Minecraft is a sandbox-style construction game, in which the player can explore a world constructed of blocks of approximately one cubic meter in size. The goal of the game is both to build with the many materials provided and to survive the world's conditions, facing everything from hunger to falling to monster attacks, though the game can be set up such that either option is the sole focus. Minecraft offers an endless virtual world full of gameplay options which cater to nearly every variety of gaming: from combative dungeon delving, to survival, to simply creative building.
This review is based on the PC/Mac version of the game. Content for XBox360 and Pocket Editions may vary. To find more specific information about those versions of the game, visit the Minecraft Wiki.
The player character can tame Ocelots/Cats and Wolves, which will follow the player unless told to stay, will attack any enemies which attack the player or get too close, and can be killed by the player character or any outside source of damage, including falls, fire or lava, drowning, and attacks by enemies.
An upcoming update will implement the Ocean Monument dungeons, which feature fish enemies called Guardians, as well as their stronger Elder Guardian counterparts. These enemies must be defeated underwater. These enemies will not spawn if playing with the game's difficulty mode set to "peaceful" which can be set via the "Difficulty" button in the upper right corner of the Options menu.
Zombie Pigmen have exposed bones underneath their pink flesh. These enemies will not spawn if playing with the game's difficulty mode set to "peaceful" which can be set via the "Difficulty" button in the upper right corner of the Options menu.
Zombie Pigmen have exposed bones underneath their pink flesh.
Skeletons, Spider Jockeys, Wither Skeletons, and the Wither boss are all animate skeletons. Skeletons and Spider Jockeys often drop bones when defeated which can be turned into white dyes.
These enemies will not spawn if playing with the game's difficulty mode set to "peaceful" which can be set via the "Difficulty" button in the upper right corner of the Options menu.
Several of the default paintings feature skeletons or skulls. These can be avoided by using a texture pack such as the Painterly pack to provide different images for the paintings.
The player character can close themself into a one block wide by two blocks high space which is only slightly bigger than they are. Some cave system areas, especially when dark or poorly lit may seem especially cramped.
The game has a lightness/darkness system which determines where and how enemies spawn. Subterranean caves and other enclosed areas are dark by default and frequently spawn monster; such areas can be lit with a torch or other light source. During the night or during thunderstorms, the ambient light level decreases such that enemies can spawn even on the surface and places normally illuminated by sunlight. This can be negated by placing torches or other light sources such that the light level near important areas such as villages or the player character's home base stays too bright for monsters to spawn.
Zombies, Zombie Villagers, and Zombie Pigmen are zombies.
Skeletons, Spider Jockeys, Wither Skeletons, and the Wither boss, are all animate skeletons.
These enemies will not spawn if playing with the game's difficulty mode set to "peaceful" which can be set via the "Difficulty" button in the upper right corner of the Options menu.
When animals or enemies are defeated, they flop over and vanish into a puff of smoke, which leaves no body behind.
If the items Raw Chicken, Rotten Flesh, or Pufferfish are eaten, the player character has a chance to contract food poisoning which decreases their fullness meter. Raw Chicken has a 30% chance, Rotten Flesh has 80%, and Pufferfish has 100% chance of poisoning the player character. In addition to decreasing the fullness meter, eating pufferfish also decreases the health meter and creates a wavery appearance to the game’s display. To avoid this, cook chicken in a smelter before eating it, and avoid eating Rotten Flesh or Pufferfish if at all possible.
The player character can drown if they remain underwater for too long. A breath-meter is provided which can help gauge how long the player character may stay underwater. Potions of water-breathing can also be created, and certain armor enchantments will allow the player character to remain underwater for longer without running out of air.
During the thunderstorm weather event, lightning can strike the player character or any other entity and will do damage to them, though it does this only very rarely. When a pig is struck by lightning, it turns into a Zombie Pigman; when a Villager is struck, it will become a Witch; and when a Creeper is struck, it becomes a Charged Creeper, which explodes more forcefully. If playing with the game's difficulty mode set to "peaceful,", which can be set via the "Difficulty" button in the upper right corner of the Options menu, villagers and pigs will simply vanish if struck and the enemies won't be capable of being struck as they won't exist.
The player can craft fireworks which fly into the air and explode.
The Creeper enemy famously explodes when the player character gets too close to it. The Ghast enemies of the Nether shoot explosive fireballs at the player character. In both cases, these enemies will not spawn if playing with the game's difficulty mode set to "peaceful" which can be set via the "Difficulty" button in the upper right corner of the Options menu.
The player character takes burning damage and can be lit on fire by walking through fire, getting attacked by flaming enemies, being lit on fire by sparks from a lava source, or coming into contact with lava. This fire will naturally extinguish after a time, though it is more likely to kill the player character before it goes out, unless they have potions on hand or the Fire Protection enchantment on their armor. A good solution is to keep a water-source near wherever the player character is likely to encounter fire such as a lava pit or lava intersecting with a mine shaft or cavern, as jumping into a water source will extinguish the fire.
The player character can place a Flame enchantment on bows and a Fire Aspect enchantment on swords, which cause the weapons to deal fire damage.
The player can load items called “Fire Charges” into a dispenser, which will shoot the charge when the dispenser receives power from a redstone source, like a switch or pressure plate; these charges light the block where the charge lands on fire and can be used to create traps to protect against enemies.
The Blaze enemies of the Nether are fire elementals and shoot fireballs at the player character. The Ghast enemies of the Nether shoot fireballs at the player character. In both cases, these enemies will not spawn if playing with the game's difficulty mode set to "peaceful" which can be set via the "Difficulty" button in the upper right corner of the Options menu.
Lightning can trigger fires on exposed wood surfaces and in forests. These fires can spread and can level a forest or village.
Lava exists in the game and will emit sparks which can light nearby flammable surfaces.
To avoid the possibility of fire spreading and destroying creations or forests, the player should play with cheats enabled and enter “gamerule doFireTick false” in the command box. This does not completely eliminate fire from the game, however, and will keep it from naturally extinguishing, unless destroyed by the player.
The Ghast enemies in the Nether are large white jellyfish-like monsters who fly through the air, moan, and shoot fireballs at the player character. They are not explicitly ghosts, but they do resemble them. Ghasts will not spawn if playing with the game's difficulty mode set to "peaceful" which can be set via the "Difficulty" button in the upper right corner of the Options menu.
Zombie Pigmen have exposed bones underneath their pink flesh. These enemies will not spawn if playing with the game's difficulty mode set to "peaceful" which can be set via the "Difficulty" button in the upper right corner of the Options menu.
The player character can take damage from falling and can be killed by a fall if it is high enough. Falling into water at least three-blocks deep can prevent falling death, as can playing on creative mode.
Silverfish enemies are small insects who will spawn when the block which houses them is destroyed. There is no way to tell whether a block will spawn them or not before destroying it.
An upcoming update will implement Endermites, which are small insects which occasionally spawn when an Enderman enemy teleports or when the player character throws an Ender Pearl.
In both cases, these enemies will not spawn if playing with the game's difficulty mode set to "peaceful" which can be set via the "Difficulty" button in the upper right corner of the Options menu.
As the game is largely in first person, it is very likely that enemies can appear and attack, seemingly out of nowhere, from behind the player character.
As the skins for the player character and any other entity can be modified by the player, a player could change their character's appearance such that the character is nude; however, without actions taken specifically on the part of the player to add these the game does not contain them. If playing multiplayer Minecraft, other players could potentially change their own skins to feature their character nude, which would make it such that the game does contain nudity.
Exploring caverns and ruins can be somewhat terrifying, as the areas are often very dark with winding paths and the assorted, unsettling noises made by enemies often coming through the walls. Becoming lost in the caves can be a scary experience, however playing with cheats enabled allows an easy out if the player becomes lost: simply either use the "/kill" command to kill the player character and return to the spawn point, or enter "/gamemode 1" to enter creative mode, with which the player can simply mine straight to the surface.
The vast majority of enemies in the game are undead monsters, which will often mercilessly attack the player. Zombies will also lay siege to NPC villages and can break down wooden doors if the game's difficulty is set to hard, which can be set via the "Difficulty" button in the upper right corner of the Options menu.
In an upcoming update, rabbits will commonly spawn in most biomes. The Killer Bunny is a rare spawn of the rabbit which is violent toward the player character and can be dangerous if encountered unprepared. The Killer Bunny will not spawn if playing with the game's difficulty mode set to "peaceful" which can be set via the "Difficulty" button in the upper right corner of the Options menu.
The Ender Dragon boss is a reptilian dragon and does not spawn unless the player reaches The End. For more information on how to reach the end, click here.
The Spider and Cave Spider enemies are based on spiders. Spiders will not spawn if playing with the game's difficulty mode set to "peaceful" which can be set via the "Difficulty" button in the upper right corner of the Options menu.
One of the default paintings features a spider. This can be avoided by using a texture pack such as the Painterly pack to provide different images for the paintings.
The player character can kill themselves by jumping off of too high of a cliff or using the "/kill" command with cheats activated, but they will respawn at their spawn point with no adverse effects beyond the loss of their inventory contents and accumulated experience.
Zombies, Zombie Villagers, and Zombie Pigmen are all based on zombies.
Skeletons, Spider Jockeys, Wither Skeletons, and the Wither boss are all based on animate skeletons.
These enemies will not spawn if playing with the game's difficulty mode set to "peaceful" which can be set via the "Difficulty" button in the upper right corner of the Options menu.
The NPC Villagers can produce children which can be killed by the player character or any outside source of damage, including falls, fire or lava, drowning, and attacks by enemies.
The game features swords and bows as weapons. Any of the tools (pickaxe, shovel, hoe, and axe) can all be used for combat, and the player character can hit enemies with any inventory object or the fists. The player can also craft damaging potions, the splash variants of which do damage to enemies in their splash radius when thrown. Some enemies will use these weapons as well.
Traps can be rigged up by the player to defeat enemies. Such traps usually consist of a dispenser block which shoots projectiles which are placed in the block’s inventory, such as arrows, fire charges, and damaging potions. These can also be found in randomly-spawning temples in Jungle biomes.
