Minecraft Story Mode Review

"Episode 8: A Journey's End?"

Campaign (Spoiler Free)

The finale of the Minecraft Story Mode has finally arrived and with it comes the end of this special extended Telltale series. While the first set of episodes were more focused these last three episodes have greatly strayed from that formula and built outwards into a series of misadventures instead. That all comes to an end as the remaining members for the Order of the Stone head to collect the Atlas. This mystical device has been told to be their token to finding where their home is as they've been lost for quite some time. This then somehow has the team end up being put into a tournament of mini games which will put their skills to the test. I found this episode to be decent running at normal length of time, yet it still felt like an abrupt way to end the season. It didn't really tie many loose ends and if anything left it oddly open with a weird twist of fate. Not to say it didn't wrap things up, it just could have done a better job of finishing things a bit instead of feeling like just another episode.

Gameplay

Everything looks and plays in exact detail to what their Minecraft counterparts would be like. It was so great seeing the many Minecraft creatures they were able to stuff into this episode and fans of regular Minecraft will love that. This final episode also did a great job of displaying all the past elements we've collected across the journey to see just how much the series has expanded on Minecraft lore. The voice acting was well done with every character feeling absolutely unique. The game does look more akin to animated Minecraft videos which I'm sure many of you have seen before which was fine. This was yet another well done episode in terms of polish as it ran smoothly without any issues. Finally would like to mention that the game has some neat side crafting areas where you can decide what to build in order to complete a task.

The Conclusion

I'd say "A Journey's End?" was a satisfying conclusion to this season of Minecraft: Story Mode though it just didn't give a very impactful finish. It would have been nice to see more of the individual character building pay-off as they instead just brought everyone together. The collection of mini games was a great idea as there were some iconic player created modes shown off, they were just mostly brief and to the side instead of directly in the action. The general story for this episode also felt a bit rushed as they packed what could have been something that was larger into a regular length episode. I'm definitely interested in seeing more Story Mode in the future as it's nice to see a story get built for Minecraft and I've grown to like the roster. I just hope that next time around they focus on more emotional sections with the characters and develop them individually more along with their smaller relationships within the group.

Minecraft Story Mode Review on Xbox One
Review Code Provided by Sandbox Strat

Rating Overall: 7.5