Minecraft: Story Mode Season Two - Episode 3: Jailhouse Block

 PC
Metascore
71

Mixed or average reviews - based on 8 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 8
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 8
  3. Negative: 0 out of 8
  1. DarkStation
    Sep 18, 2017
    90
    Clocking in at just over an hour and a half, Episode 3 has been the shortest on time, and yet still managed to bring the heat with some great scenes and set pieces. With as much as they have riding on their shoulders, the fact that Minecraft: Story Mode hasn’t turned into a heavy, Walking Dead-esque slog is a testament that you can still work through some deep subjects without needing to crush your audience beneath the heavy stone weight of dystopian reality. Minecraft and Telltale both continue to surprise me with this series, and I can’t wait to see how Jesse and Company deal with The Admin… eventually.
  2. God is a Geek
    Sep 18, 2017
    80
    Jailhouse Block is an action packed episode with some great humour and exciting set-pieces.
  3. Attack of the Fanboy
    Sep 18, 2017
    80
    A tightly controlled and intriguing story mix with some of the best action sequences of the season to create a real turning point for the series. If Telltale can keep it up we're in for a real treat by the end of Minecraft: Story Mode Season 2.
  5. Twinfinite
    Sep 18, 2017
    80
    Jailhouse Block excels at illustrating the dynamics between all of these characters, and it all comes to a head when the player is finally presented with a heartbreaking choice near the end of the episode.

User Reviews

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User Score
7.5

Generally favorable reviews- based on 30 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 19 out of 30
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 30
  3. Negative: 5 out of 30
  1. Retle65
    Feb 18, 2018
    9
    Interesting characters, excellent theme, stellar humour, innovative action sequences. What not to love
  2. InducedRhino438
    Sep 19, 2017
    8
    This review contains spoilers, click full review link to view. Minecraft Story Mode: Season 2 Episode 3 delivers yet another thrilling and engaging storyline along with some action packed themes and impactful story changing decisions different to what we got in Episode 2 along with some dark themed dynamics tailored towards the story. I was exceptionally impressed with Episode 2 with its fast paced action and gameplay and not to mention the plot twist at the end, leaving me in one of the biggest cliff-hangers in this entire franchise. Fortunately Episode 3 does an amazing job at continuing from all of the drama and continuing right where the end of the previous episode left Jesse and his friends and I am not disappointed by it. The writing done to this plot really works and really pays off. Our friend Jesse is sent to a deep, hidden underground prison/reformatory (hence the title of this episode; 'Jailhouse Block') after angering the mentally deranged admin for apparently not showing him as his 'champion' in the previous episode. We are once again reunited with most of the characters featured in the last episode (including the admin during the middle of the episode). The great thing about this is that the first character we are reunited with is determined out of the two characters (Jack or Petra) that was selected during the end of the last episode while deciding on who would go for the clock being the main goal of the episodes plot. This means that depending on who you selected, the beginning of this new episode will be slightly different, though no matter who it is, you will be introduced with an awesome, action packed intro featuring some point and click gameplay just like in Episode 3 of the first season. As well as that, we also get to see a couple of new characters in this episode such as the quirky Warden. We are even reintroduced with a couple of other characters previously seen such as Jesse's friend and assistant Radar, and Nurm the Villager. In the last episode, I had noticed a favourable bond between Jesse and Radar who I had also grown a bond too. During the beginning of this episode however, he is the victim of the episode first major decision which the Warden uses him to influence you into working for him or resisting. During my two play throughs of this episode in choosing both options, I noticed that some of these have very little change to the story while the others have a more impactful change to the storyline. One of these choices made near the end of the episode ends up being not only once of the hardest decisions to make in this entire series, but once of the most heartbreaking. Of course since this episode is set in a dreadful prison, the plot follows Jesse and his friends trying to escape, where they discover that there is one particular prisoner who is the only one who knows the escape route. Referred to as 'Prisoner X', Jesse and his friends must find a way to get to her heavily fortified and guarded cell deep in the prison. based off the choice you made from deciding to work for the Warden or refuse, you will depend on your experience to how you will get yourself to the bottom floor known as the 'Zombie Mines' consisting of all the poor and disgusting prisoners forced to kill and eat zombies. If you decide to work for the Warden, you will promote yourself to working in the room, while if you refuse to, you will find a way to deliberately get yourself into trouble. Once Jesse encounters Prisoner X, Jesse is forced to leave behind one of the series companions; Nurm the Villager and Jacks best frined, or Lluna the Llama the series new animal companion. This choice was both hard and sad to decide because although we hadn't seen these characters that much, what we had seen were strong. Speaking of Stella, we get to see her again where this time she works as an associate and of course has the same bitter & ruthless attitude towards Jesse along with her 'rival' vibe. Some point in the episode, we have the option to let her join us from reasoning with her. if you choose this, than she promises to 'have your back' hopefully in a future episode. And yet again in this episode we are introduced to another cliff hanger though this time it starts during the beginning of the second half of the episode where the admin makes an appearance at the prison bringing back your friend that you chose to retrieve the clock in the previous episode where he tries to force the two of you to fight. After a failed attempt at striking the admin himself, he takes his evil tactics beyond all measures by manipulating Jesse's identity and threatening Beacontown and his older friends. And yet this was all happening when Jesse still has a prison to escape, and once he had, the ending lead to a second cliff hanger!
    In conclusion, this episode has proven that this season just gets better and better and is the best in the series thanks to all the action, impactful and versatile decisions and consistent cliffhangers which has once again left me very excited for what is to come next.    … Full Review »
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