Minecraft has demonstrated remarkable longevity in the competitive gaming market, maintaining its popularity for over a decade. It’s understandable that Microsoft, the owner, aims to expand the game’s universe and explore other genres. They’ve already established a presence in the survival genre with Minecraft itself, and released the well-received dungeon crawler, Minecraft Dungeons. Now, Mojang is venturing into the strategy realm with Minecraft Legends. This title, in development since 2018, is slated for release on April 18, 2023, and I’ve had the opportunity to evaluate it in recent weeks.
My enthusiasm for Minecraft and Minecraft Dungeons led me to take on the Minecraft Legends review. The prospect of a new Minecraft title was appealing. However, the initial enjoyment I experienced quickly diminished, giving way to a sense of repetition. Unlike the open-ended nature of Minecraft, Minecraft Legends offers limited freedom, primarily focusing on objective completion and exploration.
The core gameplay loop in Minecraft Legends involves commanding an army of diverse golems to defend villages and assault piglin outposts, ideally performing both tasks. However, the repetitive nature of these engagements becomes apparent quickly. Battles often devolve into issuing commands to attack piglins or piglin towers, followed by a waiting period, and then repeating the process. Resource management is integral to protecting villages and constructing golems, requiring the delegation of tasks to smaller allies for mining stone, iron, and harvesting wood.
While my critique of Minecraft Legends has been critical, it’s important to acknowledge its strengths. The game features a streamlined combat system that allows for easy division of golems into groups and strategic deployment across the battlefield. This intuitive control scheme is, in my opinion, a key positive aspect of the game.
In summary, it appears that Mojang’s ambitions for Minecraft Legends may have been too expansive. The game is unlikely to appeal to those who are not already fans of the real-time strategy genre. However, players who enjoy titles like Command & Conquer may find Minecraft Legends to be an engaging experience.
Microsoft provided a review code for this evaluation. The provision of materials does not influence our editorial process or the outcome of our reviews.
