Telltale Games Is Making A ‘Minecraft’ Game

After teasing an announcement on Twitter yesterday, this morning saw Telltale Games spill the beans that they’re working on an adventure game based in the world of Minecraft. Titled Minecraft: Story Mode, the new episodic game looks set to follow on from Tales From the Borderlands as another humorous take on a hugely popular video game franchise.

This news comes at the end of Telltale’s tenth anniversary year, which has seen the studio round off well-received seasons of The Wolf Among Us and The Walking Dead while also launching new series in Tales From the Borderlands and Game of Thrones. Those two seasons will be completed in 2015, presumably ahead of the premiere of Story Mode which also begins next year.

While its title might suggest otherwise, Telltale’s new project will not be an add-on to the hugely popular block-building game — it’s a standalone episodic series in the vein of the studio’s other output. Telltale promises an original story that will ‘mix new characters with familiar themes’ for Minecraft‘s first real step towards a conventional narrative.

From yesterday’s teasing tweets to the twin press releases that both companies circulated today, it’s being stressed that Story Mode is a collaboration between two developers that are huge fans of one another. We’ve seen how successful Telltale can be when they work on another developer’s IP that speaks to them — and based on how the game was announced, there’s a lot of creativity in store here.

Rather than a traditional reveal trailer, Story Mode was unveiled by a short Telltale-style conversation game called Info Quest II — which is available for you to play on the Mojang web site. It seems that Mojang, rather than Telltale were behind the snippet, but it might just give us an idea of the light-hearted comedic tone that Telltale’s project is aiming for.

Unlike recent output like Tales From the Borderlands and Game of Thrones, it seems likely that Telltale will target their Minecraft project to the younger audiences that make up a huge swathe of the game’s fan base. That’s not to say that it will be a ‘kid’s game’, but perhaps don’t expect the same level of violence and coarse language that we’ve seen in other Telltale releases.

Also of note from this announcement is that the game is scheduled to release on PlayStation consoles, despite Mojang being purchased by Microsoft earlier this year. It’s difficult to discern what this means for the franchise; either plans for this title have been in the works since before the purchase of Mojang, or it’s confirmation that the Minecraft series is indeed to big for Xbox console exclusivity.

The first episode of Minecraft: Story Mode is set for 2015, and is set to release on Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, iOS, Mobile and PC.

Source: Mojang, Telltale Games

TAGS: iOS, Minecraft, Mobile, Mojang, PC, PS3, PS4, TellTale Games, Xbox 360, Xbox One

Telltale Games Is Making A ‘Minecraft’ Game

‘Game of Thrones’ Season 1 Premiere – ‘Iron From Ice’ Review

Telltale’s Game of Thrones series features their most ambitious storyline yet. The season premiere focuses on the happenings of Westeros, alongside the events of season three in the HBO show. The game assumes the player is familiar with the canon Game of Thrones events and characters, so anyone new to the series is in for spoilers and a bit of a confusing experience – but for those familiar with the show, the game picks up at a recognizable and terrifying time.

Much like the book series the show is based on, the episodic game will keep transitioning between characters as new chapters begin and close. The focus for this season is set with House Forrester, whose motto ‘Iron From Ice’ is the title of the season premiere. As players are quickly introduced to House Forrester, it becomes clear that this is Telltale’s best foray into developing characters yet – by the end of the first episode, each playable character has made several gut-wrenching choices, and each of them feel like they had a unique personality within the harsh world of Game of Thrones.

The classic timed conversations of Telltale Games are thrown at the player at a fast and brutal pace like never before, and players may find themselves overwhelmed making so many bold choices under pressure. At the beginning of the game, players must choose between the duties of their House or saving the person right in front of them, and it sets a tone of danger that the entire episode keeps up with easily – it’s the perilous experience one would expect in Westeros.

The oil-painted graphics of Game of Thrones is a mixed bag – visually, the characters retain the distinctive Telltale Games look and when the environment isn’t playing against the game, it manages to look great. When there is plenty of movement, however – which is most of the game – the background often distracts from the gameplay as the engine renders edges in quite a noisy and uncomplimentary way.

In contrast to a somewhat sloppy graphical performance, the voice acting is top notch – of course, the actual HBO cast retains their voice credits for characters, which means the actual voices of Cersei and Tyrion Lannister, Margaery Tyrell and Ramsay Snow lend their expertise to the dialogue, and each deliver a fantastic performance. The rest of the cast does a great job as well, which really helps their character development and sets a high standard for the rest of the episodes.

Fans of the show may be a bit miffed at the storyline, which seems to place a heavy emphasis on the importance of House Forrester’s ironwood – with Ramsay Snow and Queen Cersei both taking a personal interest. Curiously, Mira Forrester – a mere handmaiden in King’s Landing – seems to be able to speak on behalf of her entire house and negotiate in stead of the House’s actual Lord, which is an illogical decision in both reality and in the show. It’s clear Telltale Games did this so her decisions would carry weight, but it came off as a little forced.

The rest of the storyline was much more plausible, and the ticking clock on the decision time will leave gamers sweating at the fast-paced conversations and arguments that flow within the game. By the end of the season premiere, the plot is building up pace rather quickly and plenty of pieces have already been set in motion in typical Game of Thrones style. Weighing in at around two hours, the first episode represents an excellent platform for the rest of the season to build off of, and delivered a pleasing amount of content in comparison to other Telltale experiences.

We played the PC version for our review, and constantly ran into graphical glitches throughout the episode. The mouths of characters would sometimes stop moving during their dialogue, and NPCs would sometimes quickly slide in or out of the screen as one scene would transition to the next.  Likewise, after a second playthrough it seems like a lot of the under-pressure choices the player makes were a moot point – the same situation unfolded eventually, with the same results. While some of the choices were clearly slow burners that will impact later episodes, we hope Telltale Games manages to prove that player choices can lead to a diverse playthrough experience, rather than different paths that lead to the exact same conclusion.

Ultimately, Iron From Ice more than makes up for these setbacks by providing a story-driven and engaging experience from start to finish. Whether it was vying to tactfully pass off lies in King’s Landing or dodging spears in a woefully outnumbered situation, Game of Thrones is proof yet again that the Telltale formula works – and compliments the world of HBO’s Game of Thrones perfectly. The first episode got the season off to an entertaining start, and graphical issues aside, the next episode still can’t come soon enough.

The next episode of Game of Thrones has yet to be announced, but Jon Snow (and therefore Kit Harrington) are confirmed to feature in it.

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Follow John Jacques on Twitter @Makelevi.

Our Rating:

4 out of 5

‘Game of Thrones’ Season 1 Premiere – ‘Iron From Ice’ Review

Telltale’s Game of Thrones launch trailer finds the Forresters dealing with some sinister forces

In anticipation of the game’s debut episode, set to release tomorrow on PS4, PC, and Mac, Telltale has unveiled a launch trailer for Game of Thrones: Episode One – Iron from Ice.

The trailer focuses on the protagonists, House Forrester (who seem like Telltale’s stand-in for the Starks, at least based on the images and videos released so far). They’re a northern family loyal to House Stark—and, in the world of Game of Thrones, of course, that means many powerful enemies. Telltale’s game takes place within the timeframe of what’s already aired on the hit HBO fantasy series—from Season 3 to just before the start of next year’s Season 5—so it’ll be interesting to see how events from the TV show manifest themselves in these six episodes.

In addition to its PS4, PC, and Mac launch tomorrow, Iron from Ice hits the Xbox One and Xbox 360 on December 3rd, iOS on December 4th, and the PS3 on December 9th.

Telltale’s Game of Thrones launch trailer finds the Forresters dealing with some sinister forces

Telltale’s ‘Game of Thrones’ Hits This Week; New Trailer Monday

Much like they did with this week’s surprise release for Tales from the Borderlands, Telltale Games has decided to give fans another holiday surprise. This time, however, the news concerns one of Telltale’s most intriguing and potentially exciting tie-ins, Game of Thrones.

While Telltale has been very secretive when it comes to their Games of Thrones adaptation so far, that will change in a few short days. That’s not because Telltale plans to reveal any more about the game – although that is still likely to happen – but because the first episode will hit digital platforms starting on December 2nd

As with past Telltale releases, Game of Thrones‘ release plans are staggered, starting with PC, Mac, and PS4 on the 2nd. Then, Xbox gamers will get their hands on the game on the 3rd. And finally iOS users can play the first episode on December 4th.

.@telltalegames Additional release details for #GameOfThrones Ep 1

12/9 PS3 SCEA SCEE

@Android dates for December forthcoming

— Telltale Games (@telltalegames) November 27, 2014

Speaking of that first episode, we don’t know too much outside of the very scarce details Telltale has been willing to share. We know that this first season will follow several members of the Forrester Family as they work to solve a problem in Westeros. That quest will apparently take players to various iconic locals from the HBO series and will see them meeting some familiar faces.

That’s right, unlike Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones is meant to serve as a companion to the TV show not the direct source material. There’s no question that however Telltale wanted to tell their story it would be intriguing, but the fact that this game ties into the HBO series is sure to help its appeal. More importantly, it also gives Telltale the ability to bring in the series’ actors for voice work.

And even though Telltale is trying to keep as much of the story a secret they aren’t letting gamers going in completely blind. They promise that a launch trailer for the first episode will hit on Monday, December 1st, that will give players a better idea of what to expect without giving anything away. After Tuesday, however, potential players will want to tread lightly for fear of spoilers, like they do every Sunday night.

Game of Thrones Episode 1: Iron From Ice releases December 2nd for PC, Mac, and PS4; December 3rd for Xbox 360 and Xbox One; and December 4th for iOS.

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Source: Telltale

Follow Anthony on Twitter @ANTaormina

TAGS: Game of Thrones, Mac, PC, PS3, PS4, TellTale Games, Xbox 360, Xbox One

Telltale’s ‘Game of Thrones’ Hits This Week; New Trailer Monday

‘Tales from the Borderlands’ Launch Trailer: A Return To Comedy

Between four episodes of The Wolf Among Us earlier in the year and Game of Thrones on the horizon, 2014 has been an excellent year for fans of Telltale Games — and that’s without mentioning the hotly anticipated Tales from the Borderlands. The first episode of the new series released this week, alongside a launch trailer that offers a peek into its new vision of Pandora.

Set after the end of Borderlands 2, Tales from the Borderlands centres around co-protagonists Fiona and Rhys, an unlikely couple who are thrown together in the search for riches. Like most Telltale titles, the game will be released episodically, with a further four installments set to follow yesterday’s season opener.

However, for all the structural similarities that Tales from the Borderlands shares with other Telltale output, the trailer demonstrates quite aptly just how much this game is set to stray from the studio’s recent norm in terms of tone. In-keeping with the Borderlands franchise, this is a much more light-hearted experience than the likes of The Walking Dead.

It’s worth noting that, while high drama has brought great success to Telltale over the past few years, that hasn’t always been the focus. Back in the early days of the studio, it was its adaptations of more comedic properties like Sam Max, Wallace and Gromit and Homestar Runner that brought the studio to the attention of many.

Based on what we’ve seen so far of the game, it certainly seems that Telltale hasn’t lost its knack for comedy. Action sequences are one way to integrate the Borderlands experience into this type of game, but adopting the same irreverent sense of humor as its source material is what’s really important — and all signs point to Tales from the Borderlands doing just that.

It will certainly be interesting to see Telltale’s trip to Pandora play out alongside their excursion to Westeros, with the studio’s Game of Thrones project still set to begin its six-episode run before the year is out. The two very different series will provide an interesting counterpoint to one another as they play out over the next several months — but we’ll have to see whether running two new series at once will affect the studio’s notoriously uneven release scheduling.

For now though, the first episode of Tales from the Borderlands should be just enough to satiate fans for a little while. Are you excited to see Pandora through a different lens? Or are you holding out for Game of Thrones? Let us know in the comments section below.

Tales from the Borderlands: Zer0 Sum is available to download now for PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, with an Xbox 360 release to follow on December 3.

‘Tales from the Borderlands’ Launch Trailer: A Return To Comedy

This is Why ‘Game of Thrones’ is 6 Episodes Long

Although Telltale Games has not shied away from tackling beloved properties throughout their entire career, many would agree that their latest project, an adaptation of HBO’s Game of Thrones, is their most ambitious yet. Game of Thrones has grown into a huge brand on the back of HBO’s series, which itself is based on the ‘Song of Ice and Fire’ series of novels.

Alongside that ambition comes a few firsts for Telltale Games, who are set to release the first Game of Thrones episode next month. Unfortunately, since Telltale likes to keep all of their games’ narratives as secretive as possible they haven’t said much about what makes their upcoming game so “epic.”

What we do know is that the episodic series will follow the Forrester Family, a family referenced in Game of Thrones lore but not overtly featured. That way, Telltale can tell a story that ties back into the HBO series without upsetting the status quo.

But even though Telltale is not reproducing one of GoT‘s epic storylines they aren’t skimping with this game either. In fact, this first season’s story is so ambitious that Telltale decided to up their episode count from 5 to 6.

 “As we got into it, we realized the arc was well-suited to a six-episode arc, with the first episode doing a lot of heavy lifting in introducing who these playable characters are. Let’s give you a chance to know them, and grapple a little bit with the initial dilemma.”

As far as the game’s setting is concerned, Game of Thrones will begin shortly after the pivotal event in Season 3 of the HBO series. We won’t give it away for those spoiler-phobic readers out there, but said event is commonly referred to as The Red Wedding.

From there, players will pick up with a cast of relative unknowns (in GoT terms) for a story that does feature plenty of familiar faces from the HBO show. The first trailer for Game of Thrones featured, among others, Cersei, Jamie, and Tyrion Lannister, all of whom were voiced by their real actors.

 

At the same time, what players will actually be doing as part of House Forrester is still very much a mystery. We know from writer Andrew Grant that the first episode, titled Iron From Ice, will establish the Forrester family’s problem and how they plan to solve it, but that’s about it.

“There’s a huge problem in House Forrester. Figuring out how you’re going to solve it, how you’re going to deal with it, that’s Episode 1…It’s like the big-bang explosion. Everything rolls out from there for the rest of the season, and each episode has a really natural, awesome way to tell a more epic story than we really tell.”

Nevertheless, with the folks behind such critically acclaimed games as The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us at the wheel there’s plenty of reason to be excited about this game regardless of its well-kept secrets. December can’t come soon enough.

How do you feel about a six-episode season for Game of Thrones? Would you like to see longer seasons from Telltale’s other releases?

Game of Thrones‘ First Episode “Iron From Ice” is slated to release in December 2014.

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Source: IGN

This is Why ‘Game of Thrones’ is 6 Episodes Long

Gearbox Software talks about working with Telltale in new Tales from the Borderlands video

In a new behind-the-scenes video, several members on Gearbox’s Borderlands team discuss how their collaboration with Telltale came about and what to expect from Tales from the Borderlands now that the game’s universe is in Telltale’s hands.

The video features new footage from the game alongside interviews with franchise director Matt Armstrong, writer Anthony Burch, producer James Lopez, and Gearbox CEO and president Randy Pitchford.

Tales from the Borderlands will span five individual episodes, as is typical of Telltale, with the first episode set to debut November 25 on PS4, Xbox One, PS3, Xbox 360, PC, iOS, OS X, and PS Vita.

Gearbox Software talks about working with Telltale in new Tales from the Borderlands video