Mojang and Blackbird Interactive shared a good look at the PvP mode in their upcoming spin-off strategy game Minecraft Legends today, along with a launch date of April 18. Ahead of the reveal at the Microsoft showcase, Mojang executive producer Dennis Ries and Blackbird executive producer Lee McKinnon Pederson talked to me about what it feels like to play a round of head-to-head Legends.
Mojang and Blackbird have described Minecraft Legends as an “action strategy” game rather than an RTS, as you have your own player character gallop across the map on a mountain to lead troops and build from the ground up. Like standard Minecraft, Legends also uses procedurally generated maps, which also extends to PvP.
“Every world is different, so you never know where … mountains are, where there are valleys, where the other team’s base is going to be. So while it’s familiar, it’s quite different,” says Pederson.
“You could choose a redstone strategy if redstone is close to your base [or] a diamond strategy if that’s close to your base,” adds Ries. “Each strategy requires you to venture out and gather resources in a different way.” mortars down into an opponent’s base shown in the new gameplay video .
Ries says the developers are shooting 20-30 minute matches in PvP, which meant changing some of the campaign’s features. For example, while they’re still procedurally generated, the maps are smaller because they “can’t have two bases 15 minutes apart,” says Ries. Basic resources such as wood and stone move closer to your starting area to jump-start production, and collecting resources with your allay helpers is also slightly faster.
The pig pig hordes are also a factor in PvP play. “The further you get into a match, the more the piglins escalate their attacks on you and your opponents,” says Pederson. “They’re not just a nuisance around the edges. They become a bigger part of the gameplay within PvP as you progress.”
Overall, Legends is “obviously Minecraft, but it’s also clearly not vanilla,” Ries said. What’s different is obvious – it has a totally different strategy game style – but it sounds like they’ve managed to keep a very Minecraft-esque vibe for co-op.
Pederson explains how you can create a division of labor between teammates who would rather gather or build a base or go on the offensive, but that the game itself doesn’t strictly enforce roles in any way. The reveal of the PvP gameplay demonstrates that idea with participants describing their favorite roles as fortress builder or resource gathering or combatant.
“You absolutely have to work together,” says Pederson, “particularly around the shared resources that everyone needs to understand how you’re collectively moving toward your strategy.”
It’s not reminiscent of the frenetic player-controlled minigame servers of Minecraft PvP, but rather the cooperative ways friends manage to work together on survival servers. We all know if we are the mining and fighting friend or the base building and house keeping friend. In a similar way, it sounds like you don’t necessarily need to command from the front lines in PvP if you consider yourself more of a diabolical base designer. I imagine you’ll need to brush up on all your skills to play in the campaign, but at least not in the player combat department.
Minecraft Legends supports matches for up to 4v4 players that you can invite your friends to before opening up to matchmaking. As with Minecraft Dungeons, Mojang says Legends will enable cross-platform multiplayer when it launches on April 18. Steam and the Microsoft Store (opens in new tab)as well as Xbox, Switch and PlayStation.
