Earlier today, I reported on Microsoft’s confirmation that Minecraft Legends will launch in April and is available now for pre-order. The Xbox team is now following up on that announcement at Xbox Developer_Direct conference with a blog post that details how the game differs from standard Minecraft.
Even so, the blog points out that while Minecraft Legends has many unique elements, it retains the core components of Minecraft that made the game successful.
“At first glance, Minecraft Legends may seem like a bold pivot in a new direction, but rest assured that this new strategy title still includes all of the familiar elements of the epochal survival title – you just might not notice right away.”
Minecraft Legends is one of the biggest first-party exclusives Microsoft has planned for this year. It was developed between Mojang Studios and Blackbird Interactive and will feature action and strategy-based gameplay.
The game is an open-world environment for a single-player campaign, online co-op, and the PVP element.
PVP and Random Maps
The PVP component is what is getting many people interested in Minecraft Legends. Players from across platforms will be placed into two teams of four players in a procedurally generated world. Because each world is different the players will not know what they are getting each time and must collaborate and combine resources to defeat the opposing team.
Dennis Ries, Minecraft Legends Executive Producer, and Blackbird Interactive Producer Lee Pederson explain how the randomly generated maps bring a new element to multiplayer gameplay.
“It’s not like your traditional multiplayer situation where you have a set few maps. Every time you go to play PvP, the strategy that you want to use to win could be different than it was the game before,” Ries says. “When we had the added this procedurally generated dynamic with the variety, it really started to feel like Minecraft. The chaotic fun really shone through and we wanted to embrace that chaos.”
“Every game is a new scene, and there’s different environmental challenges,” Pederson adds. “So when building your base, you can take advantage of being on a mountaintop for example, or build a tower behind one to hide it. You’re going to have to really tune your strategy based on what the world is generating for you.”
I recommend checking out the full extensive blog post to see changes and similarities in Minecraft Legends compared to standard Minecraft.
Tip of the day: With many reachable wireless access points popping up and disappearing again, the available networks list can become quite annoying. If needed you can use the allowed and blocked filter list of Windows to block certain WiFi networks or all unknown WiFi networks.