I can see clearly now
Not too long ago Microsoft finally worked it's way around to doing what literally every other major video game publisher is doing and mounted it's very own reveal trailer showcase. For some strange reason the showcase shared a name with Bethesda, which makes me wonder what exactly such a show would look like if that Activision buy-out ever goes through, (The Bethesda-Microsoft-Activision/Blizzard showcase!) even though we got no further word on the huge upcoming Xbox exclusive game which is said to be landing before Q3 of this year! But what the event did manage to do was clear up a lot of confusion on some of the titles that never quite got explained all that well over the past year- one of which was Minecraft Legends which, I'll be honest, I had no idea what to make of when I first saw it. I mean I liked it, I liked most every Minecraft related spin-off, but I couldn't explain what the thing actually was to someone else. Now, after an extended gameplay presentation like that; I can recognise the RTS game for what it is.
That's right, Legends is a Minecraft RTS in the vein of Starcraft, Red Alert and... Army Men RTS. A genre which goes quite a way back for me personally as one of those styles of strategy game that is just deep enough to permit exploration into higher game theory concepts, whilst still accessible to the point of being new-comer friendly. I find a lot of the more complicated 4X games and bigger concept grand strategy titles can sometimes become so lost in their micromanagement that unless you've been drawn into the thrill of the game at an obsessive level it can be difficult for a layman to really get into those sorts of game and learn all the requisite counter units and basic unit placement etiquette. Simpler RTS games, like I can only assume Minecraft Legends is aspiring to be, are typically built for balance and intuitiveness. Wherein units and foils are obvious, building hierarchy and fortifications fit together naturally and a fresh player can grow to love the game without spending hours memorising the play manual beforehand.
The presentation we saw focused specially on the PVP aspect of Legends, which is an important component to any RTS game in the modern world and a vector worth exploring to ensure that Mojang know what they're doing. I'm not sure if Minecraft has ever actually had a dedicated 'player versus player' mode in any of it's main or spin-off games save the short-lived deathmatch servers built into Minecraft console edition. (I miss those.) Legends' take on PVP seems to play into the strengths of competitive RTS games that has kept those titles a popular niche genre for so long, resource nodes, diverse units, progressive material structures- the singular distinction only seems to be the fact that Legends presents a single focal unit as the viewing port of all the army management and base-building. Perhaps I'm merely seeing the trees instead of the forest and there actually is a wider map management view, but if there isn't I do have to wonder how the removal of a true tactical viewport might effect the development of genuine in-action strategy. Right away it makes the game feel a bit more like a Musou game than an RTS like it's supposed to be.
One unique aspect of Legends that dawned on me first in waves, before flooding over all of me in a sparkling wash of realisation for it's genuine potential is that of the world generation. Yes, the key most feature of Minecraft which is perhaps the main game's crowing jewel, the procedural generation of it's world, is getting some form of representation in Legends and depending on how it is realised this has a level of potential that no other RTS can match. Typically, map domination and knowledge is the life and death of any RTS professional player's game, with spontaneity and on-the-spot choices typically only entering the equation when in battle with an equal. But thrown in an aura of total randomness to the world and you suddenly tip everything on it's head. Preparation and preplanning become strategy-making and team-mate communication, routines fall away for fresh plans, unpredictability itself evolves and solidifies as it's very own opponent! Given the right attention and approach, I think this single throw-away mentioned feature has the singular potential to reinvigorate, and maybe even revolutionise, this entire genre of games!
Of course, that's only me talking about the online competitive aspect of Legends, what most will be flocking to the game for is the single player or co-operative campaign experience. What makes a great RTS single player campaign is, in my experience, a variety of scenario and challenge. Build a game like this right and the scope of the tactical gameplay and enemy AI adaptability itself should provide sufficient enough replay value, all the team needs to do is lay the right pieces and set the correct stages for that replayability to flourish. Minecraft is certainly limited in it's scope of enemies and locations from a glance, but Minecraft Dungeons proved well enough that Mojang aren't afraid to expand on their lore and mob variety in side games where it's much easier to throw in a brand new character mob without having to agonise over the way in which it's utility interacts with every existing system in the base game. And, indeed, we're already seeing brand new creatures in Legends, not least of which being the sentient barrel of arrows which serves as archers for the player to enlist. (Unique as far as RTS units go...)
What I do find myself worrying about however is the approach to difficulty that Mojang will employ, to both extremes. Because RTS, and tactical games in general, tend to be tricky endeavours for players in the way that they demand some level of understanding and careful exploitation of rigid systems, whereas Minecraft typically engenders an audience who thrive in 'find your own solution' styles of gameplay. Make a game like this too difficult and it can drive away at the readily presented audience, whilst make it too easy and players will come away inevitably feeling like Mojang failed to capture the full extent of possibility and potential that the game genre had. Of course, personally I would hope that Mojang favours the more richly complex style of gameplay, as I feel that just has longer legs to play around with, but I can see a world where that just isn't a consideration for the sorts of experiences that Mojang want to foster. At the end of the day it really comes down to how dedicated Mojang are to the spirit of these spin-off endeavours they launch.
I am quite taken with the somewhat unique approach to the typical Minecraft artstyle that Legends has chosen to employ. As most are familiar with the blocky supremacy of Minecraft, I'd imagine the slightly more stylised approach of Legends flies right by the majority of people. What I notice, however, is the leaner blocks around the Nether portal, the smoother lines of the overworld blocks that allows the split of block textures to mesh into a smoother more dominate 'ground' texture and the near cell-shaded gleam that allows structures to stand out from the world with their slightly thicker outlines. It's a pleasing side-step from the main Minecraft visual style that refreshes the eye and brings Minecraft in line with the sort of visuals that Mojang are slowly starting to introduce into the base Minecraft texture offerings. Ultimately, it reinforces how this is all very familiar, yet recognisably different, which I think is the point of all these Minecraft spin-offs.
Minecraft is always going to be a franchise I give a great amount of leeway too; it's too large a part of my childhood for me to treat it any other way. That being said, I really do like the look of this particular side-game, much more than I did Dungeons which never really was my style or genre of game to being with. There's a lot of versatility to Minecraft and many styles of game it can feasibly morph into, but the engine has limitations, even for the modders and large server game hosts. I love all of these side games for the amount of gameplay diversity they can offer whilst seeming like addendums onto the main Minecraft package, even if they are technically separate applications off the Minecraft launcher. Wherever could Mojang go next to expand the Minecraft horizons? Or a better question: is the next game going to be a Metroidvania platformer or a straight third-person Soulslike?
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