The premise of the game is laughably simple: you arrive in the game with nothing more than your hands and a limited inventory. You mine to gather materials which you then use to make tools and build houses and other buildings.
Resources range from the very common to the super rare, and often the rarest and most valuable commodities are the hardest to reach, requiring deep mining and even the building of reinforced tunnels to keep flood water or rock falls from setting you back.
There is no story arc, as such: it is entirely up to you as to what you want to achieve. You can build cities, or a rural mansion, you can farm sheep or go fishing. The game is exactly what you and your imagination want it to be.
Some Hints for Fun Play
There are no instructions about how to craft within the game, but there are a huge number of wikis and how-tos online. Find a couple of sites that seem to have all the info you need and keep the tabs open while you’re playing so that you don’t waste too much time should you forget how to craft a specific item or need a bit of info on what to do next.
Watch out for Creepers! These sneaky fellows will creep up on you (hence the name) utter a short hiss (just long enough to scare the pants off you but not long enough that you can run away) and then explode, killing you and damaging anything in the immediate vicinity.
If you do manage to kill a Creeper before they get you, they can drop experience pearls which are valuable and should be gathered without delay.
Other monsters include spiders, skeletons, zombies, witches, slimes, Endermen and endermites, and more. Each can be defeated in its own way, and learning how to do this can be a steep and thrilling learning curve!
Animals and monsters are called ‘mobs’. Not because they throng around you (although they can) but because it is short for ‘mobile’ meaning that they can move around – and even wander away altogether if you are not quick at setting out after them!
Ways to Play
- Survival Mode: plenty of enemies, this is an exciting and engrossing level to play if you’re looking for some excitement to while away a bit of time.
- Creative Mode: perfect for those who want to build and see how far they can push their imagination. The world is yours to shape your way!
Minecraft for PC is available for purchase on Instant Gaming for a fraction of its retail price. You will receive an official key and be able to play the game in seconds. Play smart. Pay less.
Minimum Requirements:
- CPU: Intel Core i3-3210 3.2 GHz / AMD A8-7600 APU 3.1 GHz or equivalent
- RAM: 4GB
- GPU (Integrated): Intel HD Graphics 4000 (Ivy Bridge)
- GPU (Discrete): Nvidia GeForce 400 Series
- HDD: At least 1GB for game core, maps and other files
- – Windows: Windows 7 and up
- – macOS: Any 64-bit OS X using 10.9 Maverick or newer
- – Linux: Any modern 64-bit distributions from 2014 onwards
Recommended Requirements:
- CPU: Intel Core i5-4690 3.5GHz
- RAM: 8GB
- GPU: GeForce 700 Series
- HDD: 4GB (SSD is recommended)
- OS (recommended 64-bit):
- – Windows: Windows 10
- – macOS: macOS 10.12 Sierra
- – Linux: Any modern distributions from 2014 onwards