At Minecraft Live 2021, Microsoft and Mojang unveiled the latest update for Minecraft Dungeons, dubbed The Cloudy Climb. The central feature adds more depth to the endgame, alongside a tower designed from the ground up for procedural, ongoing content.
Here's a rundown of everything coming to The Cloudy Climb, which is the first of a series of Seasonal Adventures Mojang will add to the game over time to keep it fresh, and how it interacts with the new Adventure Rank system, which will give players more rewards than ever before.
Here's everything you need to know.
What is Minecraft Dungeons?
If you're unfamiliar, Minecraft Dungeons is an isometric Diablo-style dungeon crawler from Microsoft, Double Eleven, and Mojang. The game can be played either solo or in parties of four, complete with cross-play and cross-save between Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, 5, and PC. The game is also available to play on mobile devices via Xbox Game Pass Ultimate's cloud service, where it works very well.
Players create a character, and then adventure across a large Minecraft-inspired world. Many DLC packs have been released for the game, showcasing various Minecraft environments while bringing in various creatures and monsters from the original game, alongside some new ones.
Minecraft Dungeons is a great and accessible dungeon crawler for gamers of all ages, whether you just want some simple dungeon-crawling fun with a younger family member, or get serious with its challenging endgame content. The game is available relatively cheaply to buy separately or included free as part of an Xbox Game Pass subscription on Xbox, PC, and mobile devices.
Minecraft meets Diablo
Minecraft Dungeons is a dungeon-crawler in the vein of Diablo. Teams of up to four adventure across a blocky land, grabbing piles of loot in the process.
What are Seasonal Adventures?
The Cloudy Climb is the first Seasonal Adventure Mojang is adding to Minecraft Dungeons, which brings with it a ladder of rewards players can earn in a Battle Pass-like structure.
As you progress through a Seasonal Adventure and complete its associated challenges, you'll earn Adventure Points which raise your Adventure Rank. You can earn points simply by playing, while also completing weekly challenges, alongside seasonal challenges that will rotate on a regular basis.
You can spend your Adventure Points in an all-new Adventure Hub in the base camp, which brings with it a large range of rewards. You can pick up emeralds, gold, unique seasonal skins, capes, and more. Seasonal Adventures will also add new emotes players can use to communicate, alongside unique characters "flairs" which play at certain times, such as killing a boss or leveling up.
The first Seasonal Adventure is called The Cloudy Climb, and adds an all-new feature to the game, dubbed The Tower.
What is The Cloudy Climb?
The Cloudy Climb is the first Seasonal Adventure for Minecraft Dungeons, and adds a single-player challenge area to the game called The Tower.
The Tower features new and existing biomes in a set of pre-planned levels, which will refresh every two weeks. In here, you'll start with a blank slate character, and gradually grow in power as you progress, and choose rewards, similar to games like HADES. It will feature new enemies and obstacles too, and it saves your progress when you leave, meaning you don't have to start over.
If you fail your run, you'll still earn rewards, but more powerful rewards await those who successfully complete a Tower run to its conclusion. Mojang says The Tower is designed to get gradually more difficult the higher up you ascend, although players who memorize the upcoming threats will have an easier time strategizing and choosing their power loadouts on subsequent runs.
Will it be free?
Seasonal Adventures are completely free of charge, meaning you won't have to pay anything on top to access The Tower.
However, Seasonal Adventures will also come with a premium Adventure Pass, which adds a track of premium cosmetic-only skins to unlock.
Release date: When does it launch?
The Cloudy Climb is slated for a late 2021 launch during the "Holiday Season," at some point during December.
