Minecraft might be a long-lived IP, but it only has a handful of games to its name. the original Minecraft remains the core of the franchise, while Minecraft Dungeons represents his greatest spinoff in recent years. That’s not a bad thing; the original Minecraft is still a great game after all these years, thanks to Mojang’s constant stream of updates. Still, it would be great to see Mojang exploring Minecraftthrough creative spinoffs that introduce new genres of games. That’s why it’s good to hear that Mojang may have a new patch of Minecraft spin-offs in development.
According to the LinkedIn profile of Mojang Director of Franchise Development Torfi Frans Olafsson, there are several new Minecraft projects under construction. Strictly speaking, Mojang hasn’t confirmed or revealed any of these theoretical projects, but the implication at least seems believable. If Mojang is really working on new Minecraft games, so I hope these games capitalize on the reputation of sandbox gaming to foster player creativity. Minecraft Dungeons covers in detail the action and exploration sides of the Minecraft brand, so future spinoffs should work in new spaces. Creativity is a fundamental principle of Minecraft which deserves more attention from future offshoots of the original game.
Game Genres Minecraft Should Explore
Minecraft can be light on NPCs and characters other than friendly villagers, but Minecraft has the makings of a wonderful social simulation game in the style of animal crossing or Story of the seasons. In these franchises, players can build a life for themselves, interact with nature, and befriend local members of their new community. Minecraft may have more action than those franchises, but its warm atmosphere and emphasis on player agency make it perfectly suited for this type of game. Players could move around in a Minecraft village and slowly welcome once hostile mobs into a community they are physically building themselves.
A game focused on level editing seems like a great angle to Minecraft also to try. Nintendo has greatly increased interest in level editors through its Creator of Super Mario range of games, which puts Super Mario pieces in the hands of players and encourage all kinds of playable endeavors. Mojang might consider developing a game where players handcraft small Minecraft worlds with specific goals, ranging from puzzle solving to combat trials, then share them with another, leave comments, compare completion times, and more. In the process, Mojang could introduce all sorts of new Minecraft blocks, mobs and other tools to create even more layered levels than Minecraft already allows.
Why Mojang should focus on creativity
Future Minecraft games should play into these aspects of the franchise because Minecraft Dungeons already covers the action-adventure aspect so well. Mojang’s isometric dungeon crawler pits players against hordes of familiars and originals Minecraft mobs, providing a rich combat experience for fans who want to battle Minecraft‘s overworld in a new way. Mojang might be tempted to release an enhanced sequel for Minecraft Dungeons, but instead it should look at a different style of Minecraft spin-off to diversify the range of games available to fans of the original sandbox title. the Minecraft IP will be more interesting as a whole if it successfully covers a long list of genres.
It is not known at this time if the rumor Minecraft the spinoffs are real, and even if they are, Mojang might not reveal them for some time. Minecraft Dungeons always receiving updates and events, so other Minecraft spinoff may still be in early development as Mojang devotes more resources to Minecraft Dungeons maintenance. In the meantime, at least Minecraft fans have a lot of content to look forward to in the base game. The Wild update is loaded with additions that will improve Minecraft in various ways. Hopefully Mojang has more surprises in store even as it works towards manufacturing Minecraft itself a better experience.
Minecraft is available now for PC, PS4, Switch and Xbox One.
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