On the back of a successful campaign with Season One, Minecraft: Story Mode Season Two kicks off with Jesse trying to find a balance between his new responsibilities in charge of Beacontown, while keeping in touch with his old hero friends. However, his newfound responsibilities and an answer to a call from his friend Petra finds the two journey down into the mines, where a new adventure awaits. This is Telltale Games' first episode in the second season of Minecraft: Story Mode, entitled Hero in Residence, and while it kickstarts a new adventure, it does so rather quietly.
The tricky thing with Telltale Games' formula for creating these point-and-click graphic adventures is that the sword more or less falls on the story. If the story is found lacking a bit of a spark, or is made up of “filler” without advancing any character arc or story development, then that reflects poorly on the quality of the episode. While Hero in Residence doesn't exactly begin with a fizzer, it also fails to set the new season on fire. Although Jesse is being pulled between his old friends and his new role as the leader of Beacontown, this is all suddenly forgotten about as he meets up with Petra for a mystery adventure hunting a “beast” in the mines.
While Jesse is not the worst character in this episode – that title is reserved for Jack – he/she also does not come across as likeable either. Clearly running the town takes a lot out of the character and makes them a bit one-sided, although it is a dynamic that is likely to be shattered by the next episode and it will hopefully allow Jesse to open up a little bit more. A new character, Jesse's intern called Radar, takes the cake for best character thus far, as he's so shy, but equally star struck at the prospect of being close to the legendary heroes, which is a cute dynamic that Radar will hopefully grow from.
The Minecraft-type elements creep their way into this episode, as the Crafting tables are present at the required moments in order to craft items to progress the story. In a more simplified manner to the crafting process from Mojang's hit game, these crafting tables come with their own recipe books that only specify the instructions for creating a certain item needed for the story. Where there is a crafting table, there are generally ingredients to find. Movement around the stages suits the style of Minecraft a lot better, yet Jesse is still a chore to move around, and his speed-running is still quite slow. However, there are quite a few open-world stages to wander through and plenty of environmental elements to interact with, but they are hardly diversions from the linear story.
Unfortunately, the scenes do not seem to blend well together as seamlessly as hoped, and there are a few rough cuts and immediate sound pauses that disrupt the flow, having a negative effect on the story. During a conversation with Jack, there is a line of dialogue that seems to have missed the audio file, for example, although the subtitle appears on the screen to display what he would have otherwise said. It's this type of annoyance, and seemingly lack of care into the minute details, that dampens the excitement of getting more Telltale series.
