Minecraft Dungeons II review – Diablo for beginners

Six years after the release of Minecraft Dungeons, Mojang is back with a follow-up. It’s certainly bigger, and it’s certainly better, but it’s still very much Minecraft Dungeons, offering meaningful tweaks to the formula rather than sweeping evolutions. That’s no bad thing, and if you enjoyed the simple ARPG action of the first game, you’ll love what Minecraft Dungeons II has to offer. It feels more like Diablo for Beginners than ever, and that’s no bad thing.

For most players, anyway. As you’d expect from a game falling under the Minecraft banner, this is a family-friendly outing, designed with younger players in mind. As a result, it’s simple, easy to play, and lacks the depth or complexity of Diablo IV and the like. It’s not going to replace your Diablo addiction any time soon, then, but it’s a nice way to relax between visits to Sanctuary.

The biggest change from the first Minecraft Dungeons is that Minecraft Dungeons II feels more open world in its design. You’re not simply teleporting from one dungeon to the next; you’re exploring a sprawling overworld, dotted with side quests, dungeons to explore, the odd NPC to meet, chests to discover and more. It makes playing feel more cohesive and it means it’s far more easier to simply keep playing as you push forward and see what else awaits you around the next corner.

Loot has also had a bit of an upgrade. In the first game, your equippable armour was one measly piece of equipment. Here, you’ll find headwear, chest armour, boots and leggings, allowing for more nuance when building your character. Loot also encompasses melee and ranged weapons, as well as artefacts that grant you magical abilities. Every item has both a rarity and a level, with rarer items having one or more affixes.

If you’re expecting Diablo-style stats on items, however, you’re going to be disappointed. There’s no real way to know how much damage a weapon is going to do until you try it, with the only indicator if something is better than what you already have equipped being its level. It’s fairly obvious that a level 22 sword is going to be better than a level 12 sword, but when you consider different item types and their different behaviours, it’s not always so straightforward.

Chances are you’ll quickly find your favourite item types and you’ll be reluctant to change them – even though Minecraft Dungeons II likes to throw a lot of loot at you. Thankfully you get a lot of inventory space, and getting rid of stuff is as easy as breaking it down into currency from your inventory menu. But you’ll likely spend a lot of time in menus and trying out new weapons before you ultimately end up sticking with what you already have.

Focus on Minecraft Dungeons II’s story and you’ll soon unlock a number of outposts that appear in every town and settlement you pass through. The merchant allows you to buy new items, the enchantress can imbue your items with a magical affix, and the blacksmith can upgrade the level of any item. Once I unlocked the blacksmith, I’ve simply kept upgrading the items I’ve already got – nothing else seems to be as good. While it’s nice I can keep making use of my favourites, it does make the whole loot system feel a bit redundant.

The story of Minecraft Dungeons II will take you roughly a dozen hours or so to make your way through, with plenty of sidequests along the way to keep you busy. There’s nothing remarkable here, and most of the gameplay revolves around heading to a marker, defeating some enemies, and making your way back to where you started. It’s pretty standard ARPG fare, and when you’re on a roll, it feels very satisfying indeed.

It can get rather repetitive, though, and despite its family-friendly nature, combat can be pretty tough. You can change the difficulty in the menu at any time, but even on normal, it’s easy to get caught out by a particularly fiendish enemy. Defeat means you’ll get taken back to the safety of the hometown, and you can warp straight back to the checkpoint closest to where you died. It can still mean a fair bit of back-and-forth though, and if you’re frequently getting downed, it can be rather frustrating.

You can see it as a sign that you need to level up a little before you continue, but Minecraft Dungeons II never gives you a feeling of wandering into an area you shouldn’t be in yet. Enemies throughout the game scale with you, so those easy areas at the beginning of the game never become a true cakewalk. You just have to use your own intuition: were you unlucky, or are you going to keep getting defeated if you keep trying? With the entire map open for you to explore, it’s easy enough to farm enemies to gain a few extra levels.

You can choose to play Minecraft Dungeons II online or offline, but once you’ve made your choice, you can’t switch without starting a new game. Offline is ideal if you’re playing solo or with a friend locally, while online also lets you team up with friends remotely. It all works rather seamlessly, and it supports cross-play too, so you can join friends even if they’re on a different platform. It’s clear Mojang has put co-operative play at the heart of Minecraft Dungeons II, but it doesn’t mean you’re going to have a lesser experience when you’re playing by yourself.

Aside from the occasional pocket of overly tough enemies, my only real gripe with Minecraft Dungeons II is the odd glitch. I’ve ended up stuck in the scenery once or twice, and I’ve jumped to land on a platform that I apparently shouldn’t have been on, with the only way to recover being to warp back to town. Pushing in the left stick of your controller reveals a handy line leading the way to your next mission, but it doesn’t always lead you to the right place. Several times it’s tried to lead me to jump off a high ledge, which simply doesn’t work.

They’re minor bugbears though, and for the most part, Minecraft Dungeons II is great fun to play. The more expansive world along with meaningful changes to the loot make this a worthy successor, and while it isn’t the deepest ARPG on the market, it delivers a welcome entry point to the genre for kids or anyone curious about jumping in. The best thing? You don’t need to know anything about Minecraft to enjoy it.