Minecraft: Story Mode

Minecraft: Story Mode
Developer(s) Telltale Games
Publisher(s) Telltale Games
Producer(s) Jennifer Hill
Lleslle Schroeder
Designer(s) Stephen McManus
Programmer(s) Randy Tudor
Andrew Langley
Carl Muckenhoupt
Artist(s) Mark Hamer
Derek Sakai
Composer(s) ANADEL
Antimo
Welles
Engine Telltale Tool
Platform(s)

Release date(s)
Genre(s) Graphic adventure
Mode(s) Single-player

Minecraft: Story Mode is an episodic point-and-click graphic adventure video game developed and published by Telltale Games, based on the sandbox video game Minecraft. The five-episode game was released between October 2015 through March 2016, and an additional three episodes will be released as downloadable content in mid-2016. The game was released for Microsoft Windows, OS X, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Android, and iOS. The game was developed in association with Mojang, the original developer of Minecraft.

The game follows the episodic format that Telltale Games used for its titles The Walking Dead, The Wolf Among Us, Tales from the Borderlands and Game of Thrones. The game centers around a new character, named Jesse, who can be either male or female, as they and their allies attempt to save their world by defeating the Wither Storm.

Gameplay

Minecraft: Story Mode is a episodic interactive comedy-drama point-and-click graphic adventure video game similar to Telltale Games's other games, released as a number of episodes. 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.[5] However, unlike Telltale Games'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.[5] Elements of crafting and building, central to Minecraft, were included in the gameplay, following a similar approach.[5][6] 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.[6][7]

Synopsis

Setting

Minecraft: Story Mode takes place in an interpretation of the world of Minecraft. The main character is named Jesse (voiced by Patton Oswalt/Catherine Taber), who is a passionate newbie Minecraft player who sets out on a journey with his/her friends within the Minecraft world to find The Order of the Stone (Gabriel, Ellegaard, Magnus, Soren, and Ivor) – five legendary adventurers who saved the Minecraft world. Jesse is described as a newbie player of Minecraft, still learning how to build and craft but passionate about the Minecraft world.[8] The game will include a number of locations that exist in the real version of Minecraft that some players have difficulty accessing, including the Nether, The End,[8] and the Far Lands. The Far Lands have been removed in the PC version of Minecraft.

Characters

The player can customize Jesse, including choice of gender and skin tone; as such, the male version is voiced by Patton Oswalt, while the female avatar is voiced by Catherine Taber.[9] Other characters within the Minecraft world include the humans Petra (voiced by Ashley Johnson) [6] Axel (Brian Posehn), Olivia (Martha Plimpton), Lukas (Scott Porter), Maya, Ivy, Fangirl (GK Bowes), Owen (Owen Hill), Gill (Phil LaMarr), Aiden, Otis (Matthew Mercer), Usher (Jason 'jtop' Topolski), Ivor (Paul Reubens) Sigge, Fanboy (Billy West), Lydia (Lydia Winters), and the Announcer (Erin Yvette), Jesse's pet pig Reuben (Dee Bradley Baker) and the four Order of the Stone members: Gabriel the Warrior (Dave Fennoy), Magnus the Rogue (Corey Feldman), Ellegaard the Redstone Engineer (Grey Griffin) and Soren the Architect (John Hodgman); Stauffer said that the human characters as a whole represent the different types of gamers that play Minecraft.[8] Billy West narrates the story.[10][11][12]

Plot

This is a broad overview of the plot. Certain decisions made by the player will alter details of specific events.

Young builder Jesse, their friends Olivia and Axel and their pet pig Reuben go to the Endercon building competetion, which they lose every year to rival team the Ocelots. Despite this, they manage to bulid an impressive contraption (determined by the player) which Ocelot member Aiden, who hates Jesse, angrily sabotages, scaring off Reuben. Jesse goes after him and the two are saved from mobs by their friend Petra, who convinces Jesse to help her in a business deal selling a Wither skull for a diamond.

Back at the competition (which the group either wins or loses depending on whether or not Jesse's friends followed them), the deal goes bad when Ivor, the man Petra sells the skull to, rips her off and flees. Unable to get into the building he ran into, the group, joined by sympathetic Ocelot leader Lukas, create a distraction allowing them to sneak in. Following Ivor into an underground laboratory, they discover that he's making a Wither Storm, an incredibly dangerous creature, but are unable to stop him. The creature attacks the event and targets Gabriel, a member of the legendary Order of the Stone, whom Ivor seems to know. Unfortunately, Ivor loses control of the beast, who destroys the town, forcing the group to escape into the dangerous Nether, losing Petra and Gabriel in the process.

Following an amulet Gabriel gave Jesse, the group makes it to a temple that served as the Order's headquarters. Using a machine powered by the amulet, Jesse pinpoints the locations of two of the three remaining members, Magnus and Ellegaard, and chooses to either go after Magnus with Axel or Ellegaard with Olivia. After successfully getting the member to join them, they return to discover that the other friend has subsequently retrieved the other member and are reunited with either Petra or Gabriel (depending on who Jesse tried to save), who is now very sick. Returning to the machine, they discover that it now shows the location of the last, long thought lost member, Soren, as well as Ivor, who was once an unknown member, heading toward him.

Arriving at Soren's location, Magnus and Ellegaard split up after an argument and Jesse follows one of them, only to run into Ivor. Despite the group's best efforts, Ivor overpowers and entraps them. They manage to escape, but end up in the foreboding End. There, they spot Soren and follow him into his massive house, where Jesse finds him researching the dangerous Endermen. Jesse convinces Soren to help destroy the Wither Storm using the incredibly powerful Formidi-Bomb, just as it attacks. Accepting either Magnus or Ellegaard's armor, which costs that member their lives, Jesse constructs and uses the Formidi-Bomb, seemingly destroying the monster and freeing the citizens it ate, including a now amnesiac Gabriel or Petra.

Unfortunately, due to the bomb not reaching the Control Block keeping it alive, the Wither Storm reforms, forcing everyone to flee. The group then encounters Ivor, who wants to fix his mistake and offers a solution: using a book of enchantments he has at his house in the Far Lands, Jesse can construct a powerful weapon they can use to destroy The Control Block. The group (possibly sans Lukas and the sick member) goes to Ivor's house, where they learn that the Ender Dragon battle that made the Order famous didn't actually happen: Soren just used the Control Block. Ivor left the Order in disgust and this is why he summoned the Wither Storm.

Despite this shocking betrayal, Jesse constructs the weapon which, with the unwitting help of the Endermen, they use to enter the Wither Storm and destroy the Control Block, though Reuben is fatally wounded in the process and dies shortly after. As the world praises the new heroes, Jesse convinces Gabriel, who now either remembers everything or is cured (same with Petra), to either tell the truth about the Order's past or continue keeping it a secret. Either way, Jesse and their friends are then made the New Order of the Stone.

Sometime later, the group go on a tip from Ivor to a temple, where they discover strange glowing Flint and steel. Outside the temple, they're accosted by Aiden, who usurped Lukas as the new leader of the Ocelots and is bitter towards the fame the group has attained, though they manage to chase him and his lackeys away. Back in town, the group shows their booty to Ivor, who reveals them to be the key to the Eversource, a source of unlimited power. Returning to the temple, Jesse, Petra, Lukas and Ivor find a portal which Jesse activates with the Flint and steel. Unfortunately, the Ocelots surprise them and enter the portal first.

Pursuing them, the group ends up in Sky City, an island metropolis in the clouds, where building is strictly regulated by the town's stern Founder. Unluckily for the group, Aiden gets to the Founder first and tricks her into turning the whole town against them. Though Lukas and possibly Ivor are captured, the rest are saved by Milo, a barman and the leader of an underground resistance called Build Club. After Jesse shows their building talents to the group, they sneak into the Founder's palace at night, encounter the escaped group member (or members) and find the Eversource, revealed to be a chicken which lays eggs from which spawn mobs.

The group is then attacked by the Founder and Aiden, only for him to betray her and knock her, Jesse and possibly Lukas over the side. Landing safely on the land below, which is surprising to the Founder as she thought there was nothing below, she, Jesse and possibly Lukas build a tower back to Sky City, which is now overrun with monsters. Though Jesse defeats Aiden and his men, the city is lost and the remaining townsfolk jump to the land below. After deciding what to do with Aiden and the Eversource and how the new government should be run, Jesse and the group use a portal Jesse and the Founder discovered while building the tower to return home, only to find themselves in a corridor filled with portals.

Episodes

The main Minecraft: Story Mode game was separated into five episodes, released in one-to-two month intervals.
No. Title Directed by Written by Original release date
1"The Order of the Stone"Dennis Lenart and Graham RossMichael Choung and Laura JacqminOctober 13, 2015[1]
While at Endercon, Jesse, Olivia, Axel, Reuben, Petra, and Lukas instantly face a creature named the Wither Storm, a world-threatening monster. It is up to Jesse and his/her friends to reassemble the Order of the Stone, a group of adventurers and slayers of the Ender Dragon.
2"Assembly Required"Jason LatinoJoshua Rubin, Eric Stirpe and Timothy WilliamsOctober 27, 2015[2]
Jesse and his/her friends must recruit Magnus/Ellegaard and find Soren, the final member of the Order of the Stone.
3"The Last Place You Look"Jonathan StauderMichael Choung, Laura Jacqmin, Eric Stirpe and Timothy WilliamsNovember 24, 2015[13]
Trapped at Soren's fortress, Jesse and his/her friends must find Soren to build the Formidi-Bomb, which might destroy the Wither Storm.
4"A Block and a Hard Place"Denis LenartBrad Kane and Laura JacqminDecember 22, 2015[3]
After the Formidi-Bomb failed to destroy the witherstorm when the command block is still there, Jesse and his/her friends must go on an long journey to the Far Lands, to find Ivor's laboratory and use his help to not only destroy the Wither Storm, but the Command Block.
5"Order Up!"Jonathan StauderEric Stirpe and Timothy WilliamsMarch 29, 2016[4]
Jesse, Petra, Lukas, and Ivor find a mysterious portal and wind themselves up in a strange place called Sky City. After being framed, Jesse and his/her friends must clear their names and stop an old enemy from destroying an innocent world.

Downloadable content

Following Episode 5, Telltale will produce three additional episodes as downloadable content for the game that will continue the story. These episodes will be released in interval as part of an Adventure Pass that existing players can purchase, and require the player to have purchased the main game.
No. Title Directed by Written by Original release date
6"A Portal to Mystery"TBA 2016
Jesse and his/her friends end up in a room full of portals and must find a portal leading to the overworld.
7"Access Denied"TBA 2016
8"A Journey's End?"TBA 2016

Development

The idea for Minecraft: Story Mode came around the end of 2012 when Telltale Games was engaged in work for Tales from the Borderlands, an episodic series based on the Borderlands series. The idea of developing stories around other established video game franchises led the team to brainstorm the idea for a Minecraft-related game, given that the game was essentially a "blank canvas" for storytelling, according to Job Stauffer, and would create an interesting challenge.[5] The two groups recognized the amount of fan-generated narrative content that existed in the way of YouTube videos and other media forms that demonstrated the potential for storytelling in the game.[14] Many on Telltale's staff were also already fans of Minecraft, with a private server that they played on, with some of the incidents that occurred on there becoming ideas for the game's story.[14] Telltale began negotiations with Mojang in early 2013, and began work on the title shortly thereafter.[5] Stauffer noted that Microsoft's acquisition of Mojang was not a factor in the game's development, as their interaction with Mojang began well before Microsoft's negotiations.[5]

Telltale opted to create a new main character of Jesse for Minecraft: Story Mode instead of using default "Steve" character from Minecraft, feeling that they did not want to attempt to rewrite how players already saw this character in the game.[15] Other primary characters in the game are loosely designed around archetypes of common player-characters for Minecraft, such that those that engage in building, fighting, or griefing other players.[14] The game will not attempt to provide any background for some concepts in Minecraft, such as the creepers, as to avoid the various interpretations that fans have done for these elements, though they are elements of the game's story.[14]

Stauffer stated that the game's story would be aimed as family-friendly, similar to the films The Goonies or Ghostbusters;[5] their intended content would be equivalent to a PG-13 or PEGI-12 rating.[8][14] A number of the voice actors are alumni of such films of the 1980s such as Corey Feldman who starred in The Goonies, and the game includes various references to these types of films.[14] Stauffer reflected that while Telltale Games's more recent games like The Walking Dead were more mature stories, their original adventure games like Sam & Max and Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People were written as family-friendly, and that they consider their approach to Minecraft: Story Mode as "part of our DNA".[7] The story was aimed to be accessible to both existing players of Minecraft - both novice and advanced players - and to new audiences outside of the game.[5]

Minecraft: Story Mode was formally announced in December 2014 as a collaboration project between Mojang and Telltale Games; the announcement was presented as an interactive adventure game named "Info Quest II".[16] Its first trailer was released during the Mineconc2015 convention in early July.[10] The game is planned for a five-episode series for release on Android, iOS, Microsoft Windows, OS X, PlayStation and Xbox consoles by late 2015;[17][18] Telltale has confirmed that they will release the game for the Wii U, representing the first time a Minecraft game has been released on a Nintendo platform, as well as the first time a Telltale Games's title has been released on a Nintendo platform since Back to the Future: The Game.[5]

The series released for most systems on October 13, 2015, with the PlayStation Vita and Wii U versions to follow at a later date. A season pass of the game was available for purchase on October 27, 2015, which allows the player to access the other four episodes once they are released.[1] Retail versions of the game were released on October 27, 2015.[2]

Reception

Aggregate review scores
Game Metacritic
Episode 1: The Order of the Stone (PC) 71[19]
(PS4) 71[20]
(XONE) 77[21]
Episode 2: Assembly Required (PC) 59[22]
(PS4) 53[23]
(XONE) 61[24]
Episode 3: The Last Place You Look (PC) 73[25]
(PS4) 73[26]
(XONE) 75[27]
Episode 4: A Block and a Hard Place (PC) 68[28]
(PS4) 72[29]
(XONE) 71[30]
Episode 5: Order Up! (PC) 70[31]
(PS4) 73[32]
(XONE) 69[33]

Minecraft: Story Mode received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics. It received praise for its voice acting, humor, faithfulness to its source material and light hearted tone compared to some of Telltale's previous works although some critics were divisive on the quality of its story and characters.

Episode 1: The Order of the Stone

Episode 1: The Order of the Stone received mixed to positive reviews. Aggregating review website Metacritic gave the Microsoft Windows version 71/100 based on 25 reviews,[19] the PlayStation 4 version 71/100 based on 23 reviews[20] and the Xbox One version 77/100 based on 13 reviews.[21]

Episode 2: Assembly Required

Episode 2: Assembly Required received mixed reviews. Aggregating review website Metacritic gave the Microsoft Windows version 59/100 based on 13 reviews,[22] the PlayStation 4 version 53/100 based on 7 reviews[23] and the Xbox One version 61/100 based on 8 reviews.[24]

Episode 3: The Last Place You Look

Episode 3: The Last Place You Look received mixed to positive reviews. Aggregating review websiteMetacritic gave the Microsoft Windows version 73/100 based on 10 reviews,[25] the PlayStation 4 version 73/100 based on 7 reviews[26] and the Xbox One version 75/100 based on 9 reviews.[27]

Episode 4: A Block and a Hard Place

Episode 4: A Block and a Hard Place received mixed to positive reviews. Aggregating review website Metacritic gave the Microsoft Windows version 68/100 based on 8 reviews,[28] the PlayStation 4 version 72/100 based on 8 reviews[29] and the Xbox One version 71/100 based on 8 reviews.[30]

Episode 5: Order Up!

Episode 5: Order Up! received mixed to positive reviews. Aggregating review website Metacritic gave the Microsoft Windows version 70/100 based on 5 reviews,[31] the PlayStation 4 version 73/100 based on 8 reviews[32] and the Xbox One version 69/100 based on 6 reviews.[33]

References

Notes
    Footnotes
    1. 1 2 3 4 5 Nunneley, Stephany (September 16, 2015). "Minecraft: Story Mode Epelease date set for October". VG247. Retrieved September 16, 2015.
    2. 1 2 3 Karmali, Luke (October 27, 2015). "Minecraft: Story Mode - Episode 2 Release Date Revealed". IGN. Retrieved October 27, 2015.
    3. 1 2 Reilly, Luke (December 11, 2015). "Minecraft: Story Mode - Episode 4 Release Date Revealed". IGN. Retrieved December 11, 2015.
    4. 1 2 Skrebels, Joe (March 22, 2016). "MINECRAFT: STORY MODE EPISODE 5 DATE REVEALED, GETTING 3 EXTRA EPISODES". IGN. Retrieved March 22, 2016.
    5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Webster, Andrew (August 26, 2015). "Giving Minecraft a story". The Verge. Retrieved August 27, 2015.
    6. 1 2 3 McCaffrey, Ryan; Petty, Jared (August 28, 2015). "PAX 2015: MINECRAFT VET, ROOKIE EACH PLAY TELLTALE’S MINECRAFT: STORY MODE". IGN. Retrieved September 1, 2015.
    7. 1 2 Matulef, Jeffrey (September 9, 2015). "Minecraft: Story Mode: A chip off the old block". Eurogamer. Retrieved September 9, 2015.
    8. 1 2 3 4 Dredge, Stuart (July 4, 2015). "New Minecraft: Story Mode details revealed at Minecon 2015". The Guardian. Retrieved August 27, 2015.
    9. ↑ Marchiafava, Jeff (August 28, 2015). "Minecraft: Story Mode". Game Informer. Retrieved August 28, 2015.
    10. 1 2 Albert, Brian (July 4, 2015). "First Minecraft: Story Mode Details Revealed at Minecon". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved August 28, 2015.
    11. ↑ Hall, Charlie (October 1, 2015). "John Hodgman to star in Minecraft: Story Mode". Polygon. Retrieved October 1, 2015.
    12. ↑ Perusco, Laura (October 1, 2015). "Attend the Minecraft: Story Mode Premiere in Hollywood, New Cast Details". PlayStation Blog US. Retrieved October 1, 2015.
    13. ↑ O'Brien, Lucy (November 19, 2015). "New Minecraft: Story Mode Episode 3 Trailer Reveals Release Date". IGN. Retrieved November 19, 2015.
    14. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Moss, Richard (October 9, 2015). "The unlikely creative relationship behind Minecraft: Story Mode". Gamasutra. Retrieved October 9, 2015.
    15. ↑ Stewart, Keith (December 19, 2014). "Minecraft: Story Mode spin-off game announced by Mojang". The Guardian. Retrieved August 27, 2015.
    16. ↑ Murphy, David (December 18, 2015). "Telltale Games, Mojang Team Up for 'Minecraft: Story Mode'". PC Magazine. Retrieved August 27, 2015.
    17. ↑ Copeland, Wesley (December 18, 2014). "Telltale and Mojang Announce Minecraft: Story Mode". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved August 27, 2015.
    18. ↑ Yin-Poole, Wesley (December 18, 2014). "Minecraft: Story Mode is an episodic series from Telltale". Eurogamer. Retrieved August 27, 2015.
    19. 1 2 "Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 1: The Order of the Stone". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved October 13, 2015.
    20. 1 2 "Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 1: The Order of the Stone". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved October 13, 2015.
    21. 1 2 "Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 1: The Order of the Stone". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved October 13, 2015.
    22. 1 2 "Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 2: Assembly Required". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved October 27, 2015.
    23. 1 2 "Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 2: Assembly Required". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved October 27, 2015.
    24. 1 2 "Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 2: Assembly Required". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved October 27, 2015.
    25. 1 2 "Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 3: The Last Place You Look". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved November 24, 2015.
    26. 1 2 "Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 3: The Last Place You Look". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved November 24, 2015.
    27. 1 2 "Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 3: The Last Place You Look". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved November 24, 2015.
    28. 1 2 "Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 4: A Block and a Hard Place". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved December 22, 2015.
    29. 1 2 "Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 4: A Block and a Hard Place". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved December 22, 2015.
    30. 1 2 "Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 4: A Block and a Hard Place". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved December 22, 2015.
    31. 1 2 "Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 5: Order Up!". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved March 29, 2016.
    32. 1 2 "Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 5: Order Up!". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved March 29, 2016.
    33. 1 2 "Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 5: Order Up!". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved March 29, 2016.

    External links

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