Blocks. Blocks Everywhere.

 

Before we start talking about what is possibly the most successful indie game of all time, you should probably go buy it. Seriously, just do it without even thinking, because it is just that good. I don't care if you don't understand the game at first. Just trust me on this one and go throw some more money at Mojang, because they completely deserve it in every way for making such a ridiculously popular and awesome video game gold mine out of seemingly nothing.

DO NOT PIRATE THIS GAME. YOU ARE A THIEF AND A CROOK IF YOU DO, AND BY DOING SO YOU WILL PROBABLY BE GOING TO HELL OR SOMEWHERE EQUIVALENT.

Anyway...Minecraft.

Minecraft is a game that has taken not only the internet but the whole video gaming world by storm. As seemingly simple as it is, it has raked in millions and millions of dollars to the present day, and it hasn't slowed down. Aside from the previously mentioned "freedom that players receive with building and exploring" that I mentioned in Sunday's post, it also has multiplayer, map and item mods, and it's own backstory adventure contained within. 

For those that don't know about Minecraft (and if you don't, shame on you and your deprived soul), it looks very simplistic, yet it is so much more than just a blocky landscape. Everything in the world is blocks and blocky from the animals to the trees to the dirt and rocks and water. You can almost pick anything up in block form and build anything out of it like houses or pixel art. It can get a little tedious, but set a goal for yourself and keep playing and you'll find that the game is more addicting than chocolate cake is to a stereotypical fat kid.

You can build items such as armor and weapons as well as tools like pickaxes and shovels, and you'll probably want to get that done quickly because this world isn't all flowers and kindness, especially when the night falls or you venture into the dark caverns below the surface...

You'll encounter zombies, giant spiders, skeletons that shoot arrows, and pictured above, creepers, which you will learn to fear the most (aside from Endermen, but those are another story entirely that you'll have to find out for yourself). One moment of being inattentive to your surroundings, and suddenly you'll be face-to-face with one of these green, four-legged creatures. They'll hiss at you and explode after a couple seconds if you don't run or kill them right away, and if you hadn't crapped your pants in the first place from it turning up out of nowhere, then you're in luck and you'll most likely be successful. Otherwise, you're probably going to become a pile of ashes in the next split second.

Multiplayer servers have popped up everywhere as well, offering even cooler things to do like player-made games and obstacle courses. Mods can put on new textures on all the blocks, a new skin for your character, new items that do even more amazing things than the ones already in the game, and even create entirely new worlds that never existed before.

The potential of this game is mind-boggling. It doesn't seem very deep, but the wonderful community and fans surrounding this game have turned it into a classic in just over a year, and it doesn't seem to be going anywhere anytime soon. It gets patched every so often with more new content that is entirely free and completely worth the wait every time. I highly recommend picking up this game (it costs just over $20 USD), because if you're the creative, adventurous kind of gamer, it will surely eat up as much of your free time as you allow it.