Minecraft: Earth is now available to download from the App Store, but still with Early Access. The game is not finished yet, but already offers enough space to collect and build together. Read more in our Minecraft: Earth Early Access review.
Read our Minecraft: Earth Early Access review
For now, we are not done with augmented reality games such as Pokémon GO. Pokémon GO creator Niantic has already released Harry Potter: Wizards Unite and is coming next year with Catan: World Explorers. Now you can also get started with Minecraft: Earth from Mojang.
At least, it’s an Early Access version of the game. Like Minecraft itself, players can get started with an early version, which is then expanded with improvements and new features.
The game immediately feels familiar. Both because of the way the real world suddenly becomes a game world, such as Pokémon GO and similar games. But most will also recognize the style of Minecraft immediately.
To build
Like Minecraft, Minecraft: Earth is all about crafting and build. To make things, you have to gather the right resources together and for that you go out. Outside you will find stones, wood, chickens, sheep and more. You can use all those resources to make stuff. For example, you can craft a simple bed with three pieces of wool and three pieces of planks. You make those parts from collected sheep and tree stumps.
With all the things you’ve collected and crafted, you can get started building. This is done through augmented reality. To do this, you place a building board in the real world, which consists, for example, of a piece of land with a tree and a few chickens. Then you expand that with your own creations. New building boards are unlocked by continuing to play, or by buying them in the store.
The nice thing is that the building boards are not very large, so you can build quietly at the table, for example. Then you first go out to collect resources, after which you let your creativity run wild at home.
This makes Minecraft: Earth even fun when the weather is bad outside. The building boards keep getting bigger, allowing you to build more. But maybe it’s smarter to do that on the ground.
Social
The social side also comes into play, because you can work on the same creation together with others. All they have to do is scan a QR code on the screen with their device. Make sure you trust the other player when building, otherwise the other can destroy your creation. As long as you play in play mode, there is nothing to worry about, because then you can go wild in your creation and everything will be reversed afterwards. The structure is then easy to take with you and place elsewhere.
In addition, it is possible to experience an adventure, perhaps one of the coolest parts of the game. Unfortunately we haven’t been able to test this yet, because we haven’t encountered any adventures on the map yet. An adventure is another building plate that you put on the ground.
You choose in advance which items you want to take with you, such as a sword, a pickaxe and some stones. Then you have to defeat enemies, for example, or go into the depths to find secrets that you can use later in your own buildings. You can also do these adventures with friends.
Worth the effort?
Minecraft: Earth is a fun new way to play with the Minecraft world alone or with friends. The game is clearly aimed at a young audience. For example, you must love to get creative with this digital block box.
If so, the Early Access version of Minecraft: Earth is well worth checking out. You can still run into some bugs and the game feels a bit limited in terms of possibilities, but seasoned Minecraft players are used to that.
More games
Every month we pick out the top five new iOS games in the App Store. Check out our picks for last month including Call of Duty: Mobile. And do you have an Apple Arcade subscription, but don’t know what to play? Then check out our list of the best Apple Arcade games.