I've always had a strange relationship with Minecraft, a 3D sandbox game from Mojang, that sells a deceptively simple premise buried under layers of complexity birthed by the creativity of its players. Over the years, I've come to appreciate the game as a therapeutic, relaxing experience; something that I could put on to unwind, and just unleash my inner architect. In the beginning, though, things were much different. Minecraft exploded onto the scene, and I was perplexed at its sudden popularity surge. In an age of video games pushing state of the art graphics, groundbreaking gameplay, and looking to the future, how could Minecraft - a complete opposite of these achievements - leave a deeper impact than any other? Let's explore why Minecraft might be the most influential video game of this decade, and the impact it continues to leave on the gaming world.

The Building Blocks


Minecraft was the indie passion project of Markus "Notch" Persson, and released on November 18th, 2011. Like a bolt of lightning, Minecraft struck the gaming industry with a pretty fierce vengeance - a spike in popularity that ensured it a success right out the gate (well, beta). The premise of the entire game was simple, yet remarkably appealing: the world is your metaphorical oyster. Everything is made up of pixelated blocks, and by tearing down the foundations of every facet of the environment, you could construct whatever your heart and mind desired. Add in enemy types, a survival mode that came with a surprising sense of urgency in its day/night dangers, and unexpected lore that was as deep as the bedrock at the center of its flat worlds. Most of all, Minecraft fostered one of the strongest, largest communities I had ever seen at the time.

Everywhere you looked, someone was either playing Minecraft, talking about it, or planning what they're going to make next in the game. The simple idea of allowing players to roam a sandbox playground with literally limitless potential was the winning formula - most importantly, an immortal formula. As the months and years went by, and unlike many MMOs or live-service games trying to remain relevant after its golden time, Minecraft just got better. Modders got their hands on the game, and further bolstered the experience with HD texture packs, creating more striking visuals, and other vast improvements that caught the attention of almost every gamer imaginable. Its premise allowed it to encapsulate so many ideas, that you'd be hard-pressed to find something that wasn't appealing to every gamer at heart.

Craft Your Own Adventure


Of course, with such a vast sandbox at your disposal, comprised of vistas that included snowy mountain peaks, beaches, forests, deserts, and just about any environment or biome you could imagine, what was the purpose of it all? As it turns out - and still unbeknownst to some - Minecraft does have a main quest deeply embedded in its core gameplay. It just doesn't tell you exactly what it is; or at least doesn't make it as clear-cut as most narratives in gaming. Your objective is to slay eight beings called Endermen, collect their eyes, and use them to construct an End Portal to another dimension, where you must fight and defeat the Ender Dragon.

All of this is cleverly hidden behind a deceptively aimless journey, collecting resources, building entire towns and settlements, and occasionally getting into trouble with the local wildlife. It's easy to lose sight of the clear quest at large when you aren't exactly told what it is, but that's the beauty of it. I didn't stumble upon this for at least four years until I, well, accidentally rolled into a dungeon that housed an End Portal and I was whisked away to another land. All this time, I had already created my own adventure. I took up making weapons and armour, moved into a village (much to the dismay of the villagers who assumed I was a freeloader), and hunted an assortment of creatures at night. It was an ideal role-playing experience that wasn't nearly as taxing as any other RPG, yet I found the most enjoyment in that pointlessness.

Eye of the Spider


It's hard to argue Minecraft's incredible cultural impact, as it became a phenomenon the likes of which Fortnite could only dream of (and unequivocally a far better game, but that's just my opinion). Over the years, the Minecraft hype train just continued to grow stronger. This was largely thanks to its accessibility, as the game saw a release on ten platforms in eight years. Even for an indie game that could easily make the transitional leaps to other devices, that's still quite an achievement. Of course, this would lead to spin-off games, notably Minecraft Story Mode and the upcoming dungeon crawler, Minecraft Dungeons.

The flexibility of its ingenious game design meant that just about anything and everything could fly with its premise. It will ensure that Minecraft, despite not being the booming success now as it was years ago, still tops the best-selling charts and feeds into its immortal status in the gaming world. On top of that, with MineCon, and entire convention dedicated to one game, still finding a place in the bigger side of gaming conventions, Minecraft is kept afloat by a dedicated fanbase - and admittedly, I'm always impressed with their devotion to the title, which sees new, fresh ideas flourish consistently (I mean, someone built a damn computer in the game!).

A Powerful Message?


You wouldn't think to find the most deep or introspective messages and themes in a game about using pixel blocks to build mud huts... right? Well, as it turns out, Minecraft does have something incredibly profound to say (if you haven't stumbled across this, be prepared):



When I first saw this, after spending an entire night with friends trying to complete the main quest, we sat there in silence reading through all of it. Naturally, I went outside with them at 3AM and sat around a fire, contemplating what the hell just happened. I'm not ashamed to admit that this was one of the most impactful endings to a video game I've ever seen, not just because of its fourth-wall breaking meta commentary, but a pitch-perfect dissection of gaming in general; an introspective message that Mojang wanted unassuming players to fully grasp. There is where I found Minecraft's hidden brilliance. It might be inconsequential now, and I was shocked to find that some players (even after hundreds of hours) haven't even come across this yet, but there's no doubt that it contributed to the greater impact of Minecraft. Basically, it proved that it wasn't just a game about building blocks, but something else entirely. Make of it what you will.

The Ends of the Earth


Minecraft might not have changed the landscape of gaming forever quite like Doom or Half-Life 2, but for those that persevered and stuck around to discover everything that it had to offer, it didn't need to. Here I believe existed a game in its own secluded space - something that knows exactly what it is, and doesn't try to be anything else other than that. It's rare that we get a game as self-assured and confidently unwavering as Minecraft, especially considering its still the best-selling video game of all time. It speaks to a very large demographic, larger than I could've ever predicted, and in that, it finds its tremendous staying power.

Does this make Minecraft one of the greatest video games ever made? Well, that's a very subjective answer, but for what it stands for, what it accomplished (and continues to accomplish), and what it means to so many gamers today, it's very easy to make an argument for it being one of the greatest.