Minecraft

GENRE: Sandbox/Survival

NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 1-1000+

RATING: E10+

PRICE: $20-30

AVAILABLE ON:

Java Edition:

• Windows

• Mac

• Linux

Bedrock Edition:

• Windows 10

• Apple and Android phones and tablets

• Xbox One, Xbox One S/X, Xbox Series S/X

• PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5

• Nintendo Switch

SUMMARY:

Minecraft is a sandbox survival game in which the player is spawned into a world in which they must survive, collect better materials and beat the bosses of the game. The game is rendered in cubes, a simplistic but iconic game design. Minecraft’s open world nature and building mechanics allow for the player to get a variety of experiences out of the game. In addition to the default survival mode, the game also offers a creative mode where players can explore worlds and build without needing to collect resources or worry about surviving. Terrain is generated as the player travels further, creating many different environments to be explored in the almost infinite world. Along the way the player will encounter different mobs-- some peaceful and others hostile-- that will all drop different materials when killed. Most hostile mobs only spawn in dark places, so make sure to have a safe place to stay the night or craft a bed to sleep through the night completely. Also, bring torches if you plan to explore any unlit cave systems.

Crafting is a crucial part of the game, specifically crafting different tools to aid on your journey. Different tiers of tools and armor can be made depending on what materials you have. The lowest tier is wood, then stone, iron, gold, diamond, and netherite. Different metals and gems can be found below ground in caves and mined with pickaxes-- although be careful, you need a certain tier of tool to mine some materials. Gold and diamond need at least an iron pickaxe to be mined. Netherite tools are the best, which are diamond tools combined with a netherite ingot in a smithing table. However, you can craft much more than just tools! You can find all of the different crafting recipes on the Minecraft Wiki which we’ll talk about later.

Netherite can only be found in the Nether, which is a fiery, hell-like dimension that can be entered by using a flint-and-steel to light a frame of obsidian that’s at least 4x5 blocks to create a portal. This dangerous realm contains many resources that are essential to beat the game, which calls for the player to enter the third and final Minecraft dimension. Throwing eyes of ender will lead the player to the stronghold, where they can use eyes of ender to light an auto-generated portal to the End. After entering this dimension, the ender dragon will spawn. After defeating the final boss, the player has successfully beaten the game. But don’t worry, you’ll still be able to get back into your world and continue playing. You can even keep exploring the End and find new mobs and resources in End cities.

While the game is relatively simple, it is extremely versatile and the possibilities with it are endless. There are a couple different ways to play multiplayer. You can easily host a server with friends for free if you are on the same network, or you can play with those on a different network by managing your own game server or using Minecraft’s hosting service called Minecraft Realms which costs $7.99 per month. You can either make your own multiplayer server, or join larger servers that are open to all players where you can play a variety of different minigames while meeting other people. The most popular server is called Hypixel which you can access using the server IP mc.hypixel.net. There is no voice chat in these servers, however there is a public text chat where you can interact with other players.

In these public servers you’ll notice players have their own custom skins different from the default Alex and Steve skins. If you want your own skin, we recommend downloading on from Minecraft Skins - The Skindex. There are thousands of skins to choose from and you can even design your own!

Minecraft does have a decently steep learning curve and we know that we probably mentioned a lot of confusing terms. We can’t possibly cover every item, mob, and crafting recipe in this review, but luckily Minecraft has a really great wiki. This is a great resource for Minecraft players new and old alike to find answers to any questions they have and we highly encourage you to come back to this resource as you embark on your Minecraft journey.