There are plenty of hostile mobs that would be great primary antagonists forMinecraft Legends, not to mention the possibility of creating a new mob just for the game, but Mojang and Blackbird Interactive went with Piglins. First introduced to vanillaMinecraftin 2020, Piglins brought a new “lived-in” feeling to Nether while maintaining the realms' general stature. At the same time, many may be curious as to whyMinecraft Legendswent with Piglins, of all possibilities.
Alongside details about the campaign and PVP, Game Rant spoke withMinecraft Legendsexecutive producer Dennis Ries regarding the Piglins. There are two major reasons for their inclusion: it fits the story that the developers are trying to tell, but it was also very opportunistic.
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Ries revealed that, whilePiglinswere first introduced inMinecraftvanilla, “a lot of the initial concept work for Piglins [was done] within Minecraft Legends.” The studios all worked closely together on theMinecraftmob, so it’s something that was also opportunistic for everyone involved. Indeed, those familiar with the Piglins of the vanilla game are going to feel at home with their inclusion inMinecraft Legends,because they are essentially derived from the same source.
“We actually started doing a lot of the initial concept work for Piglins within Minecraft Legends, and people at Blackbird Interactive worked closely with people from Minecraft Vanilla. Piglins actually came out in vanilla first, but some of the concepts actually started with Legends and the vanilla team together.”
What’s more, though, is that the Piglin cutscenes inMinecraft Legendsare devoid of dialogue and, instead, rely on dramatic effects, Piglin noises, and general cues to understand what’s going on, to some degree. This differs from the other side of the narrative, as Knowledge, Action, and Foresight all directly communicate with the player. It makes understanding the Piglins a little more difficult, but not impossible. The cutscenes almost have adistinct LEGO game feelto them, and as LEGO games move toward including spoken dialogue (and with Rabbids getting dialogue in their latest game, as an example in mind), we were curious if the Piglins ever had dialogue too.
Ries stated there were some discussions about this, but the teams ultimately believed it didn’t fit. That doesn’t mean excluding Piglin dialogue didn’t prevent challenges for the devs, though.
“…just to come back to that point because they didn’t speak. Having their story be told without words took a lot of effort. That’s where the cinematic team at Blackbird interactive really did a good job of letting that story come out the way they did.”
While fans will have a lot of fun thwarting thePiglins' invasion of the Overworld, it’ll be interesting to see how this story unfolds and why they are doing so. Of course, some great cinematics are a reward in-and-of their own too.
Minecraft Legendsreleases on July 16, 2025, for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
