Of all the genresMinecraftLegendscould have tried its hand with, strategy may be one of the most surprising.Minecraft Dungeons' dungeon-crawling focusisn’t so surprising, considering the baseMinecraft’s emphasis on exploration in Survival mode, but strategy requires a level of NPC coordination and tactical thought that isn’t always prevalent in the base game. Still, that’ll probably makeMinecraft Legendsmore interesting in the long run, since the premise allows it to experiment with new mob and block types that are useful in a strategy setting. If players are lucky, some ofMinecraft Legends' designs will even contribute to futureMinecraftupdates.
Admittedly, spinoffs haven’t had the biggest impact on the sandbox best-seller so far, aside fromaMinecraftmob votethat nearly got an Iceologer similar to theMinecraft Dungeonsenemy into the game.Minecraft Legends' strategy concept may lead to a variety of mob concepts that shine in a sandbox context, however. It would make sense if theMinecraft Legendsprotagonist can expand the Overworld’s army partially by crafting golems, so maybe these golems or other handmade utility mobs will appear inMinecraft,giving players a new way to populate their settlements with helpful artificial neighbors.
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Minecraft Deserves More Utility Mobs
At the moment,Minecraftonly has a couple of mobs that players can intentionally create as helpers.Iron golems are likelyMinecraft’s most famous example; although they can spawn naturally in villages, players can spend their iron to build a bodyguard as well. Mojang has also created snow golems as player companions, and although they’re less useful as protectors than their iron counterparts, they can be very helpful as an endless source of snow. Sadly, the list of player-made mobs ends there.Minecraftfeatures lots of friendly, helpful creatures of other kinds, such as the allay, but the golem list remains short.
Minecraft Legendsseems like the ideal opportunity to expand the list of handmade mobs. In order to protect the Overworld, players could see themselves creating all kinds of new mobs with distinct uses and behavior, from coal golems that light fires to amethyst golems that create razor-sharp terrain to ward offthe piglin Nether army. TheMinecraft Legendsreveal trailer already suggests that players can build structures, so it stands to reason that players might get opportunities to build a few new mobs too. If that’s the case, then some of these mobs should find their way intoMinecraft.
Just about any new kind of golem or other craftable mob could be a great addition toMinecraft.A coal golem could keep the player’s furnaces stoked, an animated scarecrow could guard areas by frightening hostile mobs, and so on. The copper golem, another defeatedMinecraftmob vote candidate, proved that there are still lots of creative niches worth filling with handmade utility mobs.Minecraft Legendsprovides Mojang with an opportunity to experiment with this type of creature, so hopefully it leans into the golem archetype in order to flesh out the Overworld army and test concepts forMinecraftitself.
Now thatMinecraft’s Wild Update has added the allay, players might want to avoid holding their breath for more utility mobs in the near future, but it’s entirely possible that Mojang a little more emphasis on the idea after it finishesMinecraft Legends.Spinoffs are a great chance for Mojang to think about theMinecraftIP differently. Action-strategy, dungeon-crawling, or any other genre could push Mojang towards designs that it may not have thought of so quickly when focusing onMinecraftas a sandbox game. While there’s a case to be made for keeping many of the spinoff’s ideas separate to preserve its distinct identity,Minecraftdeserves to share in the fruits of its labor by gaining new mobs inspired by the strategy model.
Minecraft Legendsreleases in 2023 for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
