so is this cringe?
Not overly when you play it.
I bought and completed the first episode last night, in about 2 hours.
The biggest issue is the character design. I know there's a limited amount of room on a default Minecraft skin, but these don't look all that great.
The mouths can also be quite distracting at times, mainly because they only have like 4 states of animation and they don't really match what the person is saying. It would either be better with a more detailed animation, or a more simpler one.
The characters are also very cliche. And their interactions unbelievably predictable. This is forgivable however, only because the target audience of the game is significantly younger than the players of other TellTale games. We're looking at 10 year olds who watch Disney and Nickelodeon, compared to 15+ year olds, who are watcher maturer or ruder things.
Sadly as a result of the lower age group it's aiming for, it also seems some of the gameplay is a little bit restricted compared to other TellTale games.
In sections where you have control of the character to wander around an area and explore, those areas are a lot smaller and with far fewer objects than in the likes of The Walking Dead or Tales from the Borderlands.
The story itself however is fairly compelling, has some actually funny moments, and is generally pretty good.
It doesn't stick 100% to using Minecraft objects/creatures, but most things are based upon/inspired by Minecraft objects. For example, your pet Pig gets an Ender-Dragon costume, which obviously doesn't exist in game.
Maybe one of the most annoying things about the story, again as a result of being a childrens game, is how twee it often is. The friends are best friends forever, and they're here for fun and creativity. It's sometimes a bit too sweet.
Crafting in the game is quite basic. As a result of the story-mode you only acquire a few materials as the story suggests, and you can build with them at certain points on crafting tables, by using the actual recipes for the items (given to you too, for those who don't know them). This does even give you a bit of creativity, in regards to materials that can be used to create different items (e.g; sticks/stones to swords/lever, or sticks/string to bow/fishing rod).
It's a nice touch to give you choices through the crafting tables, although opportunities are thin in this episode for that.
Building has nothing for you to actually do, rather than tap a button and watch an animation of you and others building together.
But this is entirely understandable given the style of the game.
Prior to each build you're generally given a chance to choose what you're going to build, out of a select few options.
One of the bonuses to this game being based off of Minecraft is that, because it's not based off of a game/series with a pre-existing lore, like Walking Dead, Borderlands, Game of Thrones, Wolf Among Us, is that you don't feel compelled to make choices that would fit in with those series.
Having a purely original story lets you feel unafraid of experimenting with what would other-wise be obviously bad ideas, like antagonising a known richardhead (e.g Boltons in GoT), or helping a shady character.
This is a breath of fresh air, and would suggest that TellTale would do well at other original series set away from a pre-existing canon, or even on books that haven't had TV shows/movies/graphic novels.
Overall, the game is enjoyable.
It's limited mostly by its target audience, and the animation issues that come with being based in Minecraft.
But as a TellTale game, although slightly simplified, and perhaps lacking a feeling of pressure/tensity like in other games, it's a good entertaining product.
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