When Minecraft Dungeons came out back in 2020 I was moderately interested. I am by no means a fan of Minecraft, and had little knowledge about the franchise or its lore. The only reason I was slightly interested in Minecraft Dungeons was because of its Diablo lite elements and the fact it was co-op. Turns out, Minecraft Dungeons was an incredible experience and a blast to play. Six years later, Mojang and Double Eleven are back with a sequel. Did they create another hit with Minecraft Dungeons 2 or does it fail to capture that same magic? Let’s dig in.

Minecraft Dungeons 2 picks up after the events of the first game. While the Arch-Illager may have been defeated, there are new dangers to the world in the form of the Illager High Council. These high ranking Illager’s have managed to find a portal in the land known as the Deep Dark which opened into a new dimension, the Sift.

The Sift is actually the first new dimension in the Minecraft world in 15 years. Now, as I mentioned in my intro, I am by no means invested in the lore of Minecraft, but fans of the franchise as a whole should be pretty excited by this. And what I can say is that this new dimension looks great. Minecraft has never been known to blow people away graphically but for what it is, the game looks good.

There is a lot of variety in the types of areas, from lush green fields to the frozen highlands; there’s a bit of everything. And while the map itself feels relatively small, the different biomes make it feel bigger than it is.

As the hero of the world it is up to you to figure out what the High Council is up to and stop them. At the beginning of the game you are instantly thrown into combat, and it frankly never stops. The action is constant in Minecraft Dungeons 2 and the only time you get any reprieve is when you are in town or during the story beats.

Overall the story itself seemed solid enough. I wasn’t overly invested in it as the story isn’t really why I’m interested in Minecraft Dungeons 2, but I have to imagine if you are a Minecraft regular, you are going to be invested and enjoy it for what it is.

Going Open World

The biggest difference between the first game and this one is that the developers have changed to an open world concept. This gives the game a more typical RPG feel, and they have done a good job with it. Complete with fast travel markers – which are very on brand as Minecraft cart locations – it will feel familiar to anyone who has played an RPG before.

I get the feeling people might be torn on the decision to go open world. The map itself is good, but the biggest difference now is that if you die, you simply respawn in town and can quickly head to a statue that will teleport you back to where you just were, or as close as possible.

This is a big difference from Minecraft Dungeons where you would launch into a dungeon and if you died 3 times, you failed the dungeon and were transported back to town. It has made Minecraft Dungeons 2 more accessible – which is a good thing, but it does take away some of the challenge. Knowing that if I die I can just rush back to that same area with no consequences had me feeling less cautious and strategic than in the first game where life meant so much.

That’s not to say there is no punishment for dying. If you do happen to die, all the enemies respawn. If you were in an ambush section or a boss battle, these would start from scratch as well. In that sense they have done a goob job in incentivizing the player to stay alive. Some ambushes have many waves in them and can be a pain to deal with so getting so close to completing one and dying can be a good enough motivator to survive.

The open world also helps the flow of the story some. They have introduced side quests which add another layer to the game and give it more depth which is nice. Each area’s side missions are only unlocked after completing the area of the map, giving you more reason to stick around that area and level up.

The good news, if you prefer the dungeon style of the first game, is that there are still dungeons in Minecraft Dungeons 2. These dungeons and the rifts are great to explore to find better gear and especially to locate Enchantment Books required for enchanting your gear.

The one negative aspect of the dungeons is that for some reason your map doesn’t switch to the dungeon map when you are inside. You still have your mini map you can follow in the corner, but it only shows a small section where you currently are. With how big some of these dungeons and rifts got it seemed odd that you can’t actually see a map of them.

Fleshed Out Mechanics

In terms of gameplay Minecraft Dungeons 2 plays pretty much the same as the first game. You still wield both a melee and ranged weapon as you hack and shoot your way through hordes of enemies. There are also your 3 artifacts that you can wear that give you some special abilities. You still have your dodge, which is on a cooldown, same with your single potion.

I actually really like the single potion concept. It keeps you on your toes about when to use it and if you need to retreat because it’s still cooling down. Combined with the cooldown on the dodge it can lead to some frantic moments of just trying to survive. Because of this, I often wore 2 totems of regeneration just to have an added buffer for healing. This might sound counterintuitive to wear 2 of the same artifact, but it came in handy at times, especially with boss battles.

The 2 major changes to how Minecraft Dungeons 2 plays compared to the first is the new ability to jump and the expanded inventory system. The ability to jump was a game changer in terms of how the team was able to build out the map. Having more layers to the map gave it an extra sense of depth and scope and some small platforming sections just added that little extra.

Unfortunately the jumping doesn’t have much of an impact on the combat. In the lead up to the game they had been hyping it up a bit more than it deserved as the only thing that changes is your ability to do a jump smash attack. It’s an alright attack to do but it doesn’t do much more damage than a normal attack, though it is good for some knockback to give you some space sometimes.

Expanding Your Inventory

The other big change is the expanded inventory system. In Minecraft Dungeons you were only able to equip a melee weapon, a ranged weapon, and a single piece of armor. The sequel has fleshed this out by adding 3 additional equipment slots. Now instead of the single piece of armor, it’s broken down into 4: a helmet, chest armor, pants and shoes.

It isn’t a ton of extra equipment, but it is a much needed expansion of the inventory system. With each item potentially having 2 buffer slots it really does change your build and how you can play. Do you look for items to up your melee damage, your health, perhaps a combination of both? The ability to re-roll those buffers later on in the game at the Blacksmith is nice too.

The one downfall of the Blacksmith, however, is that because you can re-roll items and upgrade them to the highest current level, I rarely ever changed my equipment. I experimented and constantly switched gear in the early game, but once the Blacksmith was unlocked I just continued to upgrade what I liked unless I got a better Unique item.

Another new thing in the inventory is the 3 Talismans you can equip. These 3 items are passive items you can equip that give you extra buffs. These were a nice addition and can really help. It was nice just having a pet with me at all times rather than having to use an artifact slot on one, and the boost to my life and melee damage was nice too. There are plenty of options with the Talismans as well.

I will say that the expansion of the inventory will probably be better felt in co-op. Having played the entire game solo I had to do what was best for just my character, which often meant upping my health and damage as much as possible. In co-op you should be able to work in tandem with your group better to combine your buffs and make a stronger group. For example, there are buffs that will drop a healing ring for everyone when you do certain things, like use a potion. This is great in a group; solo it doesn’t quite have the same effect.

Lastly on the inventory, the Enchantments make a return giving you another buff to your gear. You can only enchant your weapons and armor but they are another layer to the equipment puzzle. All in all Minecraft Dungeons 2 has done a solid job expanding the inventory and fleshing things out. There’s still room for improvement, but it’s good. Maybe this is my inner Diablo 2 fan coming out thinking it can still add even more.

End Game

The most important part for a game like this is its end game content. While players can continue to fight through the open world and explore dungeons and rifts there is an additional aspect added once you’ve completed the campaign.

After the roughly 12 hour campaign ends, the world will periodically be hit with a Soul Storm. These storms take place in a single region of the map and spawn storm generators around the area. The goal is to destroy them before the time runs out and the storm goes away.

As you slowly destroy each storm generator, the enemies that spawn in become stronger and stronger until you defeat it. Defeat one and it drops some solid items. Defeat all 3 in time and you get a big boost of XP and some great new gear.

Overall it’s not a bad start to the end game, but hopefully they add more. They did a good job adding a lot to the first game so I have no doubt that they will here, but as is, I can see players getting bored of the same end game quest over and over.

Final Thoughts

While Mojang and Double Eleven may have played it a little too safe with Minecraft Dungeons 2, it is still a very enjoyable game. While the switch to an open world map is quite different, the rest of Minecraft Dungeons 2’s mechanics remain largely the same. They manage to expand on the equipment somewhat, but by and large the sequel plays the same as the first game.

If you were hoping for a dramatic evolution in the Minecraft Dungeons formula, you may be a bit disappointed. However, if you were simply looking for an expanded, more fleshed out experience, Minecraft Dungeons 2 will hit all the right notes for you.

Minecraft Dungeons 2 was reviewed on Xbox Series X. A review copy was provided by XBOX for purpose of this review. Minecraft Dungeons 2 releases globally September 29th for Xbox Series S/X, PC, PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch 2. It will be available day one on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.