Minecraft: Story Mode has surprised me more and more with each newly released episode of the series. Episode 4, A Block and a Hard Place will force you make difficult decisions pulling at your heart strings. This episode lasted just above 2 hours for me, and it will begin to bring closure to the story Jessie and his friends tumbled into.
Episode 4 picks up where you left off with the last death in Episode 3. You all run with the Witherstorm being close on your tails. Jessie and his crew find themselves deep in a cave, but the storm is still easily within your range. Depending who you are and the choices you made up to this point, Ellegard and Gabriel discuss the possibility and hope that he will regain his memories. Gabriel mentions he has seen others wear the same jacket he was wearing when trapped inside the Witherstorm. This is the first of many heart retching decisions you need to make, and it doesn’t get any easier. While these are tough decisions, they will ultimately lay out the ending of the game and allow you to see who is behind Jessie at the conclusion of this crazy tale. However, in this episode, the choices which are typically cut and dry become more creative. You have the ability to choose what weapons you use in the final battle, which armor you will wear to protect yourself, and even what epic way you will enter the Witherstorm. It’s always been important to carefully weigh your decisions in Tell Tale games, but you need to know more than ever who your allies and enemies are. Humanity depends on you!
The main reason behind this episode is to find Ivor’s hide out in The Far Lands where an enchantment book with the power to eliminate the command block still lingering inside the Witherstorm that is destroying the world. In a scene with Soren and Ivor, Jessie discovers the storm is following the amulet which Gabriel gifted him. Axel makes a brave move and offers to hold the amulet while Jessie obtains the book. The group agrees that Axel and another Order of the Stone member will return to Soren’s hide out where Enderman can help disassemble the Witherstorm. While the team is accomplishing this task, the next step is to forge weapons and attach the enchantment book to it. Unfortunately, while this is happening, he is separated from Ivor. Now, Jessie and his friends must make it through the lair, which is covered in booby traps. On top of that, the trail they need to follow is a maze.
This episode is more fast paced than the previous and doesn’t leave much time to even process what happened in the last scene. Quick time events are important and plentiful in this episode, so make sure you are ready for anything! When you aren’t in a quick time event, you are trying to solve puzzles completed only by following a specific set of clues. The past episodes had puzzles, but they were easy and quick. This episode stretches your ability to pay attention in order to catch the clues needed. In case you didn’t notice them the first time, you can simply start over. Since these puzzles are more difficult, each room as more information and lore about the world you are trying to save.
In some games, it feels as if the information you learned was completely useless, therefore, a waste of time. However, in this episode specifically, all information is vital and can be used in one way or another. Nothing goes unnoticed, and everything is important. No matter if it is about this single episode, or the base game as a whole, it will be important. Battles are not drawn out, and conversations don’t make you want to skip the cut scene. Everything feels perfectly timed. You don’t think about what you could have done differently. Instead, you can’t wait to see what happens next, which is odd for a game based solely on your decisions. There are some decisions you would change if you replayed the game, sure, but each choice makes the game what it is”¦ unique.
Minecraft: Story Mode- Episode 4: A Block and a Hard Place is easily the strongest episode in the series. With emotional scenes enhanced by hard story elements, Telltale has managed to create a story originating from a couple 3D blocks. Every second of this episode is spent making you feel as though everything and everyone is depending on you. Hard moments are inevitable, but Jessie and his squad make this episode an unforgettable experience which you can’t help but hope the next episode is just as good.