The Minecraft phenomenon is showing no signs of slowing down. The franchise has expanded far beyond the realm of games, with countless merchandise items available in stores all over the globe, and a feature film in the works as well. It may be hard to imagine what a story-focused Minecraft might look like in a film, but Telltale Games will have a chance to prove that a story-focused take on Minecraft is an idea worth pursuing with Minecraft: Story Mode.

As was revealed at MineCon 2015 a few months back, Minecraft: Story Mode is an episodic adventure game from Telltale Games, the studio behind other hit episodic titles such as Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead. A few months after its reveal at MineCon, fans now have a new story trailer to enjoy, one that sets the stage very well for what can be expected from the series.

The trailer for Episode 1: The Order of the Stone begins by explaining what the titular Order of the Stone is, revealing that it was a group of legendary heroes that once came together to defeat the Ender Dragon. In the present day, protagonist Jesse and his friends are big fans of the Order of the Stone, and celebrate them at the annual EnderCon event.

It is at EnderCon that things get out of control, and evil creatures from the Ender begin plaguing Jesse's peaceful world. The full trailer for the first episode of Minecraft: Story Mode can be viewed here:

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The trailer showcases Patton Oswalt as protagonist Jesse, with other characters briefly highlighted. For one reason or another, the female Jesse (voiced by Catherine Taber of Star Wars: The Clone Wars fame), is not featured in the trailer at all. This choice was probably made to avoid confusing fans, but rest assured, players of Minecraft: Story Mode will be able to choose the gender of their character for the first time in a game from Telltale.

Another first for Telltale with Minecraft: Story Mode is that it will be available as a physical retail disc. Referred to as a "season pass disc", it will contain the first episode and allow players to automatically download the subsequent episodes as soon as they become available. For those that love Telltale Games but like to display their physical gaming collection, this is a nice alternative to buying the episodes digitally.

From what we've seen, there's definitely a lot to be excited about when it comes to Minecraft: Story Mode. Telltale is at the top of its game right now, with most of what Telltale releases earning critical acclaim and great sales. Taking into account the pedigree of the Minecraft license, we have no doubt that Telltale will find similar success when Minecraft: Story Mode releases in a couple of weeks.

Minecraft: Story Mode will release on October 13th for Mac, PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. The mobile version of the game for Android and iOS will come two days later, on October 15th. Wii U and PS Vita versions are also planned, but currently do not have a release date.

Source: Xbox