Minecraft Legends new gameplay trailer has big Dragon Quest Builders energy
A slightly closer look at its action-strategy spin
Mojang Studios announced Minecraft Legends during this month's Summer Geoff Fest, dubbing it an "action strategy" Minecraft spin-off that's being made in collaboration with Blackbird Interactive, the folks behind Homeworld 3 and Hardspace Shipbreaker. And that was the extent of our knowledge at the time. Well, thanks to Nintendo's latest Direct Mini, we got the briefest slice of new gameplay which expands our knowledge just a smidge further. Seems fun? I think?
If you head over to 19:20 in the Direct Mini embedded above, you'll see the new Minecraft Legends footage. Granted, it's not a lot, but hey – it's something. Like Alice O mentioned in her announcement post, the game still gives off Dragon Quest Builders energy.
Whether or not there's less of a focus on survival is hard to know just yet, but there's absolutely an emphasis on leading little armies into battle against evil Piglins and taking over their encampments. We see some blocky folks riding around on horses, with spiders and llamas following them about. Later, the player whirls a flag around themselves which looks to rally a bunch of creatures to their aid.
The blue sprites that flit around in some of the clips confuse me, though. Early on they appear to build a little structure next to some blue chests before the footage cuts away. They appear again not long after, seemingly clearing a path for the player to move through. Hmmm.
And that's pretty much your lot. A weird decision to show off more of the game during the Nintendo Direct Mini, but hey, whatever works. I'm pretty sold on the action strategy concept, as commanding little armies of adorable, blocky friends is extremely my jam. Pokemon Quest is my most played mobile game and there's an air of it in Minecraft Legends too, so that's another win for me.
Minecraft Legends is due to launch in 2023 on Steam and the Microsoft Store. No doubt, it'll be on Game Pass too. And it'll hit Xboxes, PlayStations, and Nintendo Switch.