Mojang Studios has returned to the crafting table to take Minecraft in a bold new direction. Minecraft Legends is an open-world real-time strategy game in which you gather resources, build defenses, and summon adorable mercenaries to protect the sanctity of the realm. Rather than the bird’s-eye view often found in strategy games, Legends opts for a character-centric view, where your hero roams the landscape on dynamic mounts, sword in hand, using resources and armies to drive out factions of evil Piglins, overcome each with combat quirks. A compelling concept in theory, but this unique take on an iconic franchise can often be at odds with itself. Minecraft Legends feels caught between the expected complexity of strategy games and the franchise’s accessible brand.
The first few hours of gameplay felt like an awkward first date with someone actually very interesting. As I galloped through the beautiful environments, I was constantly interrupted by the game’s advisors trying to coerce me into certain tasks, which took some of the luster out of the immediately intriguing world of Legends. It felt like a series of false starts, but after repeating the same gameplay loop and getting through an epic tutorial phase, Legends finally lets go of your hand, and that’s where the fun begins.
Reasonably sized Legends map is full of iconic Minecraft images. From packs of wolves roaming the plains to turtles splashing in ponds, the overworld feels organic and inviting. Surrounding blobs of landscape like the aptly named Bouncecaps invited me to think about exploration vertically as they sent my hero flying into the sky. I felt encouraged to test the limits of fall damage in search of untouched territory, which resulted in some unexpected finds and obvious slapstick bugs.
Across the realm you will destroy piglin fortresses with combinations of deadly mobs and defend helpless villages by building walls and towers while protecting your captured bases from random raids. Various defensive and offensive scenarios have prompted me to evolve my tactics and wisely choose my upgrades at the Well of Doom, the hero’s home base. The game forces you to choose between additional mobs on the battlefield, more options for structures, or additional resources, allowing you to tweak your playstyle as you progress.
Traditional Minecraft mobs have had a charming makeover in Legends. Where a Creeper in the wild might previously send shivers down your spine, here they are pup-like misfits with explosive tempers that you can use at will. This twist also applies to zombies and skeletons: gain their trust by defending their homes from Piglin attacks; they will aid you against the tyrannical enemies who have usurped their position as conventional threats to the domain.
Minecraft Legends manages to entice players to explore its world by hiding special mobs and tools in its procedural landscape. Still, it can be difficult to make you feel present and essential in the adventure, mainly due to the change of perspective. My hero was down manually summoning troops and fighting villains, but it was my companion sprites the Allays that got all the upgrades, gathering resources, and building structures. Perhaps you long to get your hands dirty in a world that feels so welcoming and interactive.
This separation also followed me into battle, where instead of feeling like a captain storming castles to liberate the land, I would mostly watch my army carve out structures as it wandered the outskirts alone. The most engaging moments of Minecraft Legends come when you fight side-by-side with your mobs to destroy a piglin portal. As such, it feels particularly draining when the game forces you to fill up outside of the action while your troops carry on without you. I do see some merits in these solitary systems, however, as Legends manages to twist strategy gaming traditions in a way that welcomes players new to the genre.
Minecraft Legends struggles to blend its open-world adventures with the intricacies of real-time strategy, a war that sometimes detracts from the overall fun you can have. Still, its beautiful environments and clever world-building inspire the familiar creativity that makes up for its growing pains. Where other strategy games have a deeper complexity, Minecraft Legends has heart and it’s hard to resist its charm. Mojang’s first foray into the genre occasionally grabs your hand. But when his grip loosens, there’s a vibrant world full of combat challenges to explore that ultimately make it an enticing endeavor.
