Minecraft has had plenty of spin-offs over the last decade or so, but none have seemed as bold or impressive as the upcoming Minecraft Legends. While Minecraft: Story Mode was a fairly simple narrative-driven, choice-based game, and Minecraft Dungeons was just a barebones dungeon crawler hack-and-slash, Minecraft Legends seems a little meatier, with some core gameplay mechanics that set it apart from the rest. One such mechanic is Minecraft Legends' Allays, which seem to add a lot of strategy to the game.
Minecraft Legends is taking the series' iconic building mechanics and infusing them into an action-strategy title, whereby the player is put in charge of an army of mobs and must command them and use their resources to get the edge over their opponent. Minecraft Legends' Allays seem to be a pretty big part of this gameplay loop, with them being able to both gather resources and build for the player, allowing for some intense on-the-fly strategy.
Minecraft Legends' Allays Add A Whole Layer of Strategy
There are two distinct types of Allays in Minecraft Legends: a blue variety and a yellow one. The blue Allays will venture out into Minecraft Legends' open-world and will break a variety of blocks for the player, delivering those resources to a nearby chest. These blue Allays also seem to bring dropped resources directly to the player, ensuring that they always have plenty of building materials. Presumably, the more blue Allays the player has, the more resources they'll gain.
Yellow Allays, on the other hand, are used by the player to automatically build a series of structures. These structures can range from bridges to towers to towns, each with its own specific purpose in-game. In regular Minecraft, Allays simply bring the player any dropped blocks, so it's great to see Minecraft Legends integrate the original game's mechanics while also expanding on them to fit within the action-strategy setting.
In the recent Minecraft Legends gameplay reveal trailer, these Allays were shown off quite a bit. At the start of the trailer, the player runs into a chest in the jungle, filled with resources left by a blue Allay. After climbing a mountain, these collected resources are then used to create a bridge across a ravine. The player simply selects the bridge structure on their hotbar menu and tasks their yellow Allays with building it. Within just a few seconds, the bridge is built, and the player can cross.
While the start of the gameplay trailer does a decent job of showcasing the general purpose of the Allays, their importance is showcased in much more detail just a few moments later. After the player has spawned in a bunch of friendly mobs to use as an army, they then engage in a battle with a horde of Piglins who are trying to defend their Nether Portal. Here, the gameplay trailer shows just how vital Allays are to Minecraft Legends' action-strategy gameplay. The player chooses to quickly build a bridge across another ravine, allowing their mob army to rush the Piglins. To support them, the player builds two defensive towers on either side of the bridge, giving the army ranged support.
It seems as though Minecraft Legends will have plenty of different structures to choose from, each of which can be built on the fly using the game's Allays. This adds a big layer of strategy to the game, as players are encouraged to think strategically and build the best structures for the job, all in real-time.
Minecraft Legends releases in 2023 for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.