Minecraft Dungeons

EDIT: After writing this review, I had an internet outage and learned that Minecraft Dungeons is completely unplayable, even in "offline mode", without an active internet connection. This is insane and a massive point against the game, but if you can suck that up, it's basically irrelevant. I still enjoy and recommend it!
(~150 hours on Xbox Series S)
Minecraft Dungeons is extremely underrated! I think Minecraft fans disregard it because they see it as Microsoft trying to cash in on the brand after they purchased it, and... Well, I agree. In a way, it kind of reminds me of Chex Quest; it's a weird game that definitely didn't need to exist, but has a surprising amount of passion and effort put into it.
It's sort of a Baby's First ARPG and is definitely dumbed down compared to something like Diablo, but I think that works in its favor. It leans a lot more heavily into hack n slash and fun build variety than getting muddied in stats and skill trees, and the post-level loot sorting boils down to a pretty simple flow chart of "Do I like this item? Does it do more damage than mine? Does it have good enchantments? Keep or salvage accordingly."
Weapons and armor have a lot of variety and you can pretty seamlessly swap between a lot of different playstyles, though that's most apparent in multiplayer where it's worth having a tank, healer, glass cannon, etc; playing solo limits your options a little, but not to the point where you really feel like you're missing out.
The game is shockingly gorgeous and uses the Minecraft image to good effect. Familiar mobs and features work well in the world without much change, and all the new stuff is integrated really well. Some people have pushed for things like the Soul system to be present in Minecraft because of how well they fit in. Exploration is also really fun, with a ton of secrets and fun level layouts to see.
There was a Battle Pass system, but the seasons remain available forever, allowing you to switch which one you make progress on at any time, and the paid tiers are entirely cosmetic so you really don't miss out on anything.
My biggest complaint is that levels can drag on, and the game starts out very easy. If you do anything other than knock out each level back to back to unlock the higher difficulty settings ASAP, you'll end up too strong and get bored to death of oneshotting everything you see. Once you get those higher difficulties though and the game starts expecting more out of your builds and strategies, it hits a great balance!
This is a fantastic game for wasting a weekend, and since the gameplay is pretty simple you can easily introduce friends to it and have a lot of fun. There are also Minecraft mods that bring content from this game over there, which isn't relevant to this review but something to think about!

I picked this up to play couch co-op with my young sons and its been a dream come true. We've been blasting together for weeks and I don't see it getting old anytime soon.
S+ game to play with kids

expected little, got a game that did not deserve to get abandoned

I just bought this game on steam but I have hundreds of hours on my barely alive switch. It's a great game that's really slept on and definitely worth the purchase. I'm also SUPER HYPED for dungeons 2.

Actually underrated and a really good game. If you're pondering between Dungeons and Legends, get Dungeons.

the only GOOD Minecraft spinoff that still holds up, and is even getting a sequel.

Spent like 20 minutes fighting a literal cauldron before dying, 10/10