What you need to know
- Minecraft Legends is an upcoming action-strategy title developed in collaboration between Mojang Studios and Blackbird Interactive.
- The game further expands the Minecraft universe, and is highly anticipated by the community.
- During Minecraft Live 2022, Mojang Studios shared a ton of information on Minecraft Legends.
- Fresh gameplay footage was shown, new mobs were revealed, and a release window of spring 2023 was announced.
The 2023 calendar year appears to be packed with first-party Xbox Game Studios title, and one of the most enticing and exciting is Minecraft Legends. Mojang Studios is working with Blackbird Interactive to develop a unique game blending action-adventure and strategy gameplay, and the latter revealed a ton of gameplay footage and information on Saturday.
During Minecraft Live 2022, Mojang Studios gave Minecraft Legends the spotlight, with a segment of the show detailing the gameplay elements, story campaign, online co-op, and more of the upcoming Minecraft spin-off. A brand-new cinematic trailer, as well as a live demo of co-op gameplay and an intense Piglin invasion, accompanied the news, giving fans plenty to digest while the Minecraft Legends team continues to prepare the game for release. Here's everything we learned about Minecraft Legends during Minecraft Live 2022:
- An increased focus on story. Minecraft Legends will feature more story elements than either Minecraft or Minecraft Dungeons, although still in a unique way that only Minecraft can pull off.
- The first voiced mobs. As a part of this story campaign, Minecraft Legends will feature the universe's first fully-voiced mobs: The Hosts.
- The Hosts are an integral part of Minecraft Legends, acting as the voice of the Overworld
- There are three Hosts, named Foresight, Action, and Knowledge, representing the three characteristics players will need to exhibit to succeed in Minecraft Legends
- The Hosts will provide players with knowledge and tools during Minecraft Legends
- The tools of Minecraft Legends' action-strategy gameplay. During Minecraft Live 2022, Mojang Studios shared a look at the three tools that make up the foundation of Minecraft Legends' gameplay loop.
- The Flame of Creation allows players to craft and place mob spawners, where players can spend resources to spawn friendly mobs to support them in battle
- The Banner of Courage allows players to not only recruit friendly mobs in the world (including animals!), but also to direct and command those mobs in battle
- The Lute will summon helpful allays that can either collect resources in the world or build a wide variety of fortifications, defensive structures, and buildings for players
- A colossal number of unique mobs and enemies. The number of mobs appearing in Minecraft Legends is staggering, and Mojang Studios reveals more all the time. Minecraft Live 2022 revealed even greater details and mob variants.
- Piglin hordes are the foundational enemies of Minecraft Legends, and there are many varieties
- The Horde of the Spore, for example, in itself includes half a dozen or more unique Piglin mob types
- Each type of Piglin horde possesses special designs, traits, attack styles, and more
- There will also be lots of golems to aid players in combat of varying size, type, and skill, including a powerful golem type over twice the size of Iron Golems in Minecraft
- The world of Minecraft Legends is filled with unique and diverse animals, like badgers, llamas, foxes, turtles, rabbits, ocelots, and much more
- Players can also use a variety of different mounts apart from the horse, like the adorable purple regal tiger
- Players can use in-world foliage like Speed Weed and Bounce Caps to temporarily increase the movement speed and jump height of their mounts
- Multiplayer and co-op. Minecraft Legends is being built with four-player online co-op in mind, and Mojang Studios shared the first live gameplay of Minecraft Legends' online features in action.
- Mojang Studios revealed more of Minecraft Legends' gorgeous world and Piglin-filled action in online co-op
- The studio also reaffirmed that Minecraft Legends will feature team-based, player-versus-player (PvP) multiplayer, with matchmaking, at launch
- More information on Minecraft Legends' multiplayer features will be shared in the coming months
- More information and details. Minecraft Legends' section during Minecraft Live 2022 was filled from beginning to end with fresh information on the upcoming game.
- Mojang Studios confirmed once again that Minecraft Legends is built on the studio's exclusive Bedrock Engine, which also powers Minecraft: Bedrock Edition
- Minecraft Legends will focus on accessibility and approachability, with plenty of options and settings for players
- Minecraft Legends will continue to expand and evolve after launch with new content and features
- The post-launch support plan for Minecraft Legends is different from Minecraft and Minecraft Dungeons, but Mojang Studios will share more information in the future
Minecraft Legends is shaping up to be another anticipated addition to 2023's lineup of upcoming games, a sentiment supported by our earlier hands-on of Minecraft Legends. The game also continues Mojang Studios' multiplatform philosophy, meaning it isn't just aiming for a spot among the best Xbox games — it's also headed to PlayStation, Switch, PC, Xbox, and PC Game Pass, and Xbox Cloud Gaming. Minecraft Legends is officially arriving at some point in spring 2023, although the exact release date still isn't known.
