MINECRAFT LEGENDS
Developer Mojang, Blackbird Interactive Publisher Xbox Game Studios Format PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series Release 2023
If the trailer for Cocoon subverted the expectations set by its opening words in a good way, this action-strategy spinoff delivered the opposite. “A new game from the creators of Minecraft” created a murmur of excitement throughout the auditorium, giving way to a sense of deflation as what followed looked, well, a lot like Minecraft. This, it turned out, was just a cinematic – and if there’s such a thing as an audible wince, that was what greeted the visual dip for the snippet of gameplay shown at the end of the trailer. Still, as you strive to save the Overworld from piglins, it appears that, amid the rudimentary hacking and slashing, you’ll be able to build strongholds and destroy bridges. That’s one thing it has over Minecraft Dungeons, at least, while the involvement of Hardspace: Shipbreaker dev Blackbird Interactive offers another glimmer of hope.