Last week’s showcases were full of surprises, huge reveals like the Resident Evil 4 Remaketo smaller, more hidden gems like time passes. Xbox and Bethesda’s Showcase had their fair share of both, with Minecraft: Legends come in the middle. Although it may not have carried the same relentless hype as star field, Minecraft: Legends was still a neat reveal, and the game’s lengthy trailer gave fans a good look at what to expect when it releases in 2023.
Minecraft: Legends takes the beloved block-building franchise and gives it an adventure-strategy makeover. Based on the reveal trailer, it looks like players will create their own villages as a base of operations before heading out to defeat certain Nether forces, using both their own abilities and the abilities of their companions, that they will be able to command on the battlefield. Whereas Minecraft: Legends This is the first time the series has ventured into the realm of strategy, it’s not the first Minecraft spin-off, but it has the potential to be the best.
What Minecraft: Legends should learn from past spin-offs
Being one of the most popular entertainment franchises on the entire planet, it’s no wonder that Minecraft has received a few spin-offs over the years. Whereas Minecraft was an instant hit when it was fully released in 2011, with a lengthy beta phase building huge hype before it took several years before the franchise received any type of spin-off.
The first one Minecraft the spin-off was that of Telltale Minecraft: story mode. Just like the rest of Telltale’s library, Minecraft: story mode is a point and click adventure game, released episodically between October 2015 and March 2016. For those who have never played a Telltale game before, the gameplay in Minecraft: story mode comes down to picking up items, solving light puzzles, and having conversations with characters, most of which lead to key decisions that impact the narrative.
With Minecraft not exactly known for its storied history, Telltale’s Minecraft: story mode raised quite a few eyebrows at the time. Whereas Minecraft certainly has some lore, most revolving around its enemy characters, its inherent creative gameplay never really allowed for an official story. Telltale had a pretty tough task ahead of it, and by most reviews, it pretty much succeeded.
The critical reception of Minecraft: story mode was pretty unanimous, but it wasn’t all great. Most outlets gave the game a rating between 6 and 7, with the majority of reviewers praising the game’s excellent voice work, fun storyline, and engaging storyline, but stating that the game’s simplistic gameplay and lack meaningful interactivity let it down considerably.
Flash forward about four years, and Minecraft Dungeons is released, with reviews saying essentially the same things. Exchange Minecraftthe creative sandbox gameplay for an isometric game, Diablo– as a dungeon crawler, Minecraft Dungeons first released in 2020 for PC, Switch, PS4, and Xbox One. A little like Story Mode, Minecraft Dungeons received a fairly mixed reception, with scores again ranging from 6s to 7s.
The criticism for Minecraft Dungeons was quite similar to Minecraft: story mode‘s, with outlets praising the game’s presentation and charming characters, but bemoaning its simplicity. Although reviewers had fun with the gameplay, the general consensus was that there just wasn’t enough depth to combat or the gear system, leading to some boredom after a few hours.
Minecraft: Legends must consider its predecessors and learn from their shortcomings. The franchise’s biggest weakness so far seems to be its lack of complex game mechanics, in order to surpass its predecessors, Minecraft: Legends should provide a more unique and compelling experience. It should be able to achieve this quite easily through its use of both the adventure and strategy genres, as the blending of these two types of gameplay should give the game a unique identity and provide players with plenty of mechanics to build their own. idea.
Minecraft Legends is due out in 2023 on Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.