Minecraft: Story Mode Season Two - Episode 1: Hero in Residence

 Xbox One
Metascore
71

Mixed or average reviews - based on 7 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 7
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 7
  3. Negative: 0 out of 7
  1. Game Informer
    Jul 12, 2017
    68
    Despite its problems, Hero in Residence presents situations I want to see progress over the next four episodes. Though the pacing is inconsistent and the decision points are questionable in their weight, the new mechanics and revamped combat make me wonder what else Telltale has in store this season. Though I have my problems with this episode, I'm interested to see the direction the tale takes from here.
  2. Cubed3
    Jan 16, 2018
    60
    Episode 1: Hero in Residence is a slow start to the new season of Minecraft: Story Mode, as Jesse tries to ready Beacontown for the Founding Day celebrations. Fortunately, this early section of the game is quite fun to interact with, and the various characters create various types of "mini-games" to accomplish. Unfortunately, once Jesse and Petra jump into the mines to start their adventure, the story takes a bit of a downward turn, becoming a little bit cumbersome to complete due to the dullness of Jack's character. Audio cues sometimes miss their mark and the scenes have rough cuts between them that disrupt the experience. While these may seem like minor issues, for a game that doesn't revolve a lot around "game mechanics" and focuses more on story-driven episodic adventures, the story and the sound need to be the best they possibly can be to make it a worthwhile experience.
  3. Official Xbox Magazine UK
    Sep 19, 2017
    60
    Doesn't fully realize its potential, but these are early days.
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User Reviews

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User Score
4.6

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 17 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 17
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 17
  3. Negative: 9 out of 17
  1. WendyStamps
    Nov 11, 2021
    10
    Awesome game dude I love it so much its really amazing and it's really cool well done
  2. Ray6701
    Nov 7, 2021
    10
    Awesome masterpiece wow amazing graphics cool experience and great story bro
  3. InducedRhino438
    Aug 7, 2017
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click full review link to view. Just like with the first episode of the first season, I am very impressed with how things have turn out. The debut of Season 2, reuniting or meeting some of the characters I loved in Season 1. Just like in the first season, this kick starts with an interesting (though a bit dull story wise) way to show off some of the new mechanic this brand new season has to offer, and showing just what Jesse has been up to these past few years. I think what this starting episode did better than the starting episode of season 1 was make me very attached to this new antagonist. I have seen very little of this new antagonist, but what I've seen of him so far has given me some (hopefully) accurate first impressions; scary, hungry, and ruthless while at the same time seemed to really left something to be desired with Jesse, the main character. In terms of some of the other newer characters, they do seem interesting and were just enough to grab my attention, however a lot of them came in as soon as most of the older main characters were wiped off at the very beginning which makes me wonder that they only did that to inflict our interest to the new characters. For instance, this one particular new character who was introduced at the very beginning right before having the swansong of the original characters from season 1 for the remainder of the episode. It also seemed that this new character (with the name, Radar) has known Jesse for quite a while now, otherwise (depending on the players choice) you would barely trust them as much as Jesse did or as much as the older characters. Not to say that I hate these new characters, in fact most of them I really liked, I'm just saying that their introduction could've been a little better and less dull unlike the introduction to the original characters from the first episode of season 1. And as well as the main antagonist which I mentioned earlier, there is another antagonist we got to meet though a completely different category of character compared to the main antagonist. The main antagonist is very wicked, ruthless, snide and horrendous all at the same time while the other is sordid, roguish, nasty and a little austere. I had fairly mixed feelings on this semi-antagonist with me being convinced that she had a pretty indifferent personality, and being a cringe worthy character in both a good and bad way. A good way because of how much I felt attached to this antagonist when first meeting them based off their nasty personality though in a bad way because of the very short time we had to know them and during the end of their time in the episode made my original opinions of her want to change due to them unexpectedly undoing one of their previous 'villainy' actions which was most of the reason why I came to really hate this person and begin to like her as a semi-antagonist. One of the other new characters we got introduced were a former explorer, adventurer and vigilante named Jack. As soon as he was introduced, he immediately became my favourite newly introduced character of season 2. There was very little I disliked about this guy; he was very intelligent, wise, and brave and cunning once you convince him on taking part of your next adventure, similar to when you convince Soren from Episode 3 to go with you who I also liked when I first met him, though in the next episode I got a new bad impression of him. I certainly do not want this to also happen to Jack in the next episode, but for now, I cannot wait to hopefully see him in action again as well as one of the old characters who was briefly shown at the very end.
    In terms of the story, at first during the prologue it was very dull and plotless, unlike the prologue in the beginning of season 1 which not only first introduced the first original characters with most of their personality, but showed that they had a purpose which would eventually lead up to them talking their greatest adventure very soon. This was NOT the sort of impression I got with this episodes prologue. When the main story does kick in however, it is something really interesting though not fun to watch like in season 1, but instead more intense to see a couple of your favourite characters themselves caught in a boot. Jesse is lured to a type of prismarine gauntlet glove of some description consisting of a very intensifying and ominous voice calling their name. This then leads to the very early stages of more possible danger to the world which they must fix with the help of the adventurer Jack. Once it is fixed, a whole new and bigger problem begins with the main antagonist being featured looking more evil and angrier than anyone ever has with Jesse. The episode ends right there with so many unanswered questions that I cannot wait to see continue in the next episode along with the return of some of the characters (possibly) such as an old season 1 character and hopefully the semi-antagonist. I cannot wait to see what more Telltale has to offer in this episodic series.    … Full Review »
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