Today as I write this, I’m feeling like a heathen for two very different reasons. The first, is that I have never played Minecraft in my life (shocking, I know) and have absolutely no compulsion to do so. The second, is that although I have a deep love for dungeon crawlers, the enormity of something like Diablo IV has essentially put me off the genre for the time being. Thus, I find myself more than pleasantly surprised by Minecraft Dungeons 2, a breezy and streamlined dungeon crawler which banishes the bloated excesses of the genre in favour of getting back to basics with a compelling visual presentation to boot.
Minecraft Dungeons 2 PS5 Review
If you’re looking for any kind of plot, Minecraft Dungeons 2 certainly has one, but it’s little more than thin window dressing to set the most perfunctory of backdrops to its monster mashing, loot scooping action. Basically the Illagers (Minecraft’s erstwhile host of grey-skinned bad dudes) have not only opened up a portal to another realm known as the Sift, but subjugated the powerful creatures that exist in those realms and stolen their power to be used for nefarious ends. As such it falls to you, dear reader, to be the hero of the Overworld, drive back the Illager menace and restore balance to the Sift.
Simple stuff, then, but so too is the rest of Minecraft Dungeons 2 which follows a similar level of complexity to its distinctly threadbare plot. Anyone expecting anything like the level of depth you might see in the Diablo games (any of them, really), or the Path of Exile games may well be disappointed with what is on offer here – which is, well, not much. In Minecraft Dungeons 2 there are no classes, there is no granular character cosmetic customisation, no seasonal content and no endgame. There’s none of that – there’s just you (created from a set of presets), a melee weapon, a ranged weapon, slots for armour, trinkets, a special weapon and off you go.
Pretty much every major mechanic which you might associate with dungeon crawlers in a contemporary sense has either been shaved down to within an inch of its life, or stripped out entirely. Because there are no classes to speak of in Minecraft Dungeons 2, all of your progression is judged via an incremental, slot-based equipment system. The bigger the numbers on the weapons and armour you collect, the more effective and hardy you’ll be in combat as a result, with the only real variance coming in the form of the various special qualities (improved chance to crit, chance to poison, chance to immolate and so on). It’s gleefully straightforward stuff which means that everybody can pick up a controller and get playing pretty much right away.
What is especially interesting about this system though, is that because there aren’t any classes or talent trees, you’re free to pick and choose between whatever gear you like without cost or penalty on the fly, which is pretty neat not least because it makes Minecraft Dungeons 2 feel much more approachable and frictionless than its genre stablemates.
Speaking of which, Minecraft Dungeons 2 is also deeply respectful of your time. Though all the usual quality of life mechanics exist such as fast travel and objective pathing, Mojang Studios latest effort has nothing in the way of seasonal content. What you see is what you get (at least until the two story expansions make their debut later on), and there’s just something oddly nice about having a complete package that can be easily played from day one without any faffing about.
When it comes to how Minecraft Dungeons 2 plays and looks, it’s a handsomely made affair for sure in both areas. Combat feels nice, crisp and responsive at both range and close-up, and there’s no shortage of weapons, armour, trinkets, enchantment upgrades and pets to loot and purchase, while the blocky and pixelated aesthetic that Minecraft has made its own for so many years now feels honed and sharpened to a fine edge here, with a frequent abundance of particle effects and physics based character models that rarely cause any slowdown or other such noticeable performance issues.
Now, to some people I can see why all of this might cause some involuntary recoiling and for those folk who wince at the idea of such a stripped down offering, you ain’t entirely wrong either. While Minecraft Dungeons 2 is indeed mega accessible and breezy to play, it’s also exceedingly shallow and arguably occupies a portion of the brain that would normally be set aside for doing dishes or a spot of knitting. It is, in essence, the dungeon crawler made tame and relaxing, and while I don’t find anything terribly wrong with that in these times of thousand hour games and endless content updates, those genre veterans looking for their next fix of social life destroying shenanigans will find little to propel them beyond soul-crushing apathy.
Like just about every other dungeon crawler that has been released since the year dot, Minecraft Dungeons 2 is also best enjoyed with a friend. However, it’s also worth noting that the simplicity of the game coupled with a level of challenge which perhaps isn’t quite as stern as it needs to be, means that a co-operative session on Minecraft Dungeons 2 tends to be one where relaxed social conversation and idle banter takes precedence over the need for two players to focus and work hard at overcoming any kind of serious adversity.
Minecraft Dungeons 2 has been something of a welcome surprise overall. In an era where the modus operandi for dungeon crawlers is to go many layers deep on complexity and double down on sophistication and complexity, often to the detriment of your own time in ways that don’t always feel meaningful or justified, Minecraft Dungeons 2 strips all of that back and is a properly compelling, though perhaps ultimately unspectacular distillation of everything I enjoyed about dungeon crawlers in the first place. Folks that have long been interested in dungeon crawlers games but don’t know where to start? You start here.
Minecraft Dungeons 2 releases for PS5 on September 29, 2026.
Review code kindly provided by PR.