Launch and News Roundup

The key facts from around launch: how the release performed, what critics said, and the prequel novel that expands the story.

Launch day

Minecraft Dungeons II went on sale September 29, 2026 at 8:00 UTC on PC, Xbox Series X|S, PS5, Switch, Switch 2 and Game Pass. By the next morning it had topped Steam's top-sellers chart (behind only Valve hardware) with a peak of 32,476 concurrent Steam players — Steam-only figures; Xbox, PlayStation, Switch and Game Pass numbers were never published, and Mojang never released total sales.

Critical reception was positive-to-mixed: Metacritic 75 from 27 Xbox reviews and 73 from 16 PC reviews; OpenCritic 85. Steam user reviews sat at Mixed (57%) at launch. Common player complaints were no WASD movement on PC at launch (click-to-move only) and Microsoft sign-in errors; there was no Steam Deck or Linux support at launch. See Reviews & Scores for the full review picture.

The Rift — prequel novel

"Minecraft Dungeons II: The Rift" released September 1, 2026 — four weeks before the game — from Random House Worlds. The 256-page middle-grade novel by Caleb Zane Huett follows Harlow searching for a missing friend, through tunnels and an illager base to an ancient city, with mind-controlling enemies and a peaceful dimension beyond the Overworld. Its antagonists are the Grand Illusioner, the Prime Enchanter and the Supreme Evoker — the same Illager High Council figures behind the game's story. An audiobook narrated by James Aaron Oh and Emily Shaffer released the same day. The novel is not required reading for the game, and whether the game references its events is unconfirmed.