GameTech: Building blocks of Minecraft

THE building blocks of a good story are often disputed, but in Minecraft: Story Mode those blocks are self-evident. They are, quite literally, blocks. Minecraft is the most important game of the last six years. Since its release in 2009, the Lego-like world-builder has utterly dominated the landscape for pre-teen gaming.

Such is the game’s incredible reach that, when this journalist was working in the developing country of Laos, a place where The Beatles and One Direction are complete unknowns, the children there were playing Minecraft every day. Minecraft: Story Mode is a completely new turn for the franchise. In some ways, it’s an attempt to give identity to a game that has never really had one.

Minecraft itself is a building game with no single iconic image or character. It has no plot or conflict. Minecraft: Story Mode is the complete opposite - an adventure game, an interactive TV show. Like Telltale’s previous releases – including the excellent The Walking Dead – this is a game about choices.