Minecraft Zone

***Minecraft Zone*** is a 2023 free-to-play survival game created by SOI Studios, set in the 3D sandbox video game, *Minecraft* (2011) world and combines structured gameplay that of *Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0*'s DMZ mode. Players must select a "base" weapon (e.g; a Wooden Sword or a Wooden Axe) and must use these weapons to kill mobs (Zombies, Skeletons, etc). Upgrades are also available and can improve the efficiency of clicks and buildings, among many other mechanics that allow the user to earn progress in different ways. The game lacks a conventional ending; with a "ending" planned, which has been officially confirmed by SOI Studios.

Announced on June 10, 2023, *Minecraft Zone* was released on November 18, 2023, following development focused entirely for PC gameplay.

## Gameplay

Minecraft Zone can be played in first or third person perspectives; which may be picked in the options tabs. The game features movement similar to that of *Minecraft Dungeons* (2020) and *Minecraft Legends* (2023) and has players with the ability to dash, slide, roll, and sprint. The game is a PvE experience.

### Preperations

At first, the player will find themselves in a "Loadout" menu, which will have the player choose one of two options: a Wooden Sword or Axe. Once a weapon has been picked, the player is tasked to kill enemy mobs (hostile mobs found in Minecraft). These hostile mobs will give players small amounts of XP, which progresses players to the next "Career Level".

Every "Career Level" rewards the player with a "Sigal Token", which can be used to unlock any "Acquisition" item (excluding "Schematics"). An Acquisition is a one-time use item unlocked in a game for a upcoming game of the players choice. These are lost if players are eliminated mid-match. "Schematics" are permanent unlocks that allow you to craft a single-use Acquisition on a cooldown (E.g: a Diamond Sword every 24 hours).

### Gameplay

Each lobby will be filled with upwards of 24 players in one world. The game features a singler dimension the "Overworld" and features both friendly and hostile mobs. Here, players will explore this dimension. Unlike the original game, players aren't going to break blocks or build any structures, they'll need to hunt and search caches for loot, to become stronger for future matches. Each match lasts 60 minutes. Players have 45 minutes to explore a large map to loot, complete Contracts, activities, upgrade their weapons with enchantments, and more. When the 45 minutes are over, players must "exfil" before a "Mystical Storm" spreads across the world.

The map is split up into three tiers: Tier I (Easy), Tier II (Medium), and Tier III (Hard). You will find Zombies, Skeletons, Spiders, and all other hostile mobs you'll find in all tiers (excluding the Warden), but all healths will scale, with Tier III having enemies with the highest health.

After earning a certain number of cookies, the player can 'ascend', losing their progress but earning heavenly chips and prestige levels. Prestige levels add a permanent boost (+1% per level) to the rate of cookie production in future play-throughs, while heavenly chips can be spent on a wide variety of prestige upgrades. However, the number of cookies needed to unlock the next prestige level goes up proportionally with the cube of the level, becoming harder to attain as more are acquired. Other game mechanics include "wrinklers" (eldritch beasts which reduce cookie production, but can be popped by clicking them, returning all the cookies it digested with interest), Krumblor the Cookie Dragon, mini games, and sugar lumps (which take 24 hours to coalesce and are used to level up buildings and boost their production rate). Achievements can be earned by completing various tasks or goals, such as reaching a certain number of total cookies produced, owning a particular number of buildings of a certain type or clicking a certain number of golden cookies. Upon reaching a certain number of achievements, the player unlocks different colors of milk that appear below the cookie. With "kitten" upgrades, the player earns extra production depending on their total achievements. Additionally, seasonal events occur during their respective holidays which come with more upgrades and cookies to unlock.

The game features geometric or exponential growth: the player begins by baking individual cookies, but can quickly reach billions of cookies, and eventually attain duodecillions (1039) of cookies or beyond. Though the game has no clear ending, it has over five hundred achievements, and users may aim to reach milestone numbers of cookies.

## Development

The game is developed by SOI Studios. The game is set to feature advanced AI mechanics.

### Backlash to certain mechanics

#### Limited matches

Minecraft Zone has been criticised for its limited duration of matches. SOI Studios responded to the community expressing they made each run last 10 minutes to make it have a "fast paced feel" and remove the usage of Auto Clickers. They later announced they have some "plans" in place to allow players to have "much longer games" and gain more progression, though they must wait and be patient.

SOI Studios later released a new section called "The Nether".