Minecraft Dungeons Review

Posted by: Bugman

Aside from some baffling mechanical choices, this Diablo-inspired action rpg is fast and fun.

Loot, Itemization, and Skills

Dungeons has an item level system that borrows from Destiny’s light mechanic. Item level affects damage dealt, damage resistance, and also affects the item level of loot drops. Unfortunately Dungeons bases drops on the item level of your currently equipped items, not your highest-level equippable item, so yes, you have to equip your best gear when you visit the blacksmith. Why exactly Mojang took inspiration from Destiny 1 and ignored the improvements of Destiny 2 is unclear. But the game has been getting regular-ish updates since release, so let’s hope this is something they can fix.

There are no character classes in Dungeons; Skills are activated by equipping gear and artifacts that have the skills attached. Clearly it’s a very simple system compared to a modern ARPG like Path of Exile or even Diablo 3, but there is still room for building interesting synergies between artifacts and enchantments on weapons and armor.

One thing I really like is that Dungeons doesn’t throw crazy numbers of item drops at the player. This is a welcome change compared to other ARPGs. 

It’s worth noting too that inventory management is pretty rudimentary in Dungeons. Currently you can’t sort your items, and there is no town stash. 

Gameplay and End-game

For what is a very lightweight ARPG compared to others in the genre, Dungeons actually has some pretty challenging encounters. When fighting multiple spiders, for example, you can find yourself trapped in webs, which can make it hard to avoid other enemy ranged attacks (ok I hate wraiths). 

Console is where Dungeons really shines. The couch co-op is especially good, providing a fun, light-hearted loot-fest without bogging players down in skill trees and comparing items stats.

The end-game loop currently involves running the same levels over again, farming particular maps to get the perfect rolls on your gear, and trying to get all the unique items. The first DLC, Jungle Awakens, increases the maximum item level to 113, and this does extend the end-game, what with reacquiring uniques at 113, but for the game to have a healthy community future updates will need to deepen the end-game!

Story

As is traditional for ARPGs, the story is paper-thin nonsense, delivered in cut-scenes between levels. The game is designed such that many of the levels will automatically trigger the associated cut scene, and you’ll skip them impatiently. This starts to get annoying pretty quickly, especially by end-game, and it’d be nice to get an option to automatically skip cut scenes after beating the game.

Overall, Minecraft Dungeons is not breaking new ground, but it is a cheap and fun game that will hook ARPG newbies and anyone looking for a good couch co-op experience.