Telltale Games and Microsoft-owned Mojang, the creators of Minecraft, have teamed up on a brand new, narrative-driven game set in the Minecraft universe. Titled Minecraft: Story Mode, the game launched today in the App Store as a $4.99 download for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.
Minecraft: Story Mode is framed as a full-blown adventure game. It’s not a Minecraft add-on nor does it require the original Minecraft game. Like other Telltale Games releases, Minecraft: Story Mode is a multi-part episodic series.
A story-driven Minecraft
The game mixes new characters with the familiar themes set in an entirely original Minecraft experience inspired by the Minecraft community. Choices you make affect how the story unfolds, much like Telltale’s other games like The Wolf Among Us, The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones series.
What you say to people in Minecraft: Story Mode is just as important as how you say it, developers note. You control the game’s protagonist named Jesse, as portrayed by actor Patton Oswald.
From the official blurb:
Jesse and his group of friends revere the legendary Order of the Stone; four adventurers who played an Ender Dragon. The Order is the very best at what they do: Warrior, Redstone Engineer, Griefer, and Architect.
While at EnderCon, Jesse and his friends discover that something is wrong… something dreadful. Terror is unleashed, and they must set out on a journey to find The Order of the Stone if they are to save their world from oblivion.
Check out the announcement trailer below.
If you don’t see the video, watch it on YouTube.
The Minecraft phenomenon
At any rate, Minecraft: Story Mode represents an uncharted territory for Telltale, the maker of episodic games, so it’ll be interesting seeing how this one fares.
Mojang’s made a name for itself with the original Minecraft, a cross-platform voxel sandbox game conceived by Swedish programmer Markus “Notch” Persson.
Mojang was acquired by Microsoft last September for a reported $2.5 billion.
Highlights
Here are some of the key features in Minecraft: Story Mode:
- Created by award-winning adventure game powerhouse Telltale Games, in partnership with Minecraft creators, Mojang.
- You will drive the story through the decisions you make: what you say to people (and how you say it), and what you choose to do in moments of thrilling action will make this YOUR story.
- Featuring the voices of Patton Oswald (Ratatouille, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D), Brian Posehn (The Sarah Silverman Program, Mission Hill), Ashley Johnson (The Last of Us, Tales from the Borderlands), Scott Porter (Friday Night Lights, X-Men), Martha Plimpton (The Goonies, Raising Hope), Dave Fennoy (The Walking Dead: A Telltale Games Series, Batman: Arkham Knight), Corey Feldman (The Goonies, Stand by Me), Billy West (Futurama, Adventure Time), and Paul Reubens (Tron: Uprising, Pee-Wee’s Playhouse).
Again, Minecraft: Story Mode is a five-part episodic series, meaning so additional episodes will cost you money as they are released.
Thankfully, Telltale is offering a 25 percent discount on additional episodes by way of a one-time $14.99 Multi-Pack In-App Purchase.
Availability
Minecraft: Story Mode is a 685-megabyte download requiring an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad with iOS 7.1 or later. In addition to the iOS version, the game is available for Android devices, Mac and Windows PCs, Sony’s PlayStation and Microsoft’s Xbox.