Minecraft Dungeons II launched on Tuesday for up to four players, and Mojang Studios lets those four mix couch and online play in one session. Mojang and Double Eleven made it, and Xbox Game Studios publishes it. It is out now on Xbox Series X|S, PC through the Xbox app and Steam, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2, and it is in Game Pass. The Steam price is $29.99, and the $49.99 Deluxe Edition adds cosmetics and the first two DLC packs as they release.
The rest of the group questions have short answers. Steam lists cross-platform multiplayer, there is matchmaking if your crew is short a player, and online play on consoles needs the usual platform subscription. Nothing Mojang has published mentions dedicated servers.
The first Minecraft Dungeons, from 2020, sent four heroes through self-contained missions picked off a map. Reviews liked it as an easy way into Diablo-style games and knocked it for a short story and not much depth. Mojang kept adding to it until the final update in November 2022, and it passed 25 million players. For the sequel, Mojang has set the missions inside one connected world that you cross on foot, by minecart or by teleport. The Howling Woods, the Frozen Highlands and the Rainy Plains run into each other with no loading screens, and the game now runs on Unreal Engine 5. You can also jump, which is new.
The loop around that world is built for going back. Boss Totems restart a boss fight for another shot at its loot. Rifts and Dungeons on the map can drop Enchantment Books, which add abilities to your gear, and Echo Shards, which upgrade the merchants and the blacksmith. Minecart Stations and Teleport Statues handle fast travel. If you fall, you come back at Brave Haven, and a statue sends you to the last Respawn Shrine you passed.
Xbox Wire’s Mike Nelson had “only scratched the surface of both the Overworld and the Sift” after about a dozen hours, he wrote. A dozen hours is one long weekend for four people. The respawn rule is the part I would read first, since in a group of four somebody is always the one who fell.
What the Sift means for your server next year
The Sift is the other headline. Xbox Wire’s Joe Skrebels called it the first new dimension in Minecraft in over 14 years, and Mojang confirmed it comes to Minecraft Java and Bedrock in 2027. Dungeons II is where it debuts, with biomes called Meadows and Carapace, new mobs, and hazard blocks that change how you explore. Mojang has not said how you will reach it in Minecraft proper. Anyone who runs a survival world will want to see these blocks before they turn up in their own base.
If your group splits between a couch and a Discord call, this goes on the Friday poll.
