Telltale Games is revisiting one of the properties a lot of people probably didn't expect to see get a second season: Minecraft: Story Mode. The studio announced that a second season is indeed coming in a five episode story arc that continues Jesse's adventure from the first season.
The announcement came via a press release where Telltale announced that players will once again step into the shoes of Jesse, set within Mojang's blocky voxel-based world. Minecraft: Story Mode -- Season 2 is set to premiere starting July 11th for the Xbox One, PS4, PC, Mac, iOS and Android platforms.
New to the season will be the technological integration for Crowd Play, the Twitch-based feature that Telltale has been including into its games lately. The mode will enable streamers and Let's Play advocates to include their audience into the play session, enabling the crowd to help influence and make choices, as well as make the whole watching experience feel a lot more interactive and immersive.
Patton Oswalt and Catherine Taber will return to once again voice the male and female versions of Jesse, and they will be joined by a returning Ashley Johnson who has gained a lot of recognition lately from her work on The Last of Us. Others who have been announced as part of the cast include some of the popular YouTubers who have gained lots of followers for their content centered around Minecraft, such as stacyplays and Stampy Cat. The press release also notes that there will be further casting revelations to be made closer to the game's first episode being released on July 11th.
The story itself will pick up where the last season ended, with Jesse and the remaining survivors having defeated the Wither Storm and restored peace to the land. The second season introduces all new obstacles and challenges for Jesse and the rest of the crew, including dealing with fame, not having time for friendship, and Jesse's inexplicable conundrum involving a cursed gauntlet getting stuck to his or her hand.
We at least learn from the press release that there will be some new locations that the group visits, including an underwater temple. Beyond that players will have to keep their eyes peeled for the release of the first episode to play it for themselves.
One thing they wanted to make clear was that some of the tough decisions that were made during the first season will carry over into the second season. Telltale often receives a lot of criticisms for the lack of having significant decisions affecting the gameplay, but this time Telltale really wanted to make sure that some of those decisions made in the previous season of Minecraft: Story Mode had weight going forward.
Of course, if you haven't played the adventure game series before, it's mentioned that newcomers will be able to pick up and play the story without having played the first season.
And, speaking of the first season, in preparation for the launch of Minecraft: Story Mode -- Season 2, Telltale has a discount on the first season of the game by up to 75% off. The details of the sale are outlined over on the official Telltale website.
