Minecraft Dungeons 2 Review

This shallow sequel provides some peaceful button mashing, but does little to stand out.

This is your IGN review of Minecraft Dungeons 2 by Travis Northrup.

One of the reasons Minecraft is my favorite game of all time is how alluring its world of endless possibilities is.

So it's a little strange that the Minecraft Dungeons series seems to represent the exact opposite.

Minecraft Dungeons 2 is a brief, forgettable ARPG that's as thin as they come, from its bare-bones story to its shallow gameplay, and you can see almost all it has to offer in the span of an afternoon.

Simple, easygoing action is kind of the whole point here, but while there's nothing actively offensive about this humdrum adventure, there's also very little worth getting excited about either.

The good news is that the minor improvements this sequel makes over the original are quite welcome, including more customizable characters and the added ability to jump.

Plus, the new realm of the Sift adds some fresh color and creatures to the Minecraft universe.

So if you're looking to spend a mindless night or two swinging swords with your friends, you could do a lot worse than this.

If you didn't play the first one, Minecraft Dungeons 2 takes the pixelated items and goofy mobs from Minecraft and throws them into an extremely light and noticeably less gory version of Diablo.

You'll delve into dungeons, smack around swarms of monsters, and tackle big ol' slobbery bosses while hoovering up as much loot as you can along the way.

But where most ARPGs lean hard into dizzying skill trees and loot with so many different stats you need a degree in mathematics to comprehend them, Minecraft Dungeons strips away most of that in favor of a much simpler framework.

That makes it both more approachable and almost equally less interesting.

While this sequel expands on the ideas from the first in modest ways, like increasing the armor slots you've got from one to four, it mostly maintains that stripped-down buildcrafting philosophy.

The roughly seven-hour story has your unnamed hero squaring off against an evil cabal of illagers who gain access to a new dimension called the Sift.

And actually, look at that, I just about covered it all.

The cutscenes and conversations to be found here are basically just a vague outline of a story that sends you to and fro to kill things and save the world.

And that's about as deep as it ever gets.

It's not like I was expecting some kind of emotional drama from my Minecraft meets Diablo game, but like most things in this adventure, there's still very little to it.

The action is thankfully more developed than the story, adding some key features to the mix that make battling through the blocky world more enjoyable.

I had completely forgotten, for example, that the original didn't have a jump button, and having one here adds some needed platforming and light puzzles to solve.

Plus, it gives you access to a new jump attack so you can drop a bow on these filthy ads.

You also have more options for enchanting your weapons and armor with special effects, which you unlock by conquering dungeons and completing quests throughout the world, as well as new artifacts that offer passive buffs, like increased damage with ranged weapons.

All of these things are a decent step up from the original, but the vast majority of the moment-to-moment gameplay remains largely unchanged, and smacking samey zombies and illagers tends to run thin quite quickly.

The best part of Minecraft Dungeons 2 is the new area called the Sift, a magical, soul-powered realm filled with goat things, poisonous water, and more teal landscapes than was previously thought possible with the science of our day.