Microsoft is taking things up a notch this year with its sandbox success, Minecraft. The company has tried other versions of the game earlier with Minecraft Pocket Edition, but it’s changing things quite a bit this time.
With the company getting closer to launching Minecraft Dungeons, the game’s next version, there’s a lot to be excited about. The new version will possibly appeal to a larger player group as it’s adopting the popular role playing game (RPG) genre, while retaining the general appearance and style of the original.
So, you retain the block-like characters and buildings in Minecraft, but take the RPG route. The game is built on the Unreal Engine 4 and apparently inspired by Diablo 3. That makes it a dungeon crawler and Microsoft is making some important changes. Here’s what we know so far.
There will be no building in this one
Yup, you heard that right. You will not be building or mining in Minecraft Dungeons, something that was an integral part of Minecraft. Like most RPGs, you’re supposed to build your character instead of setting up a base and staying put at one point on the map. Minecraft Dungeons basically wants players to follow the story, discover new dungeons etc.
The good news is that items you need will all be available in game. Mojang, the developer, has promised that there will be no microtransactions or loot boxes. Instead, you earn gear and items by defeating enemies or finding treasure.
Also, unlike most RPGs, Minecraft Dungeons don’t have any character classes. So, you’re not going to choose between types like warrior, rogue etc. Character types will basically be decided by what gear or armor you use and how you build said character.
The game also has enchantments, which make existing items more powerful and require experience points to use.
The enemies are mostly the same
That said, it doesn’t seem like the developers have made big changes to the enemies. You have Necromancers and Wraiths this time, which bring some new challenges. The Necromancers can spawn multiple enemies while wraiths attack over larger areas.There will also be mini-bosses in the game but the developers haven’t said much about those yet.
We expect enemies that will let you farm items and currency too.
A beta is up already
A closed multiplayer beta for Minecraft Dungeons is up already though you can’t download a minecraft apk just yet. The game was expected to launch in April and it seems Microsoft is going ahead with the launch too.
A gameplay demo was also showcased at Minecon earlier and what’s clear from that is that Minecraft Dungeons should feel familiar to people who are already used to Minecraft.
