Building & Simulation · 2016 · Mojang Studios · local · online
Minecraft
A world of cubes that belongs to you both and where nothing gets lost.
What it is about
A world of cubes, newly generated on first launch, extending in every direction as though it had no end. Everything in it can be broken and placed somewhere else, and that is the entire game.
Survival mode adds hunger, tool wear and monsters at night. Both can be turned off: peaceful mode removes the enemies, creative mode removes the limits too — leaving a pure building game with unlimited material.
As a pair you share one world and everything in it. On console that works on split screen from one copy, for up to four people. On PC there is no split screen — there, each of you needs your own machine and your own copy.
Our verdict for couples
For a couple, one detail matters most here, and it is on no box: split screen exists only on console. On PC you need two machines, whichever edition you have. If you do have the console, you get one of the most enduring shared projects there is — a world you build over months, where nothing disappears and which carries on when only one of you has time. The opening asks for a little reading, nothing after that, and if you have no appetite for monsters and hunger you switch both off and simply build. Fifteen years on it is still the game that needs the least explaining when you start it together.
Pros
- One copy is enough on console split screen
- The world carries on when only one of you is there
- Monsters and hunger can be switched off
Cons
- No split screen on PC
- The opening requires looking things up
- The Switch version runs noticeably rougher
Suitable from
Casual
- Conflict potential
- Harmonious
- Cosiness
- Mixed
- When you can stop
- Any time
- How long it lasts
- No ending
What other co-op fans say
For a game this old, hardly anyone writes a review any more — they write a memory, of their own childhood, of a world that no longer exists, of the people they built with. Two things remain for our question: it is strikingly often described as something you do with family or the person beside you, and creative mode gets named outright as the relaxed way in. The criticism is not aimed at the game but at particular versions — the Switch port regularly takes a beating.
- “Juego fantastico para jugar con amigos, familia y pareja para relajar un poco en modo creativo”
- “Great game have way too many hours on it. Doesn't get old and if you think it does, play it with mods.”
- “One of if not the worst ports of Minecraft to ever release...Completely unstable FPS which barely hits 30 most of the time.”
Summarised by machine from 11700 Metacritic user reviews, not written by our editors. The quotes appear verbatim in those reviews.
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