Advertisement
Advertisement
Story Mode's greatest strength is that it explores the culture of Minecraft, rather than just the technicalities. Much of the plot takes place in and around EnderCon, a tribute to the annual MineCon event. There are nods to cosplayers, a building competition, bustling stalls with trays of freebies, dudebro ushers, and stage cameos from Mojang AB employees. The script, meanwhile, finds time amid outbreaks of winsome goofball banter for the odd Minecraft in-joke that might rouse a chuckle from a seasoned player. But then Plot Shenanigans occur and you're plunged into one long, QTE-riddled escape sequence. Hopefully, later episodes will deliver their own little commentaries on other aspects of Minecraft society—the one that features "Magnus the Griefer" sounds like it could be especially entertaining.Minecraft's lively creator community is worth shouting about—it solidly debunks the lingering cliché of the gamer as a destructive sociopath. Story Mode, however, is unlikely to convince anybody save those deeply in love with Telltale's school of interactive drama, of which there are admittedly a fair few. Perhaps episode two will pick up the slack, but right now this feels like a small step for Telltale, an even smaller one for Minecraft.On Motherboard: Why 'The Sims' Have Low Divorce Rates
Episode one of Minecraft: Story Mode is out now. More information here.Follow Edwin on Twitter.