Minecraft Legendswill be bringing fans of the franchise all new experiences this month, including a PvP experience where players must defend their base while attacking the opposing team’s. This 4v4 PvP gameplay is quite exhilarating, at least that’s our first impression after attending a recent preview. Game Rant was also able to speak with executive producer Dennis Ries regardingMinecraft Legends' campaign, PvP, and more.
For PvP, one of Ries' favorite elements is how everything can stack together. There are ways, for example, to quicken the fire rate of defensive structures like Arrow Towers, give them explosive charges, and the ability to fire longer distances. This requires players to strategize, however, and devote the proper time and resources to it, all while keeping up their offense as well. For this and many other reasons, it’s no surprise that balancingMinecraft Legends' PvP gameplaytook several iterations, one which actually resulted in a two-hour match as well.
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As explained at the event,Minecraft Legends' PVP philosophy was “two and then lunch,” meaning fans could play at least two games within an hour and then take a break. Getting to this point took several iterations, though. Every minute change, whether it was a slight revision to the economy, the strength of a structure, or a tweak to one ofMinecraft Legends' mobs, resulted in extensive playtest. According to Ries,
We did so much balancing. The thing about it is, when you are creating PvP experiences, you have to be really careful not to make too many tweaks at once. If you do, then you don’t understand what tweaks you made and how it changed your gameplay, right? For us, it was trying to be really careful when making those tweaks.
At some point early in development though, there was a time whenMinecraft Legendswas perhaps “too balanced.” This saw it where, for example, players could turtle too quickly and taking down the other bases took too long. As a result, one early match with Blackbird Interactive and Mojang Studios took two hours.
“It was crazy. We had people canceling meetings because, once you’re so invested in this, you don’t want to lose, right? But yeah, it was so much fun. I believe that was in Stockholm too. Blackbird Interactive and a group of us were all in Stockholm, playtesting it. It just kept going. But yeah, we decided two-hour game sessions were too long, so we had to dial it back.”
While this certainly remains possible, two-hour matches won’t be the norm withMinecraft Legends' upcoming launch. While the first match or two takes new players a little longer on average, according to Mojang Studios, the average match length is about 20 or 30 minutes.
Minecraft Legendsreleases on July 02, 2025, for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
