Minecraft Legends and Dungeons: A Retrospective

                             One thing about Minecraft Legends...the cover is cool.

Ahhh, the mighty spinoff. It’s almost never the profit booster you think it will be for a franchise. But what about Minecraft? It’s more than a franchise. It’s possibly even a lifestyle. Minecraft players love Minecraft. It’s in the Fortnite range of being more like a sport than a video game. I love Minecraft. I bought…one of these games on release and then I played the other recently for this piece. And now I’m here for the post mortem, obituary or visitation. Whatever. You get it- they’re dead, let’s break it down.

                       Have an adventure or buy something: modern gaming in a nutshell.

THE TRAGEDY OF MINECRAFT DUNGEONS

The tale of Minecraft Dungeons is actually a common one. In the late 2010s, the gaming market was in a strange place. There was the freemium wave brushing up against the premium wave and no one really knew yet which would make more money. Fortnite was huge. HUGE. But it was also kind of it’s own thing. Obviously the mobile game “freemium” concept had been around for a while, but with Minecraft: Pocket Edition already being a thing, they had already missed the boat on a freemium game. No one’s playing a freemium Minecraft spinoff when you can get the original game for $4.99.

So they release Minecraft Dungeons in 2020. It comes out as a fully priced game. Minecraft Dungeons is a dungeon crawler but also a bit of an RPG. You play the campaign, which is like 40 sort of short levels, if that. Then, you’re supposed to play it again on a higher difficulty to get higher level gear. A little simplistic but not necessarily bad. A lot of games are kind of like that. But….this was in 2020.

                           It's impressive how big the battles look despite being Me V. Everyone.

So, before we move to “what happened, etc”, let me just talk about the game itself. Minecraft Dungeons, when you’re locked in, can be pretty damn fun. I like the graphics, I enjoy the combat. I think the gameplay tuning and the leveling systems are fair. The game is pretty challenging. There’s a lot of level based difficulty sliders, but you’re not gonna be breezing through unless you’re a few levels over. The levels can get pretty grueling and it runs into the classic “damage sponge” effect that other games that tie difficulty to leveling have.

However, at the end of the day, it’s a pretty satisfying combat experience. You have a lot of tactical options that still feat neatly into a pretty fun base combat loop. All I’m doing is rolling and hitting things, but it feels good, and then you add some magic elements and voila. It’s a hearty blend of classic dungeon crawling gameplay elements that really do work well. I really enjoy this game when I play it and I definitely would say it has it’s own special charm. It’s not just one of those spinoffs that borrows vibes from it’s original IP.

                                              When I left, this was my swamp. 

There is a lot to love about this game, especially if you like Minecraft and that aesthetic. The level design is beautiful and the graphics really hit. The effects match the style of the original game. It’s clear that the developers wanted to make the game a Minecraft experience. The sound effects are the same, the mob movements are as well and the models look to be identical. The game’s depictions of biomes are excellent reflections of those from the original game.

Unfortunately, for all it’s strengths, Minecraft Dungeons met an end that is kind of rare nowadays, even if some elements of it are not. Remember, as we discussed, it came about before freemium was the tried and true method we think of it as now. So it’s a full price paid game, yada, yada. The first problem was that it had no endgame. Yeah, they kept adding DLC Level Packs, many of which had cool ass new levels and biomes. But there was no actual larger endgame goal besides getting better gear. There wasn’t enough content in the base game to make that rewarding either. You’re playing the same set of levels like 4-5 times at different difficulties. It’s just not engaging after a while. It would’ve been better to make a longer campaign.

It was also the expectations surrounding the game. It was honestly received than expected and developed a solid player base in spite of it’s issues. The game was actually quite successful for what it was supposed to be. In fact, it was too successful. It had no end game but a decent amount of content, it made money and it branched out the Minecraft brand. But the playerbase expected more. They wanted more updates, QoL changes….really a vision for the game that the developers didn’t have. And though they did try a seasonal approach for a few months, as of right now in 2024, the game is basically done. No new content on the horizon. A successful and steady game just sort of…ended.

                                                              GRAFIX GALORE!

THE BOMB THAT WAS MINECRAFT LEGENDS

Real time strategy. Is that fun? It can be. It’s a delicate balance. One that Minecraft: Legends does not strike. The game came out in 2023 and, I kid you not, was dead in a month. Player count fell off a cliff. And it was a project that some people, me included, had some hype for. Unfortunately, this game was just not it. It’s just got some serious engagement problems. It’s not half baked, it’s baked wrongly. Let me explain.

I don’t necessarily think this game is horrible. It just feels conceptually mismatched. It’s a solid version of a game nobody would really want. The mechanics don’t really lend themselves well to the charm of Minecraft. There’s very little precedent for this in the fanbase. Now you might say “well Minecraft Dungeons is a totally different type of game too!” But when you think about it, the best part of Minecraft Dungeons have precedent in Minecraft. The combat is different. but it builds off an already present combat style from the first game. The exploration is different, but it does entice you the same way the first game does, with interesting and diverse world design. These are mechanics you can expect a Minecraft player base to like because they like Minecraft.

                             So much to do, yet I have no desire to do it. 

What makes the game so frustrating at times is how much it feels like it could be a cool Minecraft game. The world is beautiful and full of life. Navigating it is pretty pleasant. The problem is, when compared to the first degree of interaction present in Minecraft (direct action from the player character results in a direct response), the second degree interaction (I tell my golems to attack Piglins, who then attack my golems) feels like it’s taking an avenue for my engagement away. I would love to engage with this world in a way that makes me feel on the level with it. This game doesn’t really let you do that. I think that’s really the problem. The strength of this game is it’s world and aesthetics and it’s gameplay works against those things.

I wanna run around and hit things and see the wildlife. I don’t wanna get in a real time strategy battle against an army of things I would usually avoid. And I do, I would like to take a direct approach. The problem with this game is that you have this lovely world, but all you do in it is ride to a thing, see some bad guys, build a thing that builds more things to fight the bad guys. And that can be fun. In the right context. It’s not the most fun I could be in this exqusite Minecraft world and I think that’s the problem.

        Another cool example of the environment in this game. It really is the highlight. 

What makes me sad about Minecraft Legends is that it really does feel like a missed opportunity. I mean if you made an RPG with this map and let the player cook, it would probably be a very fun and unique endeavor in the Minecraft world. Instead…with all these, it’s kind of a queasy feeling when I play. Like I’m trying to enjoy the world and Minecraft elements without all the strategy nonsense. Which sucks. If you took the bad parts of this game away, it would be like Shadow of The Colossus without any of the Collususes (Collusi?) The world is just so nice, that in contrast with the gameplay, it makes it worse than if the whole thing was mid.

But at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter. Because Minecraft Legends is dead. No one’s playing this. There is no roadmap. This is just a bomb. It dropped, it exploded and now it simply “was.” Unfortunate, but true. But I hope they don’t abandon the idea of a Minecraft spinoff entirely. Hell, a Minecraft Dunegons 2???? Could be a buy from me.

       The world of Minecraft Dungeons undoubtedly appealing. But look at that UI. 

SOME FINAL THOUGHTS

After having played these games and revisiting them, I wanted to give them their fair shake. Because they’ve often been afterthoughts. And Minecraft Dungeons probably doesn’t deserve that. Minecraft Legends…well, I’m sure there’s some people who really like it. But I think it’s interesting to explore the spinoffs. They’re kind of these time capsules of an alternate universe where Minecraft did actually do more to branch out. As we see, the results were mixed, but not entirely negative. The franchise is more interesting with these additions, that’s for sure.

My opinion is that if you’re a younger Minecraft fan, who grew up with the more intentional hinting at lore and the expanded mechanics brought by updates to the main game, you’ll likely find these games to be interesting. As an overall gamer who loves Minecraft, I think Minecraft Dungeons is actually a really good game in many ways. I think us older Minecraft guys maybe aren’t the market for something like Minecraft Legends, which, besides feeling disjointed with the IP, is just unengaging. It feels too complex for a kid, but too simple for an adult. But at the end of the day, I think both these titles and their failures (but also successes) interest me and they teach us a couple things about gaming. So….thanks for reading.