What is Minecraft?
Minecraft, created by Mojang and the lead developer in the project Markus Notch Persson, was released on May 17th 2009 for PC players.
In the beginning, the game was not called Minecraft. It was originally called the Cave Game. It went through many alpha and beta versions before the full game was released on November 18 of 2011. Android and iOS versions were released later in October and November. The game experienced a slow start and steadily rose like most new and unknown video games, but that all changed on May 9th, 2012. Mojang released Minecraft for the Xbox 360, and later on December 20, 2013 for PlayStation 3. Minecraft was instantly a hit on both consoles and gained a massive following since its launch. It has been released on more consoles, phones, and is honestly on almost any possible game console you could think of!
Sales and Impact
Generating a total of $6 billion in revenue and 600 million copies sold, it has been put on top of Wikipedia’s list of best selling games. It maintains its popularity despite being released in 2011, and is still selling merchandise.
Minecraft has also inspired a rise in sandbox games and community collaboration in gaming. It has led to some of the most creative and weird builds the world has seen! Many games have used Minecrafts’ mechanics, which has led to many rip offs of the game. Most of all of these require you to build shelter, eat food to stay alive, fight off against monsters, build tools, and gather resources.
Just recently, the company known as Epic Games, creators of Fortnite, have added a Minecraft-like mode with their Lego Fortnite, which is a mode that has Lego, Fortnite, as well as Minecraft all combined into one.
The Basics of Minecraft
You start off with an empty inventory, and spawn in a randomly generated location. With just your fists to start with, your goal is to mine ores, create a home for yourself, gather materials, etc.
There are plenty of biomes to explore which includes the desert, swamp, forest, jungle, mountains, plains, and dozens more. Something else to add is that there are villages scattered around your world, and finding them can be a jackpot sometimes! A lot of the time, these villages hold lots of materials, food, armor, ores, etc. If you come across one, take your time and take what you can!
You can just about build anything in the game from crafting tables to unlock more advanced builds, to an enchanting table for enchantments that add unique abilities to your items! You build yourself weapons, items, armor, food, and a LOT more is offered almost all at the hands of a crafting table.
There are normally 3 overall goals players must achieve, and it’s sort of the unspoken rule that everyone must try and accomplish: find diamonds and netherite (2 of the best materials in the game), going to the 2nd dimension of Minecraft known as the Nether, and beating the Ender Dragon, which is the final boss of the game. Everything you create and do in Minecraft slowly leads up to preparing you for taking down the Ender Dragon. Once this boss has been defeated, you will receive end credits.
Personal Review of Minecraft
The game has left an impact on many including myself. When I first saw the famous YouTuber, DanTDM alongside many others who played this game on YouTube, I wanted to try it out for myself! Unfortunately, I was not able to afford the game at the time.
It wasn’t until 2023 when I finally bought Minecraft and I played it for a whole month with my friends, and it is definitely worth playing and exploring. This game is definitely frustrating, but can be hilarious and fun all at the same time. Once me and my friends had done the more serious parts of the game, we goofed around in creative mode, building nice houses and other random things. We even tried out mods on the windows version for a while, which was the best 2 weeks ever!
Minecraft is top notch in every way, especially the music! The music is such a classic and is enjoyable and really brings the gaming experience all together.
