Meet the Allay

Simple and very useful for a clumsy explorer like myself, who tends to lose enchanted armor and swords about six seconds after I find them in ruined portal chests. Now I’ll be happy, because I’ll get my shiny swords back, and the allay will be happy because it gets to find things! “The allay loves having an item," says Ulraf. "That’s why we gave it two ambient sounds. With an item, the allay will 'chortle'. Without one, it’ll 'yearn' Giving the allay an item will make it really like you, too.”

I didn’t think it was possible to make the allay cuter than it already was but it seems I was wrong! What’s even more adorable is that the allay will deliver your items back to you in their own, whimsical way, too. “They’re not machines,” explains Ulraf. “Which is why we didn’t want the way they throw items to be monotonous. Getting the item collection and throwing mechanic just right was tricky, and we tweaked the numbers a lot. We had to question whether we wanted the allay to be really precise, or whether we wanted it to just launch the item at you. We wanted the allay to feel alive, to feel quirky, which is why it won’t throw the item in exactly the same way all the time. It’s got personality!”

Having an allay as a new, quirky friend will be game changing (quite literally), not only because I’ll finally be able to collect all the leads I have scattered across my Overworld, or because Ulraf will get to clean up all the eggs cluttering his, but because your relationship with the allay is a little different to your other companions:

“We considered a lot of situations to introduce the player to the allay, for example having it spawn in forest biomes, however one of the things we wanted to highlight was how the allay really shows its personality and becomes dynamic when they interact with the player. That’s why we wanted to focus in on the companionship aspect from the very beginning, starting with how you meet them. Your first introduction to the allays is you having to rescue them from the predicament they’re in!”

Although knowing my personal gameplay style, it’s far more likely the allay will watch me lose my inventory a few times before I succeed in freeing one. If that doesn’t build an unbreakable bond, I don’t know what will! (Except giving it an item. Because Ulraf told me that earlier. I’m listening, Ulraf!) Speaking of gameplay, what are you most excited about when it comes to the allay and your own gameplay, Ulraf?

In fact, the allay loves music so much that if you play a note block close to it, it’ll forget where it was taking the item it was carrying and will drop it near that note block instead! But Ulraf points out that it’s music the mob loves: “It remembers the note that’s played, rather than the block itself. You would need to keep playing the note for the allay to keep dropping items near the block, which means… you can make music! You can choose which notes and which frequency, so your musical sorting system can soundtrack your base.”

I will be the first to raise my hand and say I’m going to try and recreate some well-known, two-note theme tunes with my allays. But the best part is, the allays join in and contribute their own sounds to the music, too! “We wanted the allay’s noises to feel calming and soft. After all, we didn’t want players to be annoyed by having their companion around all the time! That’s why it was important the noises it made were the kind that sounded relaxing.”