Ezan Charo 
Ah, Minecraft– the iconic blocky sandbox game that started humbly in 2009, now the single most recognizable and best-selling game of all time (second being Tetris. Yep, THAT Tetris). Minecraft has had its many spikes in popularity, going through multiple phases and changes, leading it to where it is now. Many people point the radical changes to Minecraft to Microsoft, who acquired Mojang Studios, and by extension the property of Minecraft itself, in 2014. As someone who’s played Minecraft since around late 2012, it’s like watching a small seed grow into a large, tall, blooming tree, vastly different in appearance from when it started as a sapling.
With the new wave of Minecraft content creators on platforms such as Twitch and YouTube, a new generation is being introduced to the game, and older fans are reconnecting with their childhoods and enjoying the treasure trove of new content via the official free updates, huge public community servers run by talented organizations like Hypixel, or third party mods and minigames from dedicated programmers. Minecraft itself is receiving an update known as “1.20: Trails and Tales” which adds various quality of life changes, bug fixes, and new mechanics– camels, bamboo wood, rafts, archaelogy, and cherry blossoms just to name a few. These fresh ideas give the game much more life and longevity, which is why it maintained such a prominent fanbase throughout the years. Also, the community is incredibly creative, building massive structures and showing them off online, or content creators making and pursuing brand new ideas, such as the Hermitcraft server or Empires series.
Mojang has recently released the game Minecraft: Legends, a spin-off game which takes the base world of Minecraft and turning it into a blend of tower defense and tactical turn-based strategy as the player assembles an army of mobs and animals to fight against the invasive pig monsters (piglins) rising from the other dimension known as the Nether.
This isn’t the first time Mojang has released a video game based off the main Minecraft game. In mid 2020, Minecraft: Dungeons was released, a dungeon crawler adventure game where you and your friends rescue villagers from various enemies, explore new lands, and upgrade your weapons and armor with unique magic.
So are you going to get back into Minecraft, or give it a try? I’ve been an avid player for more than a decade– I’m not stopping now!
By Ezan Charo, Junior, ChiArts
Twitter: @digitalwarlock8 / Instagram: @ezancharo
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