Assembly Required is the second episode in Minecraft: Story Mode, an interactive story set in the Minecraft universe created by Telltale Games and Mojang. This episode follows the adventures of Jesse and his/her friends on their way to save the world from what happened in the events of the previous episode.

Telltale usually spaces their episodes at roughly two months between each episode, but this time we only had to wait for two weeks to play the second episode! It’d be nice if the next episodes of Minecraft: Story Mode could release just as fast, so here’s hoping!

As has been the case with other reviews for Telltale Games’ episodic releases, this review contains some spoilers about the story. Are you ready?

Minecraft: Story Mode is like a playable television show based on your favorite game, where YOU are the star, and your choices and actions decide how the story is told.

You are Jesse, and you and your friends are thrown into an awe-inspiring adventure to save the world. While visiting EnderCon, your gang stumbles on something dreadful. Terror is unleashed, and your only hope is to track down the “Order of the Stone”, a fabled group of adventurers who slew the legendary Ender Dragon. But where are they? In a race against time, you will travel across the overworld, through the Nether, to The End, and beyond.

Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 2 Trailer

 

For the first time in a Telltale game (that I recall of, at least), a real branching in the story occurs at the beginning of this episode, depending on which member of the Order you decided to find at the end of the previous episode. Another interesting thing is that, since you can only select one branch per playthrough, you’ll need to do a second one (using chapter select) to get all the trophies available in the episode.

Thanks to the branching in the story, there is a little replay value in this episode since you will probably want to see what you’ve been missing with the choice you made. The downside of that, however, is that the episode will last only one and a half hours for people who aren’t curious about the “other branch” they are missing on.

Once the first members are found, you are then tasked to find a fourth character that isn’t too far away, but you’ll have to do it fast since you’re not the only one looking to find him. The episode quickly ends as you reach the place where the other member is, but surprisingly ends abruptly, and not on a cliffhanger as we’re used to. Because of that, I’m not really sure in which direction the next episode will go.

As far as the gameplay goes, it’s pretty similar to what we’ve been introduced in the previous episode, and this time we get to fight a few monsters.

 

Final Thoughts
I’m glad we got to experience the second episode of Minecraft: Story Mode so quickly after the release of the first episode! I liked the branching that happens in this episode, even though it doesn’t seem to have any real consequence on the whole story (yet), but it was a great idea nonetheless! But players aiming for the Platinum trophy (that will be attainable once the last episode is released) will require to do two playthrough of the first segment of the game.

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[review pros=”Very fast release, only two weeks after the first episode
First ‘real’ branching stories
Telltale engine’s still holding up on PS3″ cons=”Doesn’t end on a cliffhanger” score=82]

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Cost: $5.99 (Episode), $29.99 (Season – 5 episodes)

PSN Game Size: 690MB

Disclaimer

This review is based on a digital copy of Minecraft: Story Mode provided by Telltale Games.