Minecraft: Story Mode is an episodic point-and-click video game developed and published by Telltale Games, based on Mojang Studios' sandbox game Minecraft. The first five episodes were released from October 2015 to March 2016, and an additional three episodes were released as downloadable content (DLC) in mid-2016. A second season consisting of five episodes was released from July to December 2017.
The game follows the same episodic format as other Telltale Games titles, such as The Walking Dead, The Wolf Among Us, Tales from the Borderlands, and Game of Thrones. The story revolves around a player-created character named Jesse, an everyman who is drawn into an adventure to save the world alongside their friends. In the first four episodes, Jesse and their friends attempt to reunite an old group of heroes called the Order of the Stone to save their world from the destructive Wither Storm. The rest of the first season follows Jesse and their friends as the new Order of the Stone on another adventure after discovering an enchanted artifact. In the second season, Jesse faces the powerful Admin.
Minecraft: Story Mode was available for Windows, macOS, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Wii U, Nintendo Switch, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Android, iOS and Apple TV. A retail version was released in December 2016, and the first season, excluding the DLC episodes, was released on Netflix in late 2018. However, both seasons were removed from digital storefronts due to the closure of Telltale Games in late 2018, causing Minecraft: Story Mode to be ultimately discontinued on June 25, 2019. The Netflix release was removed on December 5, 2022. The game received mixed reviews from critics.
Gameplay Minecraft: Story Mode is an episodic interactive comedy-drama point-and-click graphic adventure video game. It was released as a number of episodes similar to Telltale Games' other games. Players can collect items, solve puzzles, and talk to non-player characters through conversation trees to learn about the story and determine what to do next. Decisions that the player makes affect events in both the current episode and later episodes. However, Minecraft: Story Mode is intended to be a family-friendly title, unlike Telltale's previous games, which tend to carry more mature or emotional overtones (including the deaths of major characters). As such, the decisions are intended to be pivotal and emotional but not to involve mature imagery or themes. Elements of crafting and building were included in the gameplay which are central to Minecraft. Combat and other action sequences are present in the game, carried out through both quick time events and more arcade-like controls, such as steering around debris on a road.
The Netflix version of the first season (excluding the Adventure Pass episodes) was fully pre-rendered, using an enhanced version of the Telltale Tool. It incorporates limited choices compared to other versions and restricts players to picking between two character models for Jesse (one for the male version, and one for the female version).
Synopsis Setting Minecraft: Story Mode takes place in an interpretation of the world of Minecraft, known as the "Overworld", where it is the extent of the characters' universe, and the characters are unaware that they are in a game. The main character, Jesse, is an inexperienced resident of said universe who sets out on a journey with their friends to find the Order of the Stone (Gabriel the Warrior, Ellegaard the Redstone Engineer, Magnus the Rogue, Soren the Architect, and Ivor the Potion Brewer and Enchanter), five legendary adventurers who saved the Minecraft world in the past. The game includes settings that are normally difficult to access from within Minecraft, such as the Nether and the End.
Characters The game's protagonist and playable character is Jesse, whose appearance can be customized by the player; six character models are available to choose from, featuring different genders, skin tones, and clothing. Jesse is voiced by Patton Oswalt if male and by Catherine Taber if female. Other main characters within the Minecraft: Story Mode world include Jesse's friends Petra (voiced by Ashley Johnson), Axel (Brian Posehn), Olivia (Martha Plimpton, Natasha Loring), Lukas (Scott Porter), and Jesse's pet pig, Reuben (Dee Bradley Baker).
The first season features several characters in supporting roles, including the Order of the Stone—Gabriel (Dave Fennoy), Magnus (Corey Feldman), Ellegaard (Grey Griffin), Soren (John Hodgman), and Ivor (Paul Reubens), the latter of whom becomes a main character from episode five onwards; former Ocelot member and Blaze Rods leader Aiden (Matthew Mercer); the ruler of Sky City, the Founder (Melissa Hutchison); Milo (Jim Meskimen), the leader of an underground building club; Minecraft YouTubers CaptainSparklez, DanTDM, LDShadowLady, Stampy Cat, and Stacy Plays (all voiced by themselves); Torque Dawg (Adam Harrington); Cassie Rose (Ashly Burch, with Roger L. Jackson voicing the character's "White Pumpkin" disguise); the super-computer PAMA (Jason 'jtop' Topolski); PAMA's creator and former Old Builder Harper (Yvette Nicole Brown); the warrior Emily (Audrey Wasilewski); and the Old Builders—Hadrian (Jim Cummings), Mevia (Kari Wahlgren), and Otto (Jamie Alcroft). The second season introduces new supporting characters, namely Jesse's assistant Radar (Yuri Lowenthal), the famous hero Jack (Fred Tatasciore) and his villager sidekick Nurm (Mark Barbolak), Champion City ruler Stella (Ashley Albert) and her treasure-sniffing llama Lluna, and the sinister Admin, whose real name is Romeo (JB Blanc).
There are also several background characters, such as Maya, Ivy, and a Fangirl (GK Bowes); Owen (Owen Hill); Gill (Phil LaMarr); an EnderCon Usher named Reuben (also Jason 'jtop' Topolski); a Fanboy (Billy West); Lydia (Lydia Winters); and the EnderCon Building Competition Announcer (Erin Yvette). Job Stauffer has stated that the human characters as a whole represent the different types of gamers who play Minecraft. Billy West narrates the first four episodes of the story.
Plot
This is a broad overview of the plot. Certain decisions made by the player will alter the details of specific events.
Season One A flashback narrates the tale of the "Order of the Stone", a group of four legendary heroes (Gabriel, Ellegaard, Magnus, and Soren) who defeated the Ender Dragon many years ago. In the present, Jesse, their friends Axel and Olivia, and their pet pig Reuben prepare for the EnderCon building competition, where the winning team will get to meet Gabriel. The Ocelots, another team led by Jesse's rival Lukas, attempt to sabotage their project, scaring Reuben. While chasing after Reuben, Jesse is rescued from monsters by a mercenary-for-hire, Petra. Petra invites Jesse to join her in selling a Wither skull to a customer named Ivor. While Jesse and their friends are preparing to meet Gabriel, Ivor interrupts the event and constructs a "Wither Storm" monster to attack Gabriel. Gabriel is unable to defeat the monster and attempts to lead Jesse's gang, as well as Lukas, to safety. As the monster catches up with them, Gabriel tells Jesse that they must find and reunite the other three members of the Order of the Stone. The Wither Storm then captures both Petra and Gabriel, with Jesse saving one of them.
After escaping the Wither Storm, the group flee to the Order's abandoned temple, where they discover that Ivor was a member of the Order but was removed from the official stories for unknown reasons. Axel and Olivia then set off to find Magnus and Ellegaard, respectively, with Jesse joining one of them. Once both of them are recruited, the group track down Soren, who is believed to possess an immensely powerful bomb that could destroy the Wither Storm. Jesse uses the bomb and the Wither Storm is ripped apart, although either Magnus or Ellegaard dies in the process. The monster quickly reforms, attempting to capture Jesse, who is rescued by either Petra or Gabriel (whichever the player did not save), although they have developed amnesia. Ivor resurfaces and offers the group his help, taking them to his lab to construct an enchanted weapon to use against the Wither Storm. At the lab, Jesse learns that the Order are frauds and fabricated the story of how they defeated the Ender Dragon. Ivor explains that he fell out with the rest of the Order over their lies, and created the Wither Storm to show the world the truth. Jesse builds the enchanted weapon and destroys the Wither Storm's command block, killing the monster, but not before it mortally wounds Reuben. With Gabriel acknowledging that Jesse's group are real heroes, he crowns them the new Order of the Stone.
Some time later, the new Order have become heroes and, on one of their adventures, stumble upon an enchanted flint and steel that can open portals to other worlds. They show it to Ivor, who believes that the device is the work of a group known as the "Old Builders", who supposedly possess infinite building resources. Jesse, Ivor, Lukas, and Petra investigate, ending up in Sky City, a floating city where building is forbidden due to the limited resources. The group is followed by the remnants of the Ocelots, who are jealous of their old rivals' fame and manipulate Sky City's ruler, the Founder, into turning against the Order. After the Ocelots seize control of the city, the Order defeat them and persuade the Founder to lift the building ban. They then attempt to use the flint and steel to return home, only to find themselves in a portal-filled corridor.
Traveling through the portals, the group arrive at a mansion full of Minecraft YouTubers, who are being systematically murdered by the mysterious "White Pumpkin" in search of the enchanted flint and steel. Jesse solves the mystery and defeats the White Pumpkin, who sought to use the flint and steel to leave the mansion after being stranded there for years. Returning to the portal corridor, the group travel to more worlds, eventually arriving in a desert ruled by PAMA, a supercomputer who has created a hive mind of humans and monsters. With the aid of PAMA's creator, Harper, the group destroy PAMA and free everyone under its control. Harper then reveals herself as a former Old Builder and takes the group to her home world, where the other Old Builders reside. Taking Jesse's friends hostage, the Old Builders force Jesse to partake in a series of dangerous games hosted by them, promising to help the group return home if Jesse wins. After realizing the games are rigged to ensure no one can win them, Jesse stages a rebellion among the players and defeats the Old Builders, rescuing their friends and securing the means to return home.
Season Two While adventuring with Petra, Jesse, now the mayor of Beacontown, comes across a bottomless pit with a mysterious Prismarine gauntlet inside, which attaches to Jesse's hand. Seeking a way to remove the gauntlet, the pair travel to an ocean monument alongside Jack, a renowned adventurer, and his villager friend Nurm. There, they encounter a powerful entity known as the "Admin" and narrowly escape, though either Petra or Jack is injured in the process. Returning to Beacontown, the group is followed by the Admin, who takes the form of a Prismarine Colossus and begins destroying the city. Jesse stops the Admin's rampage and destroys the Colossus, but the Admin returns as a snowman. He challenges Jesse and their friends – joined by Jesse's new intern Radar, Stella, the leader of rival town Champion City, and her pet llama Lluna – to retrieve a giant clock from his ice palace. After tackling various challenges and destroying the clock, Vos, Jack's supposed old friend, reveals himself to have been the Admin all along and imprisons Jesse and their friends at the Sunshine Institute.