Minecraft: Still the Best Sandbox videogame

CHENNAI: 95 blocks down the self-created mineshaft and many horizontal blocks across, I could think of little else. Armed with a pickaxe, I broke block after block. Each momentary pause before the next block revealed itself, held hope; hope that the next steps ahead would contain diamonds. The path was breadcrumbed with other treasure too: an occasional pause and gasp for when I found gold, or iron, or even coal to light up my torches. But with more treasure comes the danger of more lava, and a distracted moment would burn me and my tools. But it was no matter, I’d always find myself back at the safe bed-side spawn point. 

If you had all the time and resources in the world, and the skills required to manipulate these resources, what would you do? The answer lies in Minecraft. There are limitless opportunities to create within the universe, and for this, the game stands at the top of the sandbox genre. As a pixelated-game that sounds rubbish on paper, Minecraft is hugely popular even a decade after its release. With its entry into the Xbox Game Pass last week, it was reason for more players to jump into the weird servers of Minecraft – entering a land filled with 1x1 blocks and noisy creatures.

In the game, you find yourself in a randomly generated universe. Every block in the universe is interactable and craftable. There’s always something exciting waiting around the next block, a new recipe to unlock, a rare element, or fresh ideas on what you could build! Sometimes, it’s limitlessness could leave our creative faculties overloaded. But Minecraft has us covered here — there is the challenge and achievement-based route (which requires some dedicated exploration), and there are also story-based DLCs that can keep us on a steadily-progressing block stairway!

As a game in the sandbox style, Minecraft has something for every type of gamer. The adventurous gamer could create a more unfriendly environ, with zombies and other dark creatures attacking us as nightfall hits. The explorer could fashion the universe into an infinite playground, with the chance to discover new and different realms in their path. There’s always something for the builder to work with, and the miner could thrive across different universe formats. It also helps that there is almost no learning curve, making it a great starter game for beginners. “Minecraft: Bedrock Edition” allows for cooperative cross-platform play, so you can play with your friends on the Xboxes, PSes, PC, and even iOS and Android if you are inclined. I rate the game a full 1x1 out of 1. 

Anusha Ganapathi

 @quofles

(This economics graduate spends her leisure time preparing for the zombie apocalypse)