The player will collect items, solve puzzles, and talk to non-player characters through conversation trees to learn about the story and determine what to do next. Like other Telltale Games, decisions that the player makes will impact events in the current and later episodes. However, unlike Telltale's previous games that tend to carry more mature or emotional overtones including the death of major characters, Minecraft: Story Mode is aimed as a family-friendly title, so the decisions will still be pivotal and emotional but will not involve mature imagery or themes. Elements of crafting and building, central to Minecraft, will be included in the gameplay, following a similar approach. The game will feature combat and other action sequences, carried out through both quick time events similar to Telltale's other episodic games, and more arcade-like controls, such as steering around debris on a road. In Minecraft: Story Mode, YOU are the star, and your choices and actions decide how the story is told. You assume the role of Jesse, and you and your friends are thrust into an adventure to save the world. While visiting EnderCon, your crew confronts something dreadful. Terror is unleashed, and your only hope is to track down the “Order of the Stone”, a fabled group of adventurers who killed the legendary Ender Dragon. In a race against time, you will travel across the over-world, through the Nether, to The End, and beyond.
Minecraft Story Mode isn’t necessarily what young fans of the game will expect. Rather than a new context for building and creating, this is an episodic spin off adventure from Telltale Games along the lines of its The Waking Dead and Back to the Future series. A strong cast of characters, backed by good writing and top drawer voice acting will soon win most players over. The game plays with the block building theme throughout, with Jesse cast as a novice builder taking part in a competition to build the most impressive Minecraft creation. Although the building is not free-form as in the main game, there is a sense of freedom created by the exploration sections that punctuate the conversational elements. While the recent Telltale Games have hit the ground running when it comes to their narrative, this first episode of Minecraft: Story Mode feels like a slow start. The stakes, the characters' motivations, and all of the pieces for the entire series' overarching story only fall into place right at the end of episode one's runtime, making it feel like an extended prologue rather than the first act of a grand adventure. In this first episode, there's some gentle humor, some dashes of excitement, and a reverence for the world of Minecraft that you (fans) will no doubt love.
You can choose either the male or female Gender for Your character, Jesse, Jesse serves as a proxy for a typical Minecraft fan. Jesse is enthusiastic about the world she's in, excited about building complex structures from blocks, geeking out about going to Endercon (an in-game convention that features a building competition), and in awe of anyone with courage enough to brave the hostile environment of the Nether. Players choices affect how the game progresses. This starts with the decision on the look and gender of Jesse (with the male version voiced by Patton Oswalt and the female voiced by Catherine Taber) and spirals on as each conversation presents a number of choices. This will be familiar to those who have played a Telltale game previously, as other characters note the decisions being made and adjust how they respond accordingly. Everything in Story Mode ,from the blocky visuals and menu fonts to the music and even the autosave indicator, looks like a direct lift from the original game. Aside from the characters having a bit more bend in their limbs compared to vanilla Minecraft, Story Mode looks, sounds, and feels like, well, Minecraft. Visually, there is plenty that’s familiar, albeit with a substantial graphical upgrade. Telltale Games keep the general Minecraft aesthetic but take it in a more animated direction. It’s a balance that works well. Feeling both fresh and familiar. The first episode is titled, The Order of the Stone with others tentatively named Assembly Required, The Last Place you Look, A Block and a Hard Place and Order Up! Subsequent episodes are not tied to an exact date but are expected to come quite quickly, with Job Stauffer of Telltale Games suggesting we may well have three out by Christmas. The gameplay, however, is typical Telltale: a mix of narrative choices (many of which have direct ramifications on how the story plays out), light puzzles, and quick time events. There are no major twists or turns in this first episode of Minecraft: Story Mode, it's an amiable journey for Jesse and her friends, and if you're a parent wanting to play this with a child, there's nothing here in terms of questionable content ( This new game is a departure from Telltale's recent, adult-focused stories: you won't find murder, sex, or mutilated bodies here as you would in The Wolf Among Us, or get mired in the dark, oppressive drama of The Walking Dead. Rather, Minecraft Story Mode is squarely focused at a more general, family audience, offering a gentle adventure where the most pressing choice is which of your in-game friends to disappoint).
The game is being released on most platforms including consoles, smart phones and tablets. A version has been promised for Nintendo’s Wii U, although the 3DS isn’t getting the game yet. Overall Minecraft Story Mode is a great start to a new series. Although the child-like visuals will put some Telltale fans off, this is to miss the huge investment and achievement so far. If the series continues in this vein it’s set to be warmly welcomed by both Minecraft fans and families. Let us Know whatyou think of minecraft : story mode in the comments below.
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