Review: Minecraft: Story Mode - Episode 2: Assembly Required

Ideally it's the optimal situation for consumers. You buy a system, and you have access to almost every major game, with as few exceptions as possible. To me though, it's a sad thought, as I sometimes long for a time when there were an assortment of games I couldn't play because I could only afford one system. When that one guy in the neighborhood who bought the Xbox would show us all "Halo" and have us regret our PS2 decision (if only for a moment), or when N64 owners could stretch arguments with their Playstation rivals on into the morning by just dropping the name "Goldeneye" every now and then.

Even better, indie games can afford to lose. They are often low cost, low maintenance, high concept works that don't rely on reaching a certain figure to be considered viable, and as such they can throw caution to the wind and take some big risks while still making a profit off of even the most modest sales. That means they can also afford to remain loyal to a system like an undertaker with a debt to the don, as while they might want the money that can come with being a multi-platform release, what they need is the backing and spiritual support of a major company like Sony, Microsoft, or Nintendo to get their games out there. A backing that is no longer lip service and is becoming very, very real.

If you followed Gamescon this year, you'll have no doubt noticed that the word on the lips of every Microsoft,Sony, and Nintendo representative was "indie." Whether it be Sony revealing that Minecraft New Zealand DLC, Rogue Legacy, and The Binding of Issac would be part of the PS4 family, Microsoft unveiling a pretty daring new system to encourage indie development, or Nintendo showing that indie developers are fully prepared to make use of the unique capabilities of the Wii U, it became clear that both companies have suddenly realized that indies are no longer a niche market ran by eccentrics and snatched by the gaming version of hipsters, but a viable and exciting source of incredible new ideas, and creative final products.
Let me begin by saying that this episode is particularly short, like a little over an hour short. I guess that's what happens when the first two episodes are only separated by a few weeks, but the fact that to get the entire experience you have to play through it twice sort of pans out well because it then makes the episode about two hours long. Still, a much longer playthrough for the sequel was expected considering the complication of the events taking place. That being said, the episode covers the areas following either Elligaard or Magnus and each path allows you to follow and understand more of the world of Minecraft. There are a few inconsistencies that don't make sense and some new events that don't necessarily pertain to Jessie or his/her friends, but that doesn't label the episode as terrible. By inconsistencies, I mean there were points in the game where I thought, "why can't they just do this/that in order to progress?" One moment that comes to mind is when a character falls into a hole and can't seem to get out when they could have built their way out as they were able to in the first episode. The rest of the episode is littered with little things like that that make you scratch your head and ask those questions.

Each path differs in gameplay as Magnus’s path is a lot more action-oriented with the introduction of Boom Town and 'griefers.' Of course, we all know 'griefers' from the original game as annoying players who would blow stuff up. Because of this, QTEs (Quick Time Events) are utilized that were so popular in the previous episode to dodge TNT. Ellegaard’s path isn’t as action oriented and focuses more on puzzles and the character focus from the very first episode. There is a lot more dialogue in this path and a lot of it makes up the funnier aspects of this episode. This episode capitalizes on the voice actors that Telltale has gotten together like Corey Feldman (Magnus), who played Mouth in The Goonies, and Grey Griffin (Ellegaard), famous for playing Daphne Blake in the Scooby-Doo cartoon movies that bring the characters to life.

Minecraft: Story Mode - Episode 2: Assembly Required doesn't meet the bar that the previous episode set, but that doesn't rule it out as awful. The fact that it relies on environments to cover the fact that there's really nothing to do/talk about gives reason as to why forked paths are rarely done in games. There are no new innovations and because of that, the story should be a little stronger, but instead stumbles. Hopefully, with the potential that the series holds, the following episode will focus more on Jessie and give players a much wider variety of things to do, decide and explore.


The hand-drawn art style employed by Deli Interactive's We Need To Go Deeper is incredibly reminiscent of the one used in Don't Starve Together , making this a great option for those who liked the look and feel of Klei Entertainment's smash hit. That's not the only thing that's similar though, with many of the survival elements found throughout the title feeling incredibly familiar as w