Minecraft Legends

Last updated

Minecraft Legends
Minecraft Legends Cover Art.jpg
Official cover art
Developer(s)
Publisher(s) Xbox Game Studios
Series Minecraft
Platform(s)
ReleaseApril 18, 2023
Genre(s) Action, strategy
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer

Minecraft Legends is a 2023 real-time action-strategy [1] [2] [3] video game developed by Mojang Studios and Blackbird Interactive and published by Xbox Game Studios. A spin-off of the 2011 sandbox game Minecraft , it was released on Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on April 18, 2023. The game would later cease development on January 10, 2024. [4]

Contents

The goal of the game is to defend the Overworld from an invasion of piglins, pig-like humanoid creatures from the Nether dimension, while the player gradually strengthens their structures and troops with resources harvested. The game received mixed reviews from critics, with its gameplay being both praised for its execution and criticized for its repetitive nature.

Gameplay

Minecraft Legends is set in the Minecraft Overworld, an earth-like dimension filled with various biomes and natural resources that is currently under attack from the piglin hordes from the Nether dimension. The Overworld contains friendly villages, hostile piglin outposts, and the Well of Fate (the player spawnpoint and fast-travel hub). Similarly to Minecraft, the Overworld is procedurally generated, resulting in a unique world for each playthrough of the game. [5]

Players collect resources to construct defenses, upgrade buildings, and summon troops. Players collect basic resources such as wood and stone by assigning friendly Allays to harvest them from deposits found in the Overworld. Other resources, such as redstone and lapis lazuli are used to build advanced structures and summon stronger troops but are locked behind Well of Fate upgrades. Prismarine, which is needed to construct some buildings, can only be collected by defeating piglin structures. The player can use resources they've collected to construct buildings and upgrade the Well of Fate. Defensive fortifications such as walls and turrets protect friendly villages and player outposts. Spawners summon friendly troops the players can recruit into their army. Offensive structures such as the redstone cannon, hurl explosive shells at targets from long range. Upgrading the Well of Fate unlocks more advanced buildings and troops. [5]

The primary goal of combat is to destroy piglin outposts and defend friendly villages from periodic piglin raids. Players use their summoned troops to assault and destroy piglin outposts. Players travel around the Overworld on their mount, from which they can issue various orders command their army on the battlefield. These commands include orders to rally, halt, and charge. [6] Players can also use their sword to attack enemies directly. Players build their army by constructing spawner buildings that summon troops or recruiting troops from camps found throughout the Overworld. [5]

Minecraft Legends incorporates the same Minecoins currency as Minecraft Bedrock Edition . This currency is used to purchase additional skins and mounts within the game. [7] The game is sold with an optional "Deluxe Skin Pack", which contains six additional in-game skins: one hero skin and five mount skins.

Plot

The game begins with the player mining in a cave when they are greeted by three beings: Action, Knowledge, and Foresight. These beings are called Hosts, caretakers of the Overworld. These three persuade the player to help them save their world, where a war has broken out between the Nether and the Overworld. The player is then transported to that world. After completing a tutorial, the player must save a few villages from being invaded by piglins from the Nether. Then, the player destroys three nether outposts that are preparing to invade villages. Subsequently, the player destroys nine Nether portals from three different world areas. In each of these three areas, the player has to defeat a piglin boss: "the Devourer," "the Beast," and "the Unbreakable". Once the player destroys all of the portals and defeats all of the bosses, the player fights the final boss: "the Great Hog."

Just as the player defeats the Great Hog, it makes a last attempt at destroying the Well of Fate. This backfires and his army is swallowed by a portal that sends them back to the Nether. Then, the Great Hog finally dies. After the battle, there is a grand celebration in the Overworld of their win over the piglins. Not all is well, however. The warrior villagers, who fought alongside the hero, resent the pacifistic villagers who did not, which causes a rift between the two groups. In addition to this, the Hosts have left the world to the Hero's responsibility and moved on.

Development

Minecraft Legends began development in 2018. The game was announced during the Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase on June 12, 2022. [8] After the show, a trailer on the Minecraft YouTube channel confirmed additional platforms. [9] It is developed by series creators Mojang Studios in collaboration with Blackbird Interactive, a team founded by former Relic Entertainment employees, who are best known for developing the real-time strategy video game series Homeworld . [10]

After the success of Minecraft Dungeons , [11] another spinoff of Minecraft, Minecraft Legends was released on April 18, 2023. [12] It was made available to play on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5|4, Steam, Windows 11|10, PC Game Pass, Xbox Game Pass, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and Xbox Cloud Gaming. [13]

On January 10, 2024, Mojang announced that no more updates will be released for Minecraft Legends. [4]

Reception

Reception of the game was generally mixed. According to the review aggregator Metacritic, Minecraft Legends received "mixed or average" reviews. [14] [15] Critics viewed the game as a solid addition to the Minecraft franchise but offered differing opinions on its execution. Destructoid writer Timothy Monbleau expressed newfound appreciation for both Minecraft and the strategy genre after playing the game, [7] while Sarah Thwaites of Game Informer described the game as feeling "caught between the expected complexity of strategy games and the franchise’s approachable brand."

Critics generally found the gameplay fun but repetitive and lacking in depth. [19] [18] [6] They praised the game for its Minecraft-themed art style, [5] [18] resource gathering mechanics, and base-building gameplay. [7] [19] Critics also liked the multiplayer co-op and PvP modes. [5] [7] [18] Some reviewers criticized the game's lack of strategic depth, poor AI, [7] [19] [29] and tedious gameplay. [25] [18] [23]

Related Research Articles

<i>Minecraft</i> 2011 video game

Minecraft is a 2011 sandbox game developed and published by Swedish video game developer Mojang Studios. Originally created by Markus "Notch" Persson using the Java programming language, the first public alpha build was released on 17 May 2009. The game would be continuously developed from then on, receiving a full release on 18 November 2011. Afterwards, Persson left Mojang and gave Jens "Jeb" Bergensten control over development. In the years since its release, it has been ported to several platforms, including smartphones, tablets, and various video game consoles. In 2014, Mojang and the Minecraft intellectual property were purchased by Microsoft for US$2.5 billion. Minecraft is the best-selling video game of all time, with over 300 million copies sold and nearly 170 million monthly active players as of 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Markus Persson</span> Swedish video game programmer (born 1979)

Markus Alexej Persson, also known as Notch, is a Swedish video game programmer and designer. He is the creator of Minecraft, which is the best-selling video game in history. He founded the video game development company Mojang Studios in 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mojang Studios</span> Swedish video game developer

Mojang Studios is a Swedish video game developer based in Stockholm. The studio is best known for developing the sandbox and survival game Minecraft, the best-selling video game of all time.

<i>Terraria</i> 2011 video game

Terraria is a 2011 action-adventure sandbox game developed by Re-Logic. The game was first released for Windows and has since been ported to other PC and console platforms. The game features exploration, crafting, building, painting, and combat with a variety of creatures in a procedurally generated 2D world. Terraria is one of the best-selling video games of all time, selling 58.7 million copies as of 2024.

Lego Minecraft is a Lego theme based on the sandbox video game Minecraft. The theme was first introduced in 2012.

Music of <i>Minecraft</i> Music of the video game Minecraft

The music of the 2011 video game Minecraft, developed by Mojang Studios, primarily consists of two soundtrack albums by German musician Daniel Rosenfeld, better known as C418. American composer Lena Raine has also contributed music for four major updates to the game since 2020, alongside Aaron Cherof and Kumi Tanioka who worked on the most recent version in 2024. Music included in downloadable content (DLC) for legacy console versions of the game was handled by British musician Gareth Coker.

<i>Minecraft: The Story of Mojang</i> 2012 documentary film

Minecraft: The Story of Mojang is a 2012 documentary film produced by 2 Player Productions and directed by Paul Owens. It is about the first year of Mojang, the development company founded by game designer Markus "Notch" Persson, and the development and release of Persson's game Minecraft. The film features interviews with prominent game designers affected by Minecraft, popular online figures associated with the game, and segments with fans and community members.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minecraft Live</span> Annual interactive livestream for the video game Minecraft

Minecraft Live is an interactive livestream about the video game Minecraft, hosted annually by developer Mojang. Originally starting out as an in-person fan convention called MinecraftCon, the first gathering was in 2010; the event reoccurred annually until 2016 under the name Minecon. The Minecon 2011 convention was held in Las Vegas and celebrated the launch of the game with Minecraft-related discussion panels and gaming areas; the last in-person convention, Minecon 2016, held in Anaheim, had 12,000 attendees.

<i>A Minecraft Movie</i> Upcoming film by Jared Hess

A Minecraft Movie is an upcoming adventure comedy film directed by Jared Hess and written by Chris Bowman and Hubbel Palmer, based on the 2011 video game Minecraft developed by Mojang Studios. The film stars Jack Black, Jason Momoa, Emma Myers, Danielle Brooks, Sebastian Eugene Hansen, and Jennifer Coolidge.

<i>Minecraft: Story Mode</i> 2015 video game

Minecraft: Story Mode is an episodic point-and-click video game developed and published by Telltale Games, based on Mojang Studios' sandbox video game Minecraft. The first five episodes were released between October 2015 through March 2016 and an additional three episodes were released as downloadable content (DLC) in mid-2016. A second season consisting of five episodes was released in 2017.

<i>Cube Life: Island Survival</i> 2015 indie sandbox video game

Cube Life: Island Survival is an indie open world sandbox survival video game developed and published by Cypronia. It was released for Wii U in June 2015. An HD remake was released for Steam in April 2018, for Android and iOS in August 2018, and for Nintendo Switch in December 2020.

A Minecraft mod is a mod that changes aspects of the sandbox game Minecraft. Minecraft mods can add additional content to the game, make tweaks to specific features, and optimize performance. Thousands of mods for the game have been created, with some mods even generating an income for their authors. While Mojang Studios does not provide an API for modding, community tools exist to help developers create and distribute mods. The popularity of Minecraft mods has been credited for helping Minecraft become one of the best-selling video games of all time.

<i>Crown and Council</i> 2016 video game

Crown and Council is a turn-based strategy game developed by Mojang employee Henrik Pettersson. The game was both announced and released as a surprise on Steam on April 22, 2016 and was made available for free.

<i>Minecraft Dungeons</i> 2020 video game

Minecraft Dungeons is a 2020 dungeon crawler video game developed by Mojang Studios and Double Eleven and published by Xbox Game Studios. It is a spin-off of the sandbox video game Minecraft and was released for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One in May 2020. It was also adapted into an arcade video game by Raw Thrills. The arcade version released in May 2021. The game would later cease development on September 28, 2023.

Creeper (<i>Minecraft</i>) Fictional Minecraft hostile creature

A creeper is a fictional creature in the sandbox video game Minecraft. Creepers are hostile mobs that spawn in dark places. Instead of attacking the player directly, they creep up on the player and explode, destroying blocks in the surrounding area and potentially hurting or killing the player if they are within the blast radius. Their green camouflage and generally silent behavior aid in stealth attacks, making them one of the most dangerous mobs in Minecraft. Creepers were first added to Minecraft in a pre-alpha update to the game that was released on September 1, 2009.

<i>Minecraft Earth</i> 2018 video game

Minecraft Earth was an augmented reality and geolocation-based sandbox game developed by Mojang Studios and Blackbird interactive and published by Xbox Game Studios. A spin-off of the video game Minecraft, it was first announced in May 2019, and was available on Android and iOS. The game was free-to-play, and was first released in early access on 17 October 2019. The game received its final update in January 2021 and officially shut down on 30 June 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A Minecraft server is a player-owned or business-owned multiplayer game server for the 2011 Mojang Studios video game Minecraft. In this context, the term "server" often refers to a network of connected servers, rather than a single machine. Players can start their own server either by setting one up on a computer using software provided by Mojang, or by using a hosting provider so they can have their server run on dedicated machines with guaranteed uptime. The largest server is widely accepted to be the minigame server Hypixel.

Minecraft is a media franchise developed from and centered around the video game of the same name. Developed by Mojang Studios and Xbox Game Studios, which are owned by Microsoft Corporation, the franchise consists of six video games, along with various books, merchandise, events, and an upcoming theatrical film. Microsoft acquired Mojang AB in 2014, alongside the Minecraft game and its editions.

<i>Gameknight999</i> Childrens fantasy fiction series

Gameknight999 is a series of children's novels written by Mark Cheverton, an author and engineer based in upstate New York, and published from 2013 to 2017. The series is unofficially based on Minecraft and set within its world. The second novel of the series was listed in the Publishers Weekly bestseller list in November 2014 and the New York Times children's series bestseller list in February 2015.

Steve (<i>Minecraft</i>) Fictional video game character

Steve is a player character from the 2011 sandbox video game Minecraft. Created by Swedish video game developer Markus "Notch" Persson and introduced in the original 2009 Java-based version, Steve is the first of nine default player character skins available for players of contemporary versions of Minecraft. Steve lacks an official backstory as he is intended to be a customizable player avatar as opposed to being a predefined character. His feminine counterpart, Alex, was introduced in August 2014 for Java PC versions of Minecraft, with the other seven debuting in the Java edition of the game in October 2022. Depending on the version of Minecraft, players have a choice of defaulting to either Steve or any other variant skins when creating a new account. However, the skin is easy to change from the game itself or website. He will be portrayed by Jack Black in the film adaptation A Minecraft Movie, set for release in 2025.

References

  1. ↑ Boddy, Zachary; Brown, Matt (October 15, 2022). "Minecraft Legends coming spring 2023, gameplay debuts at Minecraft Live". Windows Central . Archived from the original on October 20, 2022. Retrieved October 19, 2022.
  2. ↑ Phillips, Tom (June 12, 2022). "Minecraft Legends is a new action strategy game spin-off". Eurogamer . Archived from the original on October 19, 2022. Retrieved October 19, 2022.
  3. ↑ Moon, Mariella (June 12, 2022). "'Minecraft Legends' is a new action-strategy game coming 2023". Engadget . Archived from the original on October 19, 2022. Retrieved October 19, 2022.
  4. 1 2 "Lost Legends: Snow vs Snouts". Minecraft.net. Retrieved January 10, 2024. ... we won't be releasing any new content (i.e. updates, Lost Legends, or Marketplace DLC) for Minecraft Legends ...
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Koreis, Justin (April 14, 2023). "Minecraft Legends Review". IGN. Retrieved November 1, 2023.
  6. 1 2 West, Josh (April 14, 2023). "Minecraft Legends review: "Point, click, and hope for the best"". GamesRadar . Retrieved November 1, 2023.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Review: Minecraft Legends". Destructoid. Retrieved November 1, 2023.
  8. ↑ Carpenter, Nicole (June 12, 2022). "Minecraft gets a strategy spinoff, Minecraft Legends". Polygon . Archived from the original on June 12, 2022. Retrieved June 12, 2022.
  9. ↑ Minecraft Legends – Announce Trailer, Minecraft Channel, June 12, 2022, archived from the original on June 13, 2022, retrieved June 12, 2022
  10. ↑ Middler, Jordan (June 12, 2022). "Strategy game Minecraft Legends announced for release in 2023". Video Games Chronicle . Archived from the original on June 13, 2022. Retrieved June 12, 2022.
  11. ↑ Carpenter, Nicole (June 12, 2022). "Minecraft gets a strategy spinoff, Minecraft Legends". Polygon . Archived from the original on June 12, 2022. Retrieved June 12, 2022.
  12. ↑ Morton, Lauren (June 14, 2022). "Minecraft Legends: everything we know about the new strategy spinoff". PC Gamer . Archived from the original on June 14, 2022. Retrieved June 15, 2022.
  13. ↑ "Minecraft Legends Official Site". October 30, 2023.
  14. 1 2 "Minecraft Legends for PC Reviews". Metacritic . Archived from the original on April 15, 2023. Retrieved July 5, 2023.
  15. 1 2 "Minecraft Legends for Xbox Series X Reviews". Metacritic . Archived from the original on April 15, 2023. Retrieved April 14, 2023.
  16. ↑ Franzese, Tomas (April 14, 2023). "Minecraft Legends review: Age of Empires meets Pikmin in this approachable strategy game". Digital Trends . Archived from the original on April 14, 2023. Retrieved April 14, 2023.
  17. ↑ Thwaites, Sarah (April 14, 2023). "Minecraft Legends Review - A Strategic Retreat". Game Informer . Archived from the original on April 14, 2023. Retrieved April 14, 2023.
  18. 1 2 3 4 5 Gilbert, John (April 17, 2023). "Minecraft Legends Review". Game Revolution . Archived from the original on April 20, 2023. Retrieved April 17, 2023.
  19. 1 2 3 4 "Minecraft Legends Reviews". GameSpot . Archived from the original on April 15, 2024. Retrieved April 15, 2024.
  20. ↑ West, Josh (April 14, 2023). "Minecraft Legends review: "Point, click, and hope for the best"". gamesradar. Retrieved November 1, 2023.
  21. ↑ Koreis, Justin (April 14, 2023). "Minecraft Legends Review". IGN . Archived from the original on April 14, 2023. Retrieved April 14, 2023.
  22. ↑ Allen, Jen (April 14, 2023). "'Minecraft Legends' review: charming if not always gripping". NME . Archived from the original on April 15, 2023. Retrieved April 14, 2023.
  23. 1 2 Morton, Lauren (April 14, 2023). "Minecraft Legends review". PC Gamer . Archived from the original on April 14, 2023. Retrieved April 14, 2023.
  24. ↑ Farrell, Andrew (April 14, 2023). "Minecraft Legends review – a bridge mostly far enough". PCGamesN . Archived from the original on April 14, 2023. Retrieved April 14, 2023.
  25. 1 2 Cuevas, Zackery (April 26, 2023). "Minecraft Legends - A surprising miss for the legendary series". PCMag . Archived from the original on April 27, 2023. Retrieved April 26, 2023.
  26. ↑ Erskine, Donovan (April 14, 2023). "Minecraft Legends review: War for the Overworld". Shacknews . Archived from the original on April 14, 2023. Retrieved April 14, 2023.
  27. ↑ Donaldson, Alex (April 14, 2023). "Minecraft Legends review: a cute kid-friendly strategy adventure, but missing the series' magic". VG247 . Archived from the original on April 15, 2023. Retrieved April 14, 2023.
  28. ↑ Valantina, Marloes (April 14, 2023). "Minecraft Legends review – kid-friendly real-time strategy". VideoGamer.com. Archived from the original on April 14, 2023. Retrieved April 14, 2023.
  29. ↑ West, Josh (April 14, 2023). "Minecraft Legends review: "Point, click, and hope for the best"". gamesradar. Retrieved November 1, 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.