Minecraft: Story Mode strays from the more mature content that Telltale normally associates themselves with and manages to create a fun, family-friendly world for one with no real story. The episode is expertly done and gives players a perfect standalone game to the critically acclaimed game from Mojang. With the new lore introduced in the first episode, it’s hard to believe what other new content will be available to us in the coming episodes. By focusing on a new concept that strays from their normally mature games, this episode paves the way for what is hopefully a great series from a great developer.
Ellegard (for me) and Gabriel begin conversing in hopes that he would regain his memory and in doing so, mentions something about Lukas’ jacket, saying that he has seen others wearing it inside of the Witherstorm. With this comes Jessie’s first big decision, either allowing Lukas to leave in hopes of finding his friends or make him stay to help in your fight. This is only the first of many heartrending decisions that need to be made throughout the entirety of this episode. While most of these decisions are among the toughest in any of the episodes, they help dictate how the game will end and who will be standing next to Jessie when it does. This episode lets you customize your decisions a little bit more, allowing you to decide which weapon you want to create for the final battle, which armor you would like to wear, and even in what manner you will enter the Witherstorm. It isn’t much, but that’s far more customization than most Telltale games allow. While it is important to be careful with your decisions, it’s more important to learn who your real allies are and dictate how you want your destiny to unfold in your fight towards saving this blocky humanity.
I love Nintendo, but its tough to watch something or someone you love go through such a rough time and seemingly stop bothering to even try anymore. Eventually that sympathy is going to turn into anger, and for many that’s exactly what is happening.
What do I mean by that? In game development terms, a “vertical slice,” is a gameplay segment of finished or near-finished quality that showcases all the planned features of a game to potential investors. At the start of a project, these are a massive sink for time and effort, since they essentially involve doing all the hard parts of finishing a game to complete one 10-minute section. Generally, they’re seen as a bad practice. However, toward the end of development, it’s a lot easier to pull assets together for a vertical slice. Of course, if you’re shopping your game around to publishers at that stage, you’re probably in a lot of trouble, but a standalone “vertical slice” can also serve as a strong alternative to a traditional demo.
Each level grants a purple gem/swirly-thing and these are used to buy equipment abilities. Once committed there’s no taking the gems back until trashing the item, at which point they’re refunded in full. Level one is one gem, two is usually two gems, etc, but there are also rare powerful abilities that get more expensive. I held on to the Harp Bow longer than practical thanks to it not only shooting five arrows per shot but also having a chance of an arrow dividing into another five on hit, despite how expensive it was to power up. That kind of crowd control is worth saving up for, after all, but there’s always going to be more loot later that will finally make swapping out an irresistible prospect.
Minecraft: Story Mode has managed to surprise fans of episodic games with every episode released. While the second episode might not have proven that, both Episode 1, Episode 3 and now Episode 4 have not disappointed. Probably the best episode yet in both content and character development, Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 4: A Block and a Hard Place will leave you emotionally defeated. Lasting a little bit over two hours, the episode gives closure to the events that Jessie and his friends are facing in saving the world from the Witherstorm. It begins right where you left off last, either Ellegard or Magnus having died (according to the decision that you make) and Gabriel having been rescued but with no recollection of what has happened (a side effect from having Wither Sickness). You all run from the storm only to find safety in a cave, still within the storm’s range.
The story also deserves notice. Minecraft walkthrough itself might not have as intense of a story, but Telltale was able to grab some of the more important factors of Minecraft and create a lore to follow and better understand what the characters with. Previously, your goal was to mine for enough materials and minerals to make a portal to the End to slay the Ender Dragon. Now, that story doesn’t necessarily apply to everyone, because the ones who slayed the Ender Dragon were the members of the Order of the Stone. The members are essentially the people that you would have normally gone to the End with to help you fight the dragon, so it almost makes it seem like you were some kind of legendary hero for being able to do that if you were able to do so in the past. Everyone else in the episode doesn’t have that same goal and, funny enough, don’t look at all like the villagers that you sometimes wander upon in the original game. The storytelling and characters leave you with enough of an impression that leaves you waiting in anticipation for the next episode. You begin to make connections with your friends and build a relationship with them in the span of one single episode so it leaves you wanting to know what will come next for this party of builders.