As someone who hasn’t played Minecraft since learning how to beat the Ender Dragon way back in 2011, I wasn’t expecting much from the game’s recent Godzilla DLC. However, as a superfan of the iconic Japanese monster from its 1954 ‘Gojira’ original down to its hilariously stupid 2020 Godzilla vs Kong (again), I had to give this DLC a chance. Is it better than the weird-but-awesome Call of Duty: Warzone Godzilla vs Kong event?
I knew Minecraft’s official DLC packs were substantial. As a news writer I’ve seen the Path of the Jedi DLC and how it can offer some awesome experiences traditional Minecraft can’t, but it took until Godzilla and to make me actually care about what these DLCs can offer.
Developed by Team-KYO, the Minecraft Godzilla DLC is essentially a love letter to Toho’s 70-year history of the kaiju character. Dripping with love for the franchise’s scariest, goofiest and most-awesome entries, KYO’s new DLC places you in a cinema-museum dedicated to the Japanese icon with four mini games for you to play through
As you walk through the doors of the cinema foyer, you’ll have to buy tickets to enter one of four different screens. Walking through halls of Godzilla movie posters, you’ll sit in your seat (sadly without popcorn in hand) and enter a mini game based on a different entry in the series.
Screen 1 is somewhat an adaptation of a classic Godzilla story. You play as a human in a city being ravaged by the kaiju, escaping the environment as the monster ravages it with beams of atomic breath. In some levels, you’ll also be able to solve puzzles or save civilians from fire, but that’s optional. Wanna let them die a horrific death from Godzilla’s atomic breath? Do it.
In Screen 2, Team-KYO has created by far the most impressive mini game - a full third-person monster fighter. Bringing in big names like King Ghidorah and his mecha counterpart, Mothra, Gigan, Destroyah and even obscure monsters like Kumomger (I barely know her), it includes one of the most stacked casts of any Godzilla game.
In this mode, you’ll punch, tail whip and atomic breath your way through multiple waves of increasingly difficult fights. It’s not as intense as, say, Godzilla PS4, or as fun as Destroy All Monsters Melee, but it is incredibly impressive to see in Minecraft.
Screen 3 is by far the most Minecraft experience, this time based on the 2016 hit Shin Godzilla. While it is weird to see perhaps the most haunting incarnation of the Big G in the cutesy, blocky world of Minecraft, Team-KYO has provided a bizarrely unique and satisfying adaptation of the political drama.
This screen sees you speed building to stop the three stages of Shin Godzilla’s evolution from destroying Tokyo. Each wave gets harder as Godzilla gets more powerful, and you’ll have to scrounge for resources to find strong scaffolding and mines to stop the beast from ravaging the city. As he moves, buildings crumble with the creature stomping through with ease. It’s a genuinely awesome thing to see from ground level. Screen 3 ends with you filling Godzilla’s mouth with coagulant, cooling his blood just like in the actual movie. It’s bizarre.
Finally, Screen 4 is a mini Pokemon Snap based on Godzilla vs Kong, another surprisingly accurate adaptation. This mini game puts you in a HEAV, the anti-gravity vehicle from the film, as you take pictures of key fights from the movie.
Unfortunately, the first fight takes place on Skull Island instead of the ocean fight that happens in the movie, but fights two and three are adaptations of the film. Godzilla fights Kong and wins, then MechaGodzilla brings the two together.
As you play through the different mini games, you’ll earn coins to use in a gacha machine. By spending coins at the machine, you’ll unlock statues and pictures for a Godzilla museum - give floors of love and adoration for the big monster. You’ll unlock pictures of obscure creatures like Gorosaurus or the very ugly and pathetic Minilla as well as statues of Spacegodzilla, and much more. It’s truly awesome.
Furthermore, fully completing a game will unlock a statue in the cinema foyer. There’s one for the original movie, two for Shin Godzilla and one for Godzilla x Kong. You also get a bundle of skins, including Godzilla, Minilla, Jet Jaguar (hell yeah!), MechaGodzilla, Dr Serizawa and more.
Unfortunately, the new Minecraft Godzilla DLC doesn’t include anything for Godzilla Minus One, the latest movie in the series, and it’s clear Shin Godzilla favouritism is a tad unfortunate. It would’ve been nice to see an airplane stage based on Minus One, or at least an unlockable statue in the game’s museum. It does lead the pack to feel a tad outdated as the latest entry adapts is already almost four years old.
Outside of this, the Minecraft Godzilla DLC is one of the biggest love letters to the series outside of the mediocre (but still underrated) Godzilla PS4 game. If you have any love for the kaiju’s 70-year history, you need to give this a go.
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