When MineCraft Story mode was revealed all the way back in December of 2014, gamers everywhere (myself included) were, well, confused as hell, mostly.
Sure, we were absolutely excited for Telltale’s ingenious crafting team to wrap real characters and a thick plot around what is arguably the most addicting title of our generation, but also wondered how this was even possible. Telltale is renowned for creating incredible, harrowing, heartbreaking tales filled with tough choices and dire situations, but based on properties that have already told their own lore and have their own stories.
So how could Telltale turn a family-friendly game that has no real characters, about using your imagination (and a lot of patience) to build things (that never look as cool as they do in your head), while basically avoiding everything once the sun goes down, into a story that gamers young and old will actually care about?
Well, it turns out that they could do it pretty damned well.
In Minecraft: Story Mode, you’ll play as Jesse (voiced by either Patton Oswalt or Catherine Taber, depending on the gender that you choose). As with many of Telltale’s other titles, as soon as you begin playing through this first episode, “The Order of the Stone”, you’ll feel as though you’re being introduced to a living, breathing world; Jesse and his friends Olivia, Axel, Petra, and Rueben feel and act as though they’ve known each other forever, and to my surprise, I instantly felt a strange connection with these blocky characters.
Jesse and his/her pals love to build, and at the start of the episode they’re heading to EnderCon to enter a building competition. The prize? A chance to meet Gabriel, Warrior of the legendary The Order of the Stone (a group of builders and best friends who teamed up and were able to defeat an Ender Dragon). Things go sour pretty quickly (and then REALLY sour pretty quickly after that), as a rival buiding team sabotages your group’s build and you’re forced into the forest in order to search for your scared pet pig, Rueben.
One thing that I have to note is just how freaking hilarious the dialogue in Story Mode is. It’s absolutely a kid/family friendly title, but almost every few moments of gametime I found myself laughing nigh-uncontrollably at the incredibly funny, more-often-than-not-ridiculous words coming out of each and every character’s mouth. The game essentially opens with a reference that only Redditors will understand, and right from that opening moment, you’ll know that you’re in for a treat.
It wouldn’t be a Telltale game without tough choices, and while the decisions that you and Jesse will have to make are tough, it would be impossible for them to match the will-stick-with-you-forever choices that you’re forced through in the company’s more mature titles. That being said, I was legitimately surprised with just how hard some of the choices were. It certainly had me wondering if a child playing the title would have the same hesitations as I did, because I’m sure at times I was way overthinking things.
It was really interesting even playing through this game at all after titles like The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us. I expected the absolute worst at every turn, and at every moment. That super cute pig? I was expecting it to die every five seconds. Oh, all of these characters are best friends? Which one won’t make it out of the episde? Possible love interest? How long will she last? It’s crazy just how much Telltale Games has taught us to not trust anything in its titles, and that probably led to me taking far longer than necessary to make these sometimes arbitrary decisions. It’s rough stuff.
I’m pretty happy to report that Minecraft: Story Mode is absolutely gorgeous. Yep, it looks like Minecraft, but the assets have never looked as smooth or as crisp as they do here. Of course, this is also the first time that Minecraft characters have needed substantial animation (including lip syncing), and the team at Telltale have done a phenomenal job here. It had actually been about 18 months since I had logged into my Minecraft proper account, but as soon as I finished “The Order of the Stone”, I jumped on my laptop and once again began building. Here, funnily enough, I already felt like this world was missing something. Somehow, in just one episode, Telltale has truly added a substantial element to the heart of Minecraft, and the world feels just a little more lifeless without it.
The soundscape of the game is equally impressive. You’ll recognize many sound effects from the main game, and the many crisp samples that I didn’t recognize fit in perfectly. Voice acting is stellar as always with Telltale titles, and with a voice cast consisting of Patton Oswalt, Catherine Taber, Ashley Johnson, John Hodgeman, and Corey Feldman, among others, I’d be pretty shocked if it wasn’t. The original music for the game sounds fantastic, but I didn’t hear much of C418’s incredible tunes from Minecraft proper, and that made me sad.
Honestly, as an inctroduction to this world and these characters, there isn’t a lot that Minecraft: Story Mode‘s first episode could have done better… Aside from run, of course. It is a Telltale game, and as incredible as they are at creating gripping stories, tough choices, and well-written characters, Telltale’s engine has been used for just a few too many years at this point, and it definitely shows. My playthrough of Minecraft: Story Mode‘s first episode certainly had less technical issues than the past few Telltale titles that I’ve played (though this is also the first Telltale game that I’ve played on the PS4), but weird pop-ins, stuttering framerates, and glitchy animation still happened a little too often not to notice.
It’s an episodic title, of course, so the absolute biggest success of Minecraft: Story Mode is the fact that I’m already desperate for more. For Telltale, it’s another quality introduction to what’s likely to be an incredible tale, but this time around the whole family can play it. I’ve watched enamoured children play Minecraft numerous imes before, and have witnessed them develop their own characters and create and play their intricate own stories; Minecraft: Story Mode feels as though it’s been pulled straight from one of these vivid imaginations, and it’s all the better for it. Bring on episode two.
‘Minecraft: Story Mode – A Telltale Games Series‘ Episode One: The Order of the Stone scores a blocky 4/5.
Update One: Episode Two – ‘Assembly Required’
As always, there are some light spoilers in the text below.
Well that was fast. Just two weeks after the first episode of Telltale’s Minecraft: Story Mode debuted worldwide, the company surprised gamers everywhere by releasing a second episode to coincide with the launch of the game’s retail version.
For a company that typically releases episodes on a bi-montly basis, it was exciting to be able to play another chapter while the first was so fresh in my mind. Episode two is fittingly titled ‘Assembly Required’, and has Jesse and friends set out on a journey to find the remaining members of The Order of the Stone.
One common complaint that a lot of gamers have with some Telltale titles is that often it feels like your choices don’t actually matter. Yes, the decisions are still tough, but often it seems as though the end result is identical, albeit with a slightly different cutscene. Yes, you may head down a slightly different path, but those paths seem to converge again nearly immediately. This complaint goes out the window with this episode, as based on one your choices at the end of ‘The Order of the Stone’, you’ll either be headed to Boom Town, in search of Cory Feldman’s Magnus the Rogue, or Redstonia to locate Elegaard the Engineer. My playthrough of the episode had me sent to Redstonia, and it’s apparently far different than the other option. The game’s launch trailer focussed mainly on Boom Town, which looks like a completely different experience from what I played. This change should substantially enhance the game’s replayability, and seeing as when you again meet up with Axel, who has Magnus in tow, the pair goes on about the action-packed experience that they just had, I’ll likely be replaying the episode sooner rather than later.
Once you meet up with some of the Order’s additional members, it becomes pretty clear that some of Ivor’s jealous musings during the last episode weren’t all crazy, and that the Order of the Stone isn’t all best friends and heroics like the stories say. It actually bears a far more powerful message than I’d anticipated from such a family friendly title, and between all of the jokes, hilarious dialogue, and insane antics, there’s actually a lot to learn from the characters here.
The episode does recycle a few of the funniest moments from the previous episode, including another button-mashing montage, but that moment was so enjoyable in both chapters that I really didn’t mind. Combat is light and fun, and players who are familiar with Minecraft proper will likely use different techniques than new players will on certain enemies, which is pretty neat, when you think about it.
Unfortunately, it seems as though the technical issues with Minecraft: Story Mode have not only persisted with this second episode, but they’ve actually gotten a bit worse. Regular stuttering is noticeable from the game’s opening moments, and in a particular scene featuring an ever-growing Wither Storm, it seriously felt as though the framerate had dipped to single digits. Again, it’s a great looking game, but the constant technical issues on a system as powerful as the PS4 is truly disappointing, and seriously shows the age of Telltale’s engine. Of course, I want them to focus on making the fantastic experiences that they’re known for, but these games would be far more immersive with a much needed update to the Telltale Tool.
As I stated in my thoughts on the game’s first episode, Minecraft: Story Mode feels like Telltale watched an imaginative child play Minecraft, and in turn developed that imagination into a well-written, hilarious game that ranks among Telltale’s best. As a major fan of Telltale’s more mature titles, I truly didn’t expect to enjoy this family friendly offering just as much as I am. I’m glad that we saw the game’s second episode so soon, and I really can’t wait to see, choose, and play what happens next. I’ll reiterate that is a fantastic use of the Minecraft license, and gamers, regardless of age (as long as you have basic reading skills) are in for a treat here.
Oh, and just wait until you hear the game’s unexpected f-bomb.