Minecraft is a behemoth of a franchise. Over recent years we’ve seen it evolve from its simple sandbox origins, with Minecraft Dungeons scoring well when it released in 2020. Minecraft Legends is another branch out for Mojang and Microsoft, and from what I saw at Gamescom the other week, it could be yet another success for the colossal IP.
Creative Director Magnus Nedfors and Executive Producer Dennis Ries take me through a 30 minute demo as I slurp away on my coffee. The first thing I notice is the art style. Though it’s still distinctly Minecraft, it looks almost more cartoon-like, with black borders around every object. Magnus tells me they wanted Minecraft Legends to be more colourful and almost look like a fairytale.
In the words of the developers, you “explore a gentle land of rich resources and lush biomes on the brink of destruction. The ravaging piglins have arrived, and it’s up to you to inspire your allies and lead them in strategic battles to save the Overworld.” Legends is a strategy game at its core. You don’t punch trees to then build like you would in the traditional vanilla game, but instead instruct your allies to mine and build for you. There’s a new UI with resource counters however the iconic Minecraft hearts are still there.
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As is the way in Minecraft, the world is procedurally generated, meaning no player will have the exact same experience. Legends is played in third-person and you still have a character to control and explore the magical lands around you, just with the ability to command cute armies of animated blocks, villagers and more to do your bidding. In the demo, the main goal was to take down an enemy piglin base by destroying their Nether Portal. Dennis showed me that there are always multiple ways to accomplish your goal; being sneaky or just riding in on a horse wildly swinging a sword. As it’s a strategy game, having a strategy is obviously useful - but not always necessary.
The game can be played as an open-world sandbox too, so you can skip outposts to explore the lush scenery if you so wish. This sounds like a dream when I’m told the campaign can be played in multiplayer too. Everything's better with friends.
Magnus finishes the demo by saying “Minecraft is an open book, a never ending mystery that lets your imagination run wild,” which is exactly why I, as well as millions across the world, love Minecraft in the first place.
Minecraft Legends will be on Game Pass and all major platforms sometime in 2023.
Topics: Minecraft, Xbox Game Pass, Mojang, Microsoft