Minecraft Explorers is a card game based on the hugely popular sandbox video game, Minecraft. The experience on offer here, though, is not a do-as-you-feel experience or even a resource collection, building or crafting experience as one may reasonably expect given the source material. No, as the title suggests, this nifty little card game is all about exploring.
The game utilises two main decks of cards and nothing else, which had me thinking initially that there might not be much to the game. I was wrong. This game has a surprising amount of depth for what it is.
It is a cooperative game where you are tasked with filling chests with specific items you find on your adventures. You can do this via exploration or by trading with different villagers you come across. You’re trying to do this whilst also fending off hordes of monsters that continually mob you if you are unable to sort them out. As the Game Over card is hidden amongst the monster deck, you want to ensure as few monsters are drawn at the end of each round as possible. The primary way to do this is by spending your main resource, hunger cards. As you also use these for all other actions in the game and they are only in limited supply, this becomes a tight balancing act very quickly. However, if your resource management is good and luck is on your side whilst exploring and you manage to gather the necessary weapons, tools and items to aid in your quest, victory could be yours!
From my first play through, I really enjoyed this game. A lot. I was thoroughly impressed by its simplicity and its limited components, (literally just cards), yet you have so many options when it comes to how you approach the game and what you are able to do within it. The way the cards interact with each other has such a smooth and intuitive flow that me and my daughter were whizzing through the world of Minecraft, slaying monsters and filling chests from the get go. There’s a real weight to the decision making in Minecraft Explorers as your resources are so limited. Each turn you must decide whether or not to spend your hunger cards on battling monsters or spending them all on exploration cards to find that last missing piece for a chest. This is thanks to a neat mechanic where the monsters mob you if they are not dealt with. When you draw a monster card that is the same as one already present in your playing area you must keep drawing from the deck until a different monster is drawn. As monsters are drawn at the end of each round, (unless you have armour!), and by playing different exploration cards, they amass quite quickly. This creates a definite tension and makes your choices feel meaningful and had me and my daughter both shouting helpful tactics at one another during each others turn. This made for an enjoyable and highly interactive experience.
As you explore you will also find cards with different weapons and tools on them that grant you different abilities; for instance, the sword which can either be used to minimise the amount of hunger cards it costs to explore certain areas or to slay monsters. I found it a very cool touch that your sword or pickaxe take damage when they are used and degrade with each turn. As I mentioned at the start of this review, for such a simple game, there is a lot going on. Having said that, I did not find this game hard to follow at all. I have read online that some people have had issues deciphering the rulebook but I did not find that to be the case at all. Whenever I sit down with a new game, I always prefer to learn straight from the rulebook. I do not want to have to scan a QR code or search online for a How To Play video and I didn’t need to do this with this game. I found the rules to be concise and informative and had no problem jumping straight in. If you do find the rules a little esoteric however, definitely find a How To video as the game is worth getting your head around.
I have also played this game solo a fair few times and found it to be highly enjoyable and recommend it even as a solo game, though of course any game with my daughter is much more fun.
The only negative I guess I could mention is that I didn’t love the artwork, but that’s more a me issue than anything else. It looks exactly like the video game and I’m not hugely fond of that aesthetic. But it’s to be expected and I’m sure for fans of the video game, the art ticks all of the (pixelated) boxes. (It should be noted that I am not a fan of the video game, but my daughter is, so take my opinion on the art with a grain of salt).
All in all, definitely worth checking out this clever, fun little game!
