When I first got to see Minecraft Legends in action during Gamescom, I was rather impressed with the concept. Creating an action strategy game in the world of Minecraft just made a lot of sense and it looked like this might be the next big thing for the franchise. After spending some time with the final product, it’s time to decide if the game is as good as I hoped it would be, let’s jump in!
Rise hero
In Minecraft Legends, you take control of a hero and his horse. It’s your task to stop the enemy Piglin army from advancing any further into your realm. The Piglin army is a true terror for all of the natural inhabitants and it’s up to you to stop the enemy from creating more strongholds. It’s a huge task to achieve on your own but luckily, our hero is far from alone. By creating specific buildings, our hero can call for help from a wide variety of Minecraft characters. These will form his army, similar to what games like Pikmin or Overlord do. You’re basically the commander of your army and they follow you everywhere you go.
Since the Piglin is your main enemy, you’ll be surprised by the other inhabitants of your world. Did you know that Zombies can survive in the sun if they wear hats? Well, apparently they can, in Minecraft Legends the Zombies are harmless farmers who are on your side since the Piglin army is attacking them too. The friend of your enemy and so on… The story is probably one of the best things about Minecraft Legends. The world and story truly come to life in gorgeous CGI scenes where you’ll see the Piglins forming their evil plans to overtake your Overworld. By creating special portals, the Piglins succeed in crossing to the Overworld from the depths of the Nether. To face this powerful evil, you’ll get some needed guidance from Knowledge, Foresight, and Action, three powerful gods who guide and narrate your adventure. During the cutscenes and narration, the game feels like a fun cartoon and really adds to the overall atmosphere and immersion. After a quick tutorial, it’s time to explore the open Overworld.
Time to build your army
If you know Minecraft you know that creating and building your own world is a huge part of the franchise. In Legends, it all goes a little differently. Instead of creating your army block by block, you’ll be able to create special little towers where your army will spawn from, the only thing you’ll need are resources, which you can automatically gather if you’re in the right kind of environment. It’s clear that building is still a core mechanic in Legends but it’s all made a lot easier and less time-consuming, this game isn’t about creating your own world, it’s about creating your own little army to take down your enemies. Thanks to some magic tool you received from the gods, it’s not that hard to gather all resources quickly and create the army you need. Besides that, you can also construct a couple of defense mechanisms to protect friendly villages and you can even build structures such as ramps to reach your next location faster. I love that this type of freedom is still part of the game, certainly, prefabricated structures limit your creativity a lot but this is a real-time strategy game after all.
Creating your army is kept as simple as possible since the game is clearly aimed at a younger audience. You can consider this an RTS game that will introduce a younger audience to the genre and from that perspective, it does everything you would expect from it. You can create your small army using different creatures, all with their own strengths and weaknesses. Some units will attack from a distance while other units are really good at smashing down gates. Getting to know your army and its strengths is fun and rewarding when you manage to defeat enemies. Besides your regular troops, you’ll sometimes get help from the inhabitants of the Overworld, ever wanted to fight side by side with a Creeper? Well, it’s possible in Legends! It’s not hard to manage and control your army, you have a couple of options to guide them during combat and although veteran players will find those options too limited, it’s more than enough for the younger gamer. It also helps a lot that the here automatically heals and has some powerful attacks to keep the enemies at a safe distance. The gameplay mechanics certainly work but after a while, the gameplay itself becomes a bit too repetitive. The main issue is the fact that the Overworld is a bit empty, it’s gorgeously created but it lacks fun side-quests or secrets. On top of that, the battles you’ll fight often feel the same after clearing them for a couple of hours. To the fun last a bit longer, you can start playing this one with some friends.
Gather some friends
A big part of the fun is multiplayer. I couldn’t test it that much during the initial review phase so I decided to postpone my review until I got my hands on the multiplayer aspect. I must say, it was worth waiting for. The entire single-player adventure is playable with up to four players at the same time, since playing together is a key feature it doesn’t matter what platform you’re playing this on, thanks to the great cross-play you can easily find and invite friends to your story. The best thing about it is the fact that you’re free to go wherever you want to go which makes fighting Piglin a lot easier and more fair compared to when you try to take them out on your own. It’s a bit strange that the game doesn’t support local co-op since it would also have worked like a charm. Playing together really elevates the overall experience and adds so much more fun and strategy to the base game.
Working together in the story mode isn’t the only multiplayer option, the PvP-mode adds a bit more challenge. In this mode, you’ll fight two versus two where you need to destroy the Piglin settlements and the camps of your human opponents. This really adds another layer to the strategy and come become rather challenging when you’re facing off with tactical players. Again, it’s all pretty basic when you compare it to other RTS games but it really does a good job of being an introduction to the genre for younger and less experienced gamers. The multiplayer modes really elevate the overall experience and add tons of gameplay value to the mix. Thanks to those modes, you’re able to play this game for the coming months without a doubt.
Conclusion:
If I look at Minecraft Legends from the eyes of an experienced gamer, it’s in all honesty a disappointing game. If I compare it to other modern RTS games, this one just falls short and lacks variation or a true challenge to keep things entertaining. But, when I look at this from the eyes of a younger or less experienced gamer I do see a fun game that serves as a nice introduction to the genre. It’s one of those games that younger gamers will start playing together with their friends and they’ll have a blast doing so. It’s important to note that in my opinion, those younger gamers are indeed the targeted audience and therefore I score the game accordingly. As an RTS for beginners, this certainly is a fun game.
