Summary
On April 18th, 2023, the real-time action-strategy gameMinecraft Legendswas released on all platforms by Mojang Studios and Blackbird Interactive, a team including some of theHomeworldRTS series’ creators. A real-time strategyMinecraftspin-off featuring mobs directed by a player character sounded like a slam-dunk, with both sides of the gameplay coming together while gathering resources and crafting mid-battle.Minecraft Legendswas even presented as a mythologized prequel toMinecraftitself, a concept bound to draw long-time fans in.Legendsseemed on-course to become the ideal side game to the industry giant that wasMinecraft.
Minecraft Legends Implemented Its Best Ideas Poorly
On paper,Minecraft Legendsshould work. Besides the basicMinecraftRTS premise, it has cooperative and competitive multiplayer to extend its lifespan, monthly challenges for the same reason, randomized map layouts for a more authenticMinecraftexperience, andevenMinecraftlore implicationsthat leave room for discussion thanks to its story’s nature. WhereMinecraft Legendsstumbles is in its execution, never becoming more than the most shallow interpretation of itself. So many parts of the game were close to being impressive, but they fell just short.
Minecraft Legends Was Mired In Missteps
Perhaps the most devastating case of this, and one of the roots ofMinecraft Legends' problems, is its identity as an accessible console real-time strategy game. Console RTS’s are niche for a reason, as the speed, precision, and typically large breadth of options in an RTS are antithetical to a controller’s buttons-and-sticks layout.Minecraft Legends’ attempt at designing around this was admirable, but it couldn’t avoid the classic choice between ease-of-use and depth, and it may have doomed itself by prioritizing the former.Successful action-strategy console series’ likePikminandOverlorddemonstrate that riding the line is possible, butMinecraft Legendswould have had to become a very different game if it wanted to follow their examples.
Self-sabotage is evident in almost every part ofMinecraft Legends. Good maps are vital in RTS games, andLegends’ randomization means that quality isn’t guaranteed, despite landscapes also lacking the mechanical variety thatMinecraftis known for. Playing as a third-person hero unit keeps players in the action, but stops them from quickly directing their troops across an entire battlefield, and never provides the same precision, or evencombat depth, a regularMinecraftplayer enjoys. Building and crafting are less emphasized than they could be, the campaign is brief and repetitive, the story barely exists beyond the opening and ending, simpler gameplay means lower multiplayer depth, and so on.Minecraft Legendsis too well-made to be outright bad, but it also doesn’t come together as anything interesting.
How Minecraft Could Still Become A Great RTS
Failing to make a splash and losing support before its first anniversary is about as bad asMinecraft Legendscould have gone, but it shouldn’t be the end of this game’s legacy. While getting post-launch expansions like its fellow spin-offs,Minecraft Story ModeandMinecraft Dungeons, is out of the question, a sequel isn’t, even if it should use a new subtitle to dodge the inherent disinterest in a “Minecraft Legends 2.” AMinecraftRTS still works on paper in spite of howMinecraft Legendswent, and doing one right involves tapping into the full extent of its potential.
On theMinecraftend, plenty of mobs and biomes have yet to joinLegends’ gameplay. Piglins could become a playable faction that combines some Overworld traits with their signature spore-spreading. Other armies built fromMinecraft’s mobs would introduce further play styles, like Illagers staging raids with debilitating tactics, the Endermen warping in elite units and stealing resources to make way for the Ender Dragon, and the Undead employing classicStarcraftZerg rushes using weaker hordes. Biomes used in the campaign and multiplayer maps also have lots of room to grow, incorporating actual Nether locales, the End, deserts, caves, and more, all with fitting hazards like lava flows or a roaming Warden and potentially unique materials.
Meanwhile, moment-to-moment RTS gameplay will also see a major shift. Battle maps would preferably be constrained to single, handcrafted biomes, compared to the generated open world islands used inMinecraft Legends, justifying the ability to zoom out and direct troops from anywhere. Hero units can be refitted as pure builders, able to quickly craft structures with gathered resources,place spawners forMinecraft’s mobs, and even equip mobs with armor and tools. With all of these changes speeding the game up, raising the skill ceiling, and potentially streamlining the controls even more, the cherry on top could be each faction gaining their own campaign with distinct mission objectives like a classic RTS.
The end result will be a very different game fromMinecraft Legends, but becoming aconventional strategy game withMinecrafttrappingsis better than attempting an even merger and letting both halves down.Minecraft Legendssuffered a major defeat before its first year was up, but there’s still the possibility that its strong core concept could be molded into something better in the future. It will take a lot of work, but that should be worth it if a sequel succeeds whereMinecraft Legendsfell short.
