Minecraft Legends: Release date, trailers, gameplay, more

Minecraft Legends is yet another Minecraft spinoff in development by Mojang. The action strategy game was first revealed during the Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase 2022 — and a bit more was shown off during the latest Nintendo Direct Mini — although much of it remains shrouded in mystery.

From gameplay and release date to trailer and more, here’s everything we know about the upcoming Minecraft Legends.

Further reading

Release date

Minecraft Legends is scheduled for a 2023 release. Mojang is yet to announce a specific date, but we’re likely to see it before next July. The game was included in Microsoft’s roundup of games launching in the next 12 months — although there’s always the possibility of a delay if Mojang needs a bit more time to polish the product.

Platforms

Mojang may have been acquired by Microsoft long ago, but the team is still dedicated to launching multiplatform titles. That trend continues with Minecraft Legendswhich is expected to arrive on PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC. It’ll also be playable through Xbox Game Pass.

Trailers

There’s only been one official trailer released for Minecraft Legends. It runs for just over two minutes and treats viewers to a few snippets of gameplay along with plenty of cinematic footage.

During the Xbox Games Showcase Extended 2022 press event, Dennis Ries, executive producer at Mojang, offered a bit of commentary on the trailer and revealed a few more details.

Nintendo revealed a bit more gameplay during a recent Direct Mini, although we didn’t learn much more about the game. Instead, we simply got a few more shots of combat and another look at the world players will be exploring next year.

Gameplay

Minecraft Legends is an action strategy game. It takes place in the standard Minecraft universe and features the same blocky graphics as the original Minecraft and Minecraft Dungeons. Unlike those games, however, this one is all about strategic combat.

“Inspire unexpected friends to form valuable alliances and lead them in strategic battles to protect their home,” reads a statement on the official Minecraft Legends website. “Take the fight to the piglins before their Nether corruption devours the Overworld!”

The reveal trailer showed off a character riding on horseback through a variety of biomes — placing down flags to (ostensibly) call their troops and clashing with massive waves of enemies in real-time combat. There also seems to be a bit of crafting involved, with the player watching as a structure is slowly built in front of them. It’s unclear how much crafting and building will play a role in the game, but strategic combat and large-scale encounters seem to be the main attraction.

More of the same was shown off in the Nintendo Direct Mini, which gave fans another look at the overworld and its large-scale combat. It also mentioned the same 2023 release date as before, so hopefully, the Switch version will drop at the same time as all other platforms.

Until we get an extended look at gameplay, that’s about all we can say for certain about Minecraft Legends. It’s a radically different type of game than anything else in the franchise, and we expect to hear more about its progress in the coming months.

Multiplayer

Minecraft Legends will feature both cooperative and competitive multiplayer. There’s no indication as to how that’ll play out, but it’s great to know that some form of multiplayer is included with the game. If we had to guess, we’d say cooperative play will be some form of drop-in, drop-out action for the main campaign, while competitive matches will play out like an Age of Empires match — with each side putting together an army and doing everything in their power to eradicate their foes.

Pre-order

No pre-orders are available for Minecraft Legends at this time. However, you can learn more about the game by visiting its official website. There’s also a lengthy blog post that talks a bit more about the world of Minecraft Legends and what to expect from its story.

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