Minecraft Dungeons II, often written Minecraft Dungeons 2, comes out on Tuesday, September 29, 2026 for PC, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2, and joins Game Pass on day one. It costs $29.99, or $49.99 for the Deluxe Edition. It is also where the Sift, the first new Minecraft dimension in more than 14 years, debuts before it reaches Minecraft Java and Bedrock in 2027.
Mojang has not given a launch time, but the PlayStation Store lists 10:00 CEST (08:00 UTC, 1:00 a.m. in California). On PC, it is sold on the Xbox app and Steam. It is included with Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass, streams through Xbox Cloud Gaming for Game Pass members, and Xbox Play Anywhere covers Xbox and PC with one purchase. The ESRB rates it E10+.
On Steam, the game lists 17 languages, nine of them fully voiced, and needs at least a Core i3-8100 or Ryzen 3 2200G, 8 GB of RAM and a GTX 1050 or RX 560.
Price, editions and pre-order bonuses
On the Xbox and PlayStation stores in the US, the Standard Edition costs $29.99 and the Deluxe Edition $49.99. The Deluxe adds the Soul cape, the Blub pet, four hero skins (dark-gold versions of the heroes Valorie, Kellen, Ren and Flores) and the first two DLCs as they are released; their content and dates are not announced yet.
Pre-orders placed by September 28 also get Steve and Alex hero skins, the Twisted cape and the Twisted chicken pet. The Twisted cape also unlocks in Minecraft Java and Bedrock on the same Microsoft account, as does the Hero Cape, for anyone who has played the first Minecraft Dungeons and logs into Dungeons II before December 31, 2026.
What kind of game it is
Dungeons II is an action RPG ("drop the pickaxe, grab a sword", says its store page): you fight hordes of mobs and bosses, collect loot and shape your hero through gear, from mage or ranger to tank or support. Instead of the first game's separate missions, the sequel is one interconnected world with settlements, fast-travel points, and caves and ruins whose layouts can vary between visits. The hub town is Brave Haven, and minecarts carry you across the map.
The main changes:
- Jumping, on top of the dodge roll, to explore and strike from above.
- 12 combat slots instead of 6: armour splits into helmet, chestplate, leggings and boots, and talismans add passive bonuses. Items can roll random effects, and ranged ammo is unlimited, recharging over time.
- Enchanting: enchantment books fill a personal library, and the Enchantsmith applies them to any gear slot. The Blacksmith raises a favourite item to the best power level available to you, for a fee, and can reroll one of its bonuses.
- Quests, main and side, from a beekeeper's missing bees to the Twisted Warden.
The illagers are back and have formed an Illager High Council, while the world's ecosystem is out of balance. The gamescom demo in August featured a new boss, the Copper Monstrosity, mixing heavy punches with lightning attacks and arena-wide dashes.
Co-op for up to four players
The whole adventure can be played solo or with up to four players:
- couch co-op on one screen;
- online, with cross-play between platforms;
- mixed, with two or more players on one console or PC joined by others online;
- through matchmaking, or with party codes to bring in friends.
The world map can teleport you to a nearby friend, and holding up on the D-pad opens a small inventory, so couch players swap gear without making everyone wait. Online play on consoles requires Game Pass on Xbox and PlayStation Plus on PS5.
The Sift: a new dimension, in Dungeons II first
Rifts open across the world of Dungeons II and lead to the Sift. Revealed in August and detailed at Minecraft Live on September 26, it is the first new dimension in more than 14 years, and the fourth after the Overworld, the Nether and the End.
Mojang describes a vibrant, colourful place "teeming with souls". Its mobs include companions as well as threats, shifting tides can affect you and the players around you, and hazardous new blocks change how you explore. Two of its areas are named, the Meadow and the Carapace; the others are kept secret.
In Minecraft Java and Bedrock, the Sift arrives in 2027. Mojang has not given a date, nor said how you will reach it or how it will differ from the Dungeons II version; Minecraft Live only showed a brief in-development look at it and one of its mobs.
Until then, Xbox Wire calls Dungeons II the best sneak peek at the Sift's mobs, blocks and biomes. For Minecraft's own next drop, with ice caves and a frozen zombie, see our Minecraft Live recap; for the current one, our Minecraft 26.3 guide. Our Minecraft tools cover recipes, advancements and enchanting.
