Minecraft Legends is a 2023 real-time action-strategy video game created by Mojang Studios and Blackbird Interactive. It was published by Xbox Game Studios. The game is based on the 2011 sandbox game Minecraft. It was released on April 18, 2023, for Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. Development of the game ended on January 10, 2024.
In the game, players defend the Overworld from piglins, which are pig-like creatures from the Nether dimension. Players collect resources to build stronger structures and armies. Critics had mixed opinions about the game. Some praised its gameplay, while others found it repetitive.
Gameplay
Minecraft Legends takes place in the Minecraft Overworld, a world similar to Earth that has many different areas and natural resources. This world is being attacked by groups of piglins from the Nether dimension. The Overworld includes friendly villages, enemy piglin outposts, and the Well of Fate, which is where players start the game and can quickly move to other locations. Like the main Minecraft game, the Overworld is created randomly each time the game is played, making every world unique.
Players gather materials to build defenses, improve structures, and summon soldiers. Basic materials like wood and stone are collected by sending friendly Allays to gather them from areas in the Overworld. Other materials, such as redstone and lapis lazuli, are used to build advanced structures and summon stronger soldiers, but these can only be accessed after upgrading the Well of Fate. Prismarine, needed for certain buildings, is obtained by defeating piglin structures. Players use collected resources to build structures and improve the Well of Fate. Defensive structures like walls and turrets protect villages and player bases. Spawners create friendly soldiers that players can add to their army. Offensive structures, like the redstone cannon, shoot explosive shells at enemies from far away. Upgrading the Well of Fate allows players to build more advanced structures and summon stronger soldiers.
The main goal of the game is to destroy piglin outposts and protect friendly villages from piglin attacks. Players use their summoned soldiers to attack and destroy piglin outposts. Players travel across the Overworld on a mount, from which they can give commands to control their army during battles. These commands include telling soldiers to gather, stop, or charge forward. Players can also attack enemies directly with their sword. Players build their army by constructing spawner buildings that create soldiers or by recruiting soldiers from camps found throughout the Overworld.
Minecraft Legends uses the same Minecoins currency as Minecraft Bedrock Edition. This currency is used to buy extra character designs and mounts in the game. The game is sold with an optional "Deluxe Skin Pack," which includes six additional in-game designs: one hero design and five mount designs.
Plot
The game starts when the player is mining in a cave and meets three beings named Action, Knowledge, and Foresight. These beings are called Hosts, and they are guardians of the Overworld. The Hosts ask the player to help save their world, which is in danger because a war has begun between the Nether and the Overworld. The player is then taken to that world. After finishing a tutorial, the player must rescue several villages from attacks by piglins from the Nether. Next, the player destroys three Nether outposts that are planning to attack villages. Then, the player removes nine Nether portals located in three different areas of the world. In each area, the player must defeat a piglin boss: "the Devourer," "the Beast," and "the Unbreakable." After destroying all the portals and defeating all the bosses, the player faces the final boss: "the Great Hog."
As the player defeats the Great Hog, it tries one last time to destroy the Well of Fate. This attempt fails, and the boss's army is pulled into a portal that sends them back to the Nether. Then, the Great Hog dies. After the battle, the Overworld celebrates the victory over the piglins. However, not everything is peaceful. The warrior villagers, who fought with the hero, are upset with the pacifistic villagers who did not help, creating tension between the two groups. Also, the Hosts have left the world to the hero and no longer stay there.
Development
Minecraft Legends started being made in 2018. The game was introduced during the Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase on June 12, 2022. After the event, a video on the Minecraft YouTube channel showed the game would be available on more platforms. Mojang Studios, the company that created the Minecraft series, worked with Blackbird Interactive to develop the game. Blackbird Interactive was started by former employees of Relic Entertainment, a team known for making the real-time strategy game series Homeworld.
After the success of Minecraft Dungeons, another Minecraft spin-off, Minecraft Legends was released on April 18, 2023. The game is available to play on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Steam, Windows 11 and 10, PC Game Pass, Xbox Game Pass, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, and Xbox Cloud Gaming.
On January 10, 2024, Mojang announced that no more updates will be released for Minecraft Legends.
Reception
The game received mixed reactions from critics. According to the review website Metacritic, Minecraft Legends earned "mixed or average" ratings. Critics said the game is a good addition to the Minecraft series but had different opinions about how it was made. A writer from Destructoid, Timothy Monbleau, said he now has more respect for both Minecraft and strategy games after playing it. Sarah Thwaites from Game Informer said the game feels caught between the complexity of strategy games and the easy-to-understand style of the Minecraft franchise.
Critics generally found the gameplay enjoyable but repetitive and not very deep. They praised the game's Minecraft-themed art style, ways to collect resources, and base-building activities. They also liked the multiplayer co-op and player-versus-player modes. Some reviewers criticized the game for not having enough strategy depth, weak artificial intelligence, and boring gameplay.