Minecraft: Java Edition [Review]

It almost feels unnatural to say that I've never played nor seen anything Minecraft related, but it is the truth. Apart from the occasional trailer on game conventions or so, I've never really tried to play it. August 2025, though, everything changed when a friend of mine shared how he liked to watch an YouTuber playing Minecraft for the first time and how he loved the game.

We talked how I've never played and when I realized that the game was easily available on Linux with a decent full game 90 minutes “demo”, why not at least try?

At the 30th minute, I was sold. Minecraft wasn't the game I've imagined it to be at all. In my mind, it was a creation first, living second type of game with a social aspect. And while, yes, Minecraft has all of this, it is mostly a survival game where I needed not only to build, but explore the world and understand its logic to proceed on it.

It may feel redundant to read the gameplay loop of Minecraft but, again, It was my first time! What bridges the exploration and building is a clever and rewarding crafting system that empowered me to mix and match literally hundreds of different items in a square grid of 9, and both achieving outcomes and finding new materials were extremely rewarding. The world is lively, even if there aren't many interactions between different materials on the overworld apart from the more dangerous ones.

And a world full of danger it is. Minecraft is surprisingly difficult. I particularly am NOT a very good keyboard and mouse player, so adding this to the punishing world of Minecraft with the monsters at night, high heights and evil thin snow was sometimes a challenge. The world, although inviting, is often perilous, so some RPG elements like different equipments that later can be enchanted can really make a difference. Oh, also, the soundtrack?! I wasn't really aware of how good, inspired and frankly emotional the tracks in this game are!

I didn't wait the 90 minutes demo to end – I've decided to not only purchase the game, but also to host a server to play with this one friend of mine, since he's really knowledgeable of the game. Downloading the server was easy enough, and finding a free host was easy as well, so we started our server together.

What unfolded wasn't only an exchange of experiences and stories, like how attached he is to Minecraft and how fun it was playing the game in a new patch and with someone new, but also a living experience that started to grow. In no time, many people started showing interest in the server: two dear friends from college decided to join, as well as other close friends from both of us, the founders of the server. At moments of peak, there were 9 people online! At the same time!

There were people ranging from mid 20s to mid 30s playing together and sharing connections. We decided to found a village – Beckinho – a beautiful coastal town in the jungle. Once, a random person entered the server because I forgot to apply the whitelisting, and they commented that our server was “quite oriental”. I kicked them some minutes later after making the wrong input to kick someone about 6 times.

In no time, Beckinho got big. We all got our houses and set ourselves to big public projects – a Town Hall, a public park, a cool diamond mine, some place to grow grains. Our village took shape, and not because one person was doing something in isolation, but everyone somewhat helping each other, talking on discord, sharing about experiences of the game and overall having fun.

Our preparations were for some activities on the exploration, like traversing through hell, finding new biomes and creating fancier and fancier tools. I've started this game knowing that there was an “ending credit scene”, so I've set as a goal with everyone. It all took about 75 hours (!), I was shocked to see today. It went so fast, two weeks, playing it almost every day with at least one person.

Geared up and with a goal, we eventually finished the game. But it wasn't the end. Of course, it isn't. Minecraft doesn't actually end, it is more of how much I'm willing to play it. I've transferred the server to the friend I've started with - He's God now - and I'm sure that the server will have a life of its own. I don't doubt that it will continue to be important for me, nor that it may bring me bittersweet feelings in the future, like when I eventually return and see my tomb on the graveyard I've built. Regardless, for me, it was a really nice experience, incredible unique and superbly well executed.

If I was to criticize the game, it would be for a somewhat lack of accessibility; the UI can be confusing and sometimes overly technical and without some unofficial shaders the game can look… Rough. Also, not all the inputs are as expected, and the menus can be really confusing. I asked sooooo many times things about the UI and inputs to my more experienced friends. Also, the game relies a bit too much on some technical mods to be pretty and run well (like “Distant Horizons” and the said shaders).

My first 35 hours were without any gameplay mods whatsoever, but by the end of the game, I was using some modifiers like a mini-map and a built-in zoom. Although it changes the game, the punishing nature of the exploration will always result in unexpected damages, so these are more tools to “safeguard” me from losing my fancy stuff. I still lose them in the most stupid ways.

I ended up not only really liking this game, but regretting not growing up with it. What else can I say?

9.5/10

It is relevant (even if hypocritical, of my part) to highlight the BDS movement call for boycotting Microsoft services and Gaming Products due to their complicity in the genocide in Gaza. You can learn more about it here, but, to quote the article:

“Microsoft provides the Israeli military with Azure cloud and AI services that are crucial in empowering and accelerating Israel’s genocidal war on 2.3 million Palestinians in the illegally occupied Gaza Strip”