Minecraft Dungeons 2 review: no Diablo

In my books, the most satisfying part of any action role-playing game (ARPG) like Diablo or Titan Quest is the constant feeling of progression.

Nothing quite compares to watching your little on-screen hero grow from a tiny ant that can barely bash their way through a pack of lowly wolves to a maxed-out bringer of destruction that mows through entire armies without breaking a sweat.

Review info Platform reviewed: PC Available on: PC, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2 Release date: September 29, 2026 Minecraft Dungeons 2 ’s aggressive level scaling robs the player of that experience.

In the more than 12 hours it took for me to beat the story campaign, I never felt more powerful.

Sure, I unlocked more interesting abilities and got to try a variety of weapons, but the amount of time required to take down each newly spawned foe remained near-constant throughout.

A friend even joined my game towards the end of my playthrough, with their level 1 character effortlessly keeping pace with my level 40 one throughout the final encounters, really underscoring the system’s ridiculousness.

I’m sure the intention here is to make it easy for friends to jump into the same lobbies and play together without having to worry about their respective levels, but it left me wondering what the point of all the grinding actually is.

Blocky buddies " src="https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/98J4BRp3NweabFgHaCZQHf-1920-80.jpg" mos="" align="middle" fullscreen="" width="1920" height="1080" attribution="" endorsement="" class="inline"> (Image credit: Mojang) It’s a shame, because there is still some good in Minecraft Dungeons 2 .

This standalone spinoff recreates the blocky look of the popular Minecraft survival game expertly, with its own more stylized twists that make the world instantly recognizable, yet refreshingly new thanks to more expressive lighting and Pixar-like character animations that make everything pop even from the distant isometric perspective.

I may have lamented the fact that I couldn’t wow my friend with my character’s power, but the co-op experience is otherwise well done.

Creating a group with up to three companions is impressively straightforward no matter where they play, thanks to seamless cross-platform connectivity.

There’s even couch co-op, which is quite rare in 2026 and worth praising.

The ability to play with others easily goes a long way in making Minecraft Dungeons 2 genuinely worthwhile for younger players.

For everyone else, however, everything here is just too straightforward to appeal.