo console. Minor slowdowns and lags do not undermine the final experience, and we are confident that the Mojang development team will soon optimize the gaming experience even more.
► Minecraft: Dungeons is a scrolling-Adventure type Beat 'em up game developed and published by Mojang for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch, the video game was released on 30/06/2020
