We know that the moniker "Legends" is no mistake, as the idea behind this game's narrative is that it interprets an actual legend from Minecraft's Overworld. This means it is a culmination of facts and myths, and it's up to players to decide the path the story takes — and how much of it rings true for the Minecraft universe. Events may or may not have actually happened as they unfold in the game, as legends tend to embellish and change over time. There are lots of neutral mobs out in the world, like pigs, wolves, cats, llamas, and even brand new mobs like badgers. You can get them to join your army and follow you, but you can't spawn them, and they're not as strong as your regular units. So if you can afford it, it's almost always better to just summon zombies or skellies instead of wasting precious unit slots on inferior mobs. Availability: Out 18th April on PC ( Steam, Windows), PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch. Mojang Studios maintains a steadfast "multiplatform" philosophy, and prides itself on being accessible and approachable to a diverse array of players across all demographics, geographies, and platforms. With Minecraft Dungeons, Mojang Studios committed to this philosophy, despite technically being a part of Xbox Game Studios.

Like Minecraft Dungeons before it, Minecraft Legends is a great concept let down by middling execution" I chose to open with my thoughts on the game's porcine provocateurs because I was taught to always preface any criticism with a compliment and, to be perfectly honest, the piglins are by far the best thing about Minecraft Legends. Als je deze game op PS5 wilt spelen, moet je systeem mogelijk worden geüpdatet naar de nieuwste systeemsoftware. Hoewel deze game op PS5 kan worden gespeeld, zijn bepaalde functies die op PS4 beschikbaar zijn mogelijk afwezig. Zie PlayStation.com/bc voor meer informatie. Ian and I had a chance to play the game in London a few weeks ago, dropping into the start of the single-player campaign and then trying a 3vs3 multiplayer match. (The final game will support 4vs4 and 2vs2 as well, I gather.) With the game out on the 18th, it's not too long before you'll get to see all this yourself, but here, at least, are the very basics.We've seen brief flashes of Minecraft Legends' procedurally generated world, with multiple biomes and environments holding the spotlight during gameplay segments, including the Nether, forests, plains and grasslands, swamps, and more. We don't know how big the world of Minecraft Legends will be, but it certainly won't be short on variety with the vast collection of biomes from which the game can pull. Players will be able to explore this world from astride their mount, with several options besides the trusty horse available — including the brilliantly purple regal tiger. Unique foliage in the Overworld, like Speed Weed and Bounce Caps, can dynamically and temporarily boost the movement speed and jump height of your mounts. This is echoed in the building, which takes place mainly around friendly villages as you create walls and towers to defend against the piglins' nighttime assaults. What could have been the coolest part of the entire game ended up feeling horribly repetitive after a couple of sessions, because I didn't have anything like the creative freedom I would have expected from any game with the Minecraft name. Walls can only be of a fixed height, and they'll frequently intercept the projectiles from your own towers because, by default, they're too tall. You can't replace sections of wall with a gate, so you either need to place your gates down first, or spend a full minute deleting a section of wall one tile at a time. I mean, come on. What's that about? Most of the buildings you can create in Minecraft Legends are defence-oriented. There are walls, gates, arrow towers, carpenters to heal your buildings, kaboomeries to make arrows explode, and so on. I spent the entire time I was playing Minecraft Legends trying to figure out who the game was for. It feels too overwhelming and poorly explained for kids, too rudimentary for older players and too frustrating for both. Minecraft is, at least for me, about creativity and experimentation, but there's no room for that here. There's a superficial story in place that ends on a dissonantly dark note about the cost of war, while changing creepers from the mindless monsters of the original to a community of apparently intelligent suicide bombers feels distinctly uncomfortable. We do now know more about Minecraft Legends' online matchmaking PvP mode, which will pit two teams of up to four players against each other in a unique, procedurally generated world separate from the main map. During matches, players will need to collect resources, build bases and fortresses, raise armies, and work with their team to conquer territory and dominate the enemy team. Mojang Studios wants Minecraft Legends' PvP to be "chaotic fun," with players more focused on the wild and unpredictable trajectory of each map rather than the end goal of coming out on top. As well as the campaign and PvP mode, there's a rotating limited time mode called Lost Legends, with smaller scenarios to play through. Mojang are planning to drop one new Lost Legend every month. There's also a marketplace where you can buy skins and the like with microtransactions, which I of course stayed as far away from as possible.

It's simple but quite compulsive, and there are some interesting decisions that I really liked. The maps are pretty roomy, for example, with lots of wilderness spaces in between objectives. Not only is this the kind of terrain that Minecraft turns out so beautifully, it also means that this is an RTS with a nice element of horizon-lust. I wandered about, admired the new gentle Cel-shading, wondering what I might find.

THIS MONTH 

It's such a shame that they haven't taken full advantage of the game's connection to Big Daddy Minecraft. It could have been an entirely unique RTS with more of a focus on building and exploration than anything that's come before it. The focus seems instead to have gone elsewhere. In fairness, the amount of polish that has gone into some parts of this game is really impressive. The animations are full of life, the world is vibrant and welcoming, the cinematics look great, the voice acting is... well, not my cup of tea, but it's still done very well. It's a real sadness that the game gets in its own way to the point where I haven't been able to end a play session thinking, "well, that was fun". Future content... We know that Minecraft Legends will support online co-op for its entire campaign experience, letting players jump in with up to three of their friends. Minecraft Dungeons and Minecraft both offer fantastic online co-op experiences, and we expect Minecraft Legends to follow suit. It has also been hinted that Minecraft Legends will have a Challenge Mode, possibly mirroring other strategy games with tailored level-like challenges, but no confirmed details are available. You don't actually do any of this yourself. Unlike Minecraft Cool Original Flavour, Legends is a hands-off experience. All mining and crafting duties are delegated to the allays, tiny sprites who can be assigned to build structures, or gather all the resources of a given type in a small area. Both building and gathering types are restricted in number, so you're limited in how much you can do at once.

Minecraft Legends tells the unlikely story of all the mobs and creatures of the Overworld dimension in Minecraft banding together to combat the invading forces of Piglins swarming from the terrifying Nether. Players will take control of a nameless hero to unite the Overworld and guide their forces in the raging war against the encroaching Nether corruption, aided by a collection of powerful tools and the guiding hands of Minecraft's first fully voiced mobs, The Hosts. Known as Foresight, Action, and Knowledge, The Hosts represent all the characteristics players will need to employ to save the Overworld from certain destruction.

Where To Buy

The preview revealed that Minecraft Legends leans more heavily into strategy gameplay than originally speculated, and firmly rests in an entirely unique spot between the action and strategy genres from which it pulls. Minecraft Legends also appears to be an ambitious title, with only slivers of its opening hours shown during Gamescom 2022. Corden concluded our Minecraft Legends preview by enthusing, "We’ll have to wait to find out the answers to some of these questions — but I’m far more interested in Minecraft Legends coming out of Gamescom. Whether you’re a typical strategy game player or not, I think you should keep your eyes firmly trained on this one."