Hello Games – No Man’s Sky

Why not start off with arguably one of the most hated developers of the last few years? Hello Games released No Man’s Sky to tremendous fanfare but was immediately drowned in controversy for the lack of certain features like multiplayer. From there, the studio kept its head down, facing death threats and constant anger, before re-emerging with the Foundation update. This was followed by Pathfinder and Atlas Rises, both substantial updates that were also free. Finally, the developer brought full-on multiplayer with the NEXT update along with numerous improvements to base-building, exploration and so on. Community events are also on the cards and more free updates will be coming in the future.

The final episode of the second episode of Telltale’s ongoing story based adaptation of Minecraft, Minecraft: Story Mode, will be releasing soon. The episode is called Above and Beyond, and follows the story of Jesse preparing for battle with Adam- and, as always, the exact events that occur and unfold are contingent on your own choices through the previous episodes.

You can check out the trailer for the game for yourself below. The episode will be out on December 19 (which is next Tuesday), and is available to everyone who bought the Season Pass; if you didn’t, you can also just pick it up individually as well.

Minecraft: Story Mode is available on iOS and Android, as well as on PC, Mac, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. Whether or not this second season leads to a third one remains to be seen- but hopefully this finale is satisfactory to all fans.

The seventh episode of Minecraft: Story Mode, Telltale’s adventure game take on the Minecraft universe, is now out, and it continues Jesse and his friends’ journey through the portals as they try to get back home. Fans of both, Telltale’s games and Minecraft, will find this unique take on the Minecraft universe engaging and rewarding- and those who have invested themselves into the series so far should really enjoy what this new episode has to offer, too.

If, however, at nay point while playing this episode, you are unsure on how to proceed (or really, if you just want to experience the story without actually playing the game), then this guide is for you. The video walkthrough below covers the full episode in its entirety, start to end, which means you can’t possibly get stuck as long as you follow it- but it also means that if you do decide to watch it, make sure to be mindful of spoilers!

Telltale Games have announced that the sixth episode of Minecraft: Story Mode, the episodic adventure game series they made based on Minecraft‘s lore and mythos, will be launching on June 7. The episode is called A Portal to Mystery, and on June 7 for PC, Mac, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4, iOS, and Android.

For this episode, Telltale will also have a special treat for Minecraft fans- several special guest stars from the Minecraft community join the cast in this new episode, all playing characters from their own YouTube videos. Players will get to interact with Joseph Garrett as  Stampy Cat, Stacy Hinojosa as  Stacy Plays, Dan Middleton as  DanTDM (The Diamond Minecart), Lizzie Dwyer as  LDShadowLady, and Jordan Maron as CaptainSparklez, something that should endear this episode to all Minecraft fans, especially the legions of the younger ones.

Minecraft: Story Mode will also be made available for PS Vita and Wii U later.

"Back to the Future: The Game began the company’s fixation on pop culture franchises translated into the video game format with hardly any hang-ups."

Where did the transition happen to The Walking Dead model of gameplay? Interestingly enough, Back to the Future: The Game could be looked at as the best possible instance. Don’t get us wrong – Telltale’s signature gameplay style had been in play long before this. However, Back to the Future: The Game began the company’s fixation on pop culture franchises translated into the video game format with hardly any hang-ups. It was accessible to the masses but offered a compelling narrative and structure to appeal to gamers.

Telltale was still getting its bearings at this time. Jurassic Park and Law & Order: Legacies weren’t exactly all that great. But in April 24th 2012, The Walking Dead finally arrived. It did so modestly enough since this was an episodic format. We were introduced to Lee Everett and Clementine; to a world of the undead where, not unlike the comic, each decision made a difference. For all intents and purposes, it wasn’t just a Telltale Games story – it was an effectively well told story.

After the game’s success, Telltale expanded its formula to a variety of properties. The Wolf Among Us, Tales From the Borderlands and The Walking Dead: Season Two – these still remain some of Telltale’s best games, if not the most effective stories told within the interactive adventure format.

However, as time passed, other games began to jump on the episodic format. Resident Evil Revelations 2, Life is Strange and even the upcoming Final Fantasy 7 Remake (though decidedly larger) will have some kind of episodic format. But as Telltale continued on its way, something started to happen to its games.

"Things got even worse in Minecraft: Story Mode. How could you go wrong with Minecraft, especially when delivering a story? Of all the developers, Telltale found a way."

It started with Game of Thrones, which took place before the fourth season and focused on House Forrester. Cameos by the more famous characters like Cersei and Tyrion Lannister were included. And really, what better franchise than Game of Thrones to emphasize the important decisions one has to make? Here’s the thing though: Game of Thrones is a pretty brilliant piece of work (if you haven’t heard). It’s story-telling is amazing, even within the confines of a weekly TV show format…and that’s with the recent changes that have been made. And yet somehow, the story told in Telltale’s Game of Thrones didn’t feel as compelling or interesting. Sure it had its moments but it was not on par with the show’s brilliance.

Does it have to be? Not really, but it should be a successful standalone story connecting into the bigger web while also performing as an effective story on its own. Both those factors were executed well in The Walking Dead Season One and Two but not in Game of Thrones.

Things got even worse in Minecraft: Story Mode. How could you go wrong with Minecraft, especially when delivering a story? Of all the developers, Telltale found a way. One could say that there wasn’t all that much to build on in the first place. Perhaps Telltale was given limited freedom in the first place to craft an epic narrative. However, if your game is focused on battling a Witherstorm that will consume the world and your heroes need to find the fabled Order of the Stone to stop it, you could probably do a better job with the story-telling.

And now we have The Walking Dead: Michonne, a “mini-series” which actually provides a story arc taking place in the comics. Lo and behold, it’s faced criticism for its story telling and relative short length.

"Fatigue may not have set in yet for fans of the interactive adventure genre but a single story-telling approach isn’t going to cut it for very long."

Is the Telltale Games formula wearing thing? Did the studio’s reach extend its grasp with so many high-profile projects in the works (at last count, there’s Batman, The Walking Dead: Season Three, Marvel’s game and Game of Thrones: Season Two)? There could be many factors at play. It’s not like the world isn’t receptive to the company’s efforts. Minecraft: Story Mode spent several weeks in the top 10 best-selling charts for the UK and that’s probably the worst game Telltale has made recently.

While one could easily blame the format, it’s worth noting that books haven’t changed their general formats in decades. Story-telling has evolved though, expanding into graphical novels, audio books, moving pictures, animation and much more. But a book is still a story told through words, whether published on paper in your hands or in digital text on a screen.

How has your average book survived throughout the years as a strong story-telling medium? The story-telling and even with the benefit of different authors and tales over the decades, the ways said stories were told could always be different. For all of Telltale’s brilliance, it needs to evolve its story-telling approach sooner than later. Fatigue may not have set in yet for fans of the interactive adventure genre but a single story-telling approach isn’t going to cut it for very long.

• 1. Development
• 2. Story
• 3. Gameplay
• 4. Characters

Development

According to Telltale games the idea to make Minecraft: Story Mode,  came about when the team was working on Tales from the Borderlands. The group realized they could have some fun and some success putting yet another spin on a video game story. They also realized according to Job Stauffer, that putting together a story based on Minecraft would give the team a kind of blank canvas and that would create an interesting challenge. Telltale began negotiations with Mojang in early 2013, and started work on the game shortly after talk with the other company got underway. The acquisition of Mojang did not affect the development of the game because the two firms already had an agreement and a contract.

Telltale has said that it made a brand new main character named Jesse because they did not want to disrupt stories that people had already created for themselves when it came to Steve. The company has also said that the other primary characters in the game are loosely designed around some of the other player characters that have shown up in the game. Telltale further said it was careful not to try and explain why concepts and enemies in the game such as creepers. The lack of a backstory is again to stay out of the way of narratives that have already been created by players of the original Minecraft.

Telltale has said this game is more of a family oriented game than some of the other titles in the library. This game was shooting for more of a PG or PG-13 rating in contrast to The Walking Dead series or A Wolf Among Us. Those games were aimed at a more mature video game audience. The company said this was done because Minecraft is geared for a more family atmosphere where as The Walking Dead and Fable shows and comics are geared towards an older audience.

Minecraft: Story Mode was officially announced in December 2014 and its first trailer was released during the Minecon convention in July of 2015. The game has five-episodes and the first released on Android, iOS, Microsoft Windows, OS X, PlayStation and Xbox consoles in October of 2015. Telltale also brought the title to the Wii U in January of 2016. That made the release the firstt time a Minecraft game had been released on a Nintendo platform. Minecraft: Story Mode is also the first Telltale Games title that has been released on that platform since Back to the Future: The Game.

Story

The story for Minecraft: Story Mode centers around Jesse and his band of friends (including his pet pig Reuben.) The group begin their adventure at a building convention but soon stumble onto a darker tale that involves a hideous and seemingly unstoppable Witherstorm that is wiping out the entire Minecraft world. In order to try and stop this creature, Jesse and his friends go looking for a team of famous adventurers known as the Order of the Stone. The situation gets more dire as Jesse and his gang come to find out that the Order of the Stone didn’t go underground because they weren’t wanted, but because the members of the (near superhero status) team actually didn’t get along all that well with each other.

Jesse and his group have to try and get the order to find a way to work together again in order to literally save the world. There are a number of other side quests and mysteries that can be uncovered depending on the choices that are made in the game as the player leads the quest.

Gameplay

The gameplay aspects of Minecraft: Story Mode are similar to other Telltale games episodic adventures. The game works through point and click mechanics and the player is able to collect items, that allow them to solve puzzles as well as fight off enemies throughout the game. Players will talk to non-player characters though conversation trees to learn about the story and the characters and will use these trees to figure out what they should do next. Like the other Telltale adventures, some of the choices will directly effect how the episode being played will go and can have far reaching impact on other chapters. These particular decisions are generally denoted by telling the player than an NPC will remember the choice.

Because this is a title based on Minecraft, there are aspects to the game that aren’t included in other Telltale titles. There are elements of building and crafting in this game, though what is being built and crafted tend to follow a linear path and doesn’t have the open world feel players see in Minecraft. Some of the Telltale games allow players to see the story unfold through the eyes of various characters but Minecraft: Story Mode is told only through the viewpoint of the main character, Jesse.

Characters

Jesse is the main character and can be edited at the start of the game in order to reflect being either a man or a woman, and other small edits. The other non-playable characters that join Jesse in the adventure are Reuben, his pet pig, Olivia, Axel and Petra. There is another group of builders that appear to be enemies of Jesse and his group called the Ocelots. One member of the Ocelots Lukas eventually can join Jesse’s group.

The main enemy that Jesse and his team are trying to run down is a man named Ivor who unleashed a planet devouring Witherstorm. The Order of the Stone characters that make an appearance in the game are Gabriel, Soren, Ellegaard and Magnus. There are other various NPC people that the team runs into during their adventure as well as a number of monsters they have to fight or avoid during the game.

Note: This wiki will be updated once we have more information about the game

While fans of Telltale games have been able to play Minecraft: Story Mode on the PS4, Xbox One, PS3, Xbox 360, Android and iOS for a while now, the title is finally going to be available on the Nintendo Wii U starting this week. The launch of the game on this final platform comes a number of weeks after the fourth chapter in the story launched on everything else. This of course is just another sign that the Nintendo NX can’t get here soon enough for people who want Nintendo to be relevant again.

Only the first chapter of Minecraft: Story Mode will be made available on January 21 when the title officially launches. The other episodes will be made available in the “coming weeks.” While the fact that players who prefer the Wii U (we assume there are still some out there) have had to wait this long has to be annoying, there is a feature this platform can offer that others can’t.

The Wii U is said to allow for transferring gameplay from their television to the gamepad in order to play wherever you want (as long as you’re within a certain distance form the console). “Working with Nintendo, we’re tremendously excited to be bringing our unique style of storytelling to Wii U for the first time, and we couldn’t be happier to be kicking things off with a series like Minecraft: Story Mode that allows players of all ages to craft their own adventure across the Minecraft universe,” said Telltale CEO Kevin Bruner. The fifth and final chapter of the game is expected “early in 2016” and one can hope Telltale will be able to at least get that final chapter along with the others at the same time.

Telltale has confirmed that the new episode in their episodic story oriented take on Minecraft will be launching later this month, as promised, after all. Minecraft: Story Mode Episode 4: A Block and a Hard Place will release on PC, Mac, PS4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, iOS and Android on December 22Telltale has confirmed. This episode concludes one very important story as well, just as Telltale had teased beforehand- specifically, the story of the Wither Storm ends with this installment.

“In Episode Four, with the fearsome Wither Storm more dangerous than ever, Jesse, Reuben, and the crew discover there is one thing that can destroy the command block at the heart of the monster – but they’ll need to brave the perils of the Farlands to find it,” Telltale’s official description reads.

“As uneasy allies and ailing friends threaten to tear the group apart, can they defeat the Wither Storm in their final battle? And what sacrifices must be made to succeed? Find out in Episode Four’s epic ‘Wither Storm Finale’ that will turn the page on one chapter, before adventures may begin anew…”

The final episode for the series is due out some time in January 2016. Given how well Telltale have stuck to their timetable with Minecraft Story Mode, I wouldn’t doubt that they’ll hit this release date too.

The fourth episode of Telltale’s take on the Minecraft universe will launch some time later this month, the developers confirmed. The fourth episode is called ‘A Block and a Hard Place,’ and will definitely launch before this month’s end- with Episode 5 to follow swiftly some time in early 2016.

The fourth episode of the series is going to bring one of the storylines to a close entirely, Telltale confirmed, before the story moves to its climax in the fifth episode. Personally, I am just glad to see Telltale actually launching new episodes with semi regularity at this point. The last episode launched on November 24, so this indicates a shorter than four weeks turnover period for the new one; the entire series launched back in October, meaning Telltale went through it pretty fast.

Minecraft: Story Mode is available right now on Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4, PC, Mac, iOS, and Android. A PS Vita and Wii U version will also launch some time in 2016.

The unlikeliest of all crossovers – Minecraft and Telltale Games’ brand of choice and consequence based storytelling – is happening nonetheless. Minecraft Story Mode is almost here, and we have a trailer of the very first episode here, just to drive the point home.

This episode is called The Order of the Stone. In a first for Telltale games, you will be allowed to choose the gender of your character as you make your way through the Minecraft world. Minecraft Story Mode promises to take you through the Overworld, into the Netherworld, to The End, and beyond.

It will be launching later this year, on Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PC, Mac OS X, iOS, Android, and Nintendo’s Wii U, marking the first appearance of Minecraft on Nintendo’s platform, and also the first Telltale game for Nintendo in almost a half decade.

Stay tuned to GamingBolt for more coverage and information, and be sure to tell us what you think of the trailer in the comments section below.