Minecraft Legends is a new strategy game set in the familiar blocky Minecraft universe that provides players with a chance to team up with creepers and skeletons to save the Overworld from the piglins. Developed by Mojang Studios and Blackbird Interactive, Minecraft Legends allows players to step back in time and experience first-hand a legend told in Minecraft‘s world. This game is definitely not the typical Minecraft experience, and yet keeps the feeling that fans of the series will be able to hold onto.
Minecraft Legends is not canon in the cubic world of creepers and villagers, but the tale of what players are experiencing in this game has been passed down as legend through the generations in the villages of Minecraft. The once-peaceful Overworld has become overrun with piglins looking to take over the world and who are terrorizing the land. The creators of the universe, the Hosts, call upon the aid of the player, the only hero in time who has the power to push the piglins back and save the world.
Minecraft Legends is an action-strategy game. It offers both a story campaign that can be experienced single-player or cooperatively with friends, and a competitive PvP mode separate from the story. In the story campaign players focus on saving villages from piglin attacks, rebuilding the villages with greater defenses before the piglins attack again, and venturing out to try to take down as many of the piglin camps as possible. The player can call upon several different types of golems, which have been magically provided by the Hosts, to fight by their side, as well as pull allies from the Overworld such as creepers and skeletons who want to assist in reclaiming their world.
The mechanics of the game can be a bit confusing, as the game doesn’t always provide clear information and this can cause some frustrating setbacks. Several different buildings improve the player’s ability to carry resources and have an expanded golem army, but this whole concept is not explained well and players need to figure much of it out through trial and error. On the minimap, players can see where piglin camps are, yet Minecraft Legends does not tell the player until after they have crossed the entire map to get to the piglin camp that that specific camp is not possible to be attacked yet. Also, the difficulty spikes very rapidly once players begin to get closer to the end of the story which can be a bit disheartening.
Once the learning curves have been overcome, however, the game itself is very fun with incredible cutscenes and a true sense of victory with each successful battle. The multiplayer aspect of Minecraft Legends allowing cooperative play throughout the campaign and a separate PvP mode is both well-designed and adds a lot of value to the game as a whole. In fact, Minecraft Legends is definitely a better game to play with friends than it is as a solo experience. There is cross-platform availability so it is easy to connect with friends, regardless of the system.
There is also an in-game marketplace where players can use real money to purchase new skins for their character and four mounts. These are just for cosmetic value, so there is no pay-to-win system. Eventually, the marketplace is supposed to also allow approved creators in the community to sell mods to other players.
Though there are some learning curve issues with the game, Minecraft Legends is a solid experience overall and does a wonderful job of combining the action-strategy formula into a compelling game in the Minecraft universe. Being able to lead creepers and skeletons into battle to fight alongside the player is a clever concept and the cutscenes throughout the campaign provide an epic feel. Because of the procedurally generated world and the nature of the battles, Minecraft Legends offers a lot of replay value as well.
Source: Minecraft/YouTube
Minecraft Legends will release on April 18, 2023, for PC, Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Xbox Game Pass. Screen Rant was provided with a digital download PC code for the purpose of this review.
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