Minecraft Dungeons is the low-stress family hackathon we need right now

It is one of those moments of parenting where you have to make a hard call. I play Diablo III On the big screen over the Nintendo Switch, my third grader walks over my shoulder. The game isn’t particularly bloody, but it’s definitely violent, with every creepy-looking, clichéd fantasy villain you can imagine. It is not like a family resident Evil Game session but it’s … intense.

Surely we should all play peaceful games like flower or travel, but sometimes you just want to hit a few things with a giant sword and / or ax. Trust me, children feel the same way. For this reason, Minecraft Dungeons from Microsoft’s Mojang Studios is a perfect game for our currently tense lifestyle.

It combines the instant satisfaction of swinging for four players with the playfulness of all ages Minecraft universe, a cross-generational marketing phenomenon. If Minecraft: story mode Dungeons is the opposite, a largely wordless journey through mob-filled countries (except for occasional disembodied tales), in which pushing buttons is the first and only survival to master.

The biggest selling point of Minecraft Dungeons available on Windows, Xbox One, Playstation 4, and Nintendo Switchis his four-way multiplayer. This is the same type of local synchronized gaming that families, roommates, or strangers at a house party (do you remember?) Are always looking for. Sure, you can play alone or team up with people online, but in the old mode where everyone shares a single screen – Gauntlet style – the game shines.

Something is lost when Minecraft is robbed of its quiet moments of thoughtful terraforming and engineering. The world lacks the most basic level of Minecraft interactivity – the ability to break rocks to create new paths and redesign the terrain. That makes Minecraft branding a reskin of countless other hack-and-slash games.

But it’s also a forgivable compromise if you’re looking for a game that everyone can play – together on the same screen at the same time – and that won’t bored adults or scare children. If I wanted to create a fully functional city-sized integrated circuit from simple rocks and minerals in a lava pit, I would have the old Minecraft to do it regularly. Now I have a place to go and hit some monster skulls, in an E10 + way, Naturally.