I blast mobs with pyrotechnic arrows that explode with multicolored sparks on impact, I twirl a scythe that freezes my enemies in two, and I move a shooting laser cube that harvests the souls of the fallen and obliterates all that stands in my path. Throughout this spectacle, the llama I summoned continues to charge headlong into the mob in a fit of rage. It is ridiculous, and I am enjoying every second of it.

Minecraft Dungeons is set in the same world as the previous sandbox, but without crafting or building. It's a dungeon crawler that challenges you to furiously hack and slash your way through hordes of enemies with multiple fun enchantments and items; four-player local co-op and online co-op are available, so you and your friends can join in a block-busting brawl.

The story is light: the main villain is the evil Arch-Elager, who has found a powerful artifact called the "Orb of Domination" and seeks revenge on those who have alienated him. The Arch-Eranger has amassed an army of enemies familiar to Minecraft and is about to conquer the world, and your party must stop him. Occasionally, you'll be tasked with freeing captured villagers as an in-level challenge, but most of the story is just a reason to mindlessly brawl.

The world of "Minecraft Dungeons" is more luminous than its sandbox counterpart. There are a variety of biomes, including forests, mines, swamps, temples, and canyons, each with different loot drops and enemy types. My favorite of all is Fiery Forge, with its glowing red lava flowing into the lower levels. The contrast with the blue-tinted iron walls of the forge is amazing. It's like Minecraft with a ray-tracing mod, pushing the blocky world to new heights of graphics.

It looks even better during explosive combat. Dodging exploding creepers, dodging sideways arrows fired by skeletons, and rolling to avoid a wizard's potion filled with purple poison smoke. Throw enchanted weapons and powerful artifacts into the mix and the battle becomes a frenzy of color and explosions. Bonfire.

Each level is procedurally generated, but there is always a mix of hack-and-slash mobs, mini-bosses, and a final big boss. At the edge of the screen, you are given a map marker indicating your goal location, a bottomless healing potion with a 30-second cooldown, and three lives. With this generous set of tools, Mojang definitely emphasizes fun over challenge.

While it's great to strategize and theoretically craft, it's also tempting to charge headfirst and mindlessly hack and slash your way through monster-filled caves. Adjusting the difficulty with the threat slider in the mission menu makes the mobs stronger and more difficult to defeat. I mostly stuck to the recommended difficulty, but when I was confident in my character build, I would sometimes turn up the threat slider to get more powerful weapon drops.

Unlike the classes and skills found in Diablo and other action RPGs, your character's abilities come solely from the equipment you choose. There is space to equip melee weapons, ranged weapons, and armor, and any item can be upgraded with enchantment points. You will find the same items over and over again, but thanks to the enchantment options, each item is unique. Finding loot with different enchantments and spending points to activate their abilities is a big part of the game.

Enchantment points are only earned upon leveling up, but you can salvage old weapons to get points back to spend on new ones. This convenient recycling system allows players to freely experiment with new weapons and abilities without feeling like they have wasted their progress.

Along with weapons, there are also artifacts that grant ability bonuses, such as fire arrows and passive healing. I enjoy finding artifacts and enchantments with overlapping abilities to create unreasonable synergy. I use a collection of items that collectively harvest the ghostly souls of fallen enemies and use them as resources to power up artifacts.

A useful feature allows me to switch and salvage items on the go and shift my build to effectively deal with any threat. With the right selection of enchantments, weapons, and artifacts, you can build a pretty powerful character. My Soul Eater build is great against large mobs with lots of tasty souls, but useless in one-on-one boss fights. My go-to items for boss fights are artifacts and enchanted weapons, which quickly restore strength and allow me to recover from a brutal blow. There is enough variation in loot to make for a fun build.

I played a lot of "Minecraft Dungeons" solo, but this chaos is best played with friends, as Mojang allows you to keep all the loot you find in multiplayer for yourself. The ease and ease of playing with friends makes Minecraft Dungeons the perfect co-op game. Its shenanigans feel more suited to a Lego game than an ARPG like Diablo.

Minecraft Dungeons is a great introduction to dungeon crawlers for beginners and an exhilarating adventure for veterans. While it doesn't have any standout features, it is a fun and streamlined take on the dungeon crawling genre. There are no complex systems or epic battle plans. However, there is a good chance that Mojang is planning to expand the world of Minecraft Dungeons. There is a mysterious "Island Realms" option added to the overworld map, a mysterious sky portal, and more to come.