I was extremely sceptical when I first learned of yet another Game of Thrones game, my reaction was not to get my hopes up (even remotely). Then I heard it would be TellTale Games that would be bringing their episodic trademark formula to the mix, that is when my opinion went from “not excited” to “very much looking forward to”. Now from that last sentence you will understand that, yes, I am a fan of TellTale Games and that I might be a little biased towards their games. I will take that criticism on board because I know not everybody likes the same things and it takes all sorts to make the world go round, but the same can be said about the books and TV series that make up Game of Thrones.
The game takes place of a number of chapters, which in their own narratives contain choices that affect not just your immediate situation but can alter the grand scheme of the episode or even the entire series. So a simple wrong button push to annoy the queen in an early chapter can mean the loss of help for people depending on you later in the episode. So the thing to remember is that every action has consequences wither you like it or not, so rash decisions can lead to horrific outcomes later on.
I will do my best to avoid all spoilers, but this first one cannot be helped; so all I can say is that if you have not watched the TV series or read the books and plan to then stop reading now because the first episode of TellTale Games adventures starts you off at a significant place and time in the timeline. So if spoilers are a worry for you then I shall say turn away now. So I recommend you have watched to the end of series 3 of the TV series before starting to play this game. If you chose to read on I am not going to describe all the references to the books or TV show as I am going to assume you know what is happening.
If you are continuing to read then thank you very much, get comfy and enjoy. We start at the events in the Stark camp just moments before the events of the “Red Wedding”, so fun times are about to ensure for the Stark banner-men. You are a squire for house Forrester, who have an oath of fealty to house Stark. Here is where we meet Gared Tuttle, the squire to Lord Forrester at the moment they find out they have the honour of leading the vanguard against the Lannister army in the upcoming battle at Casterly Rock.
The first thing I notice is the familiar comic book style which is common with all TellTale games, and it does lend itself very well to this type of story; where many great violent acts are being committed, we notice the game not getting to gruesome or gory. So Gared is going about his squire duties (squiring if you will) and is pulled aside by Lord Forrester and told that the following day you will be freed from your service as a squire and be granted the honour of fighting amongst the soldiers of the army. Lord Forrester asks only that you do not mention this to any other squires and that you fetch his son from the camp and stop him getting too drunk. So straight away you are given the choice to help a fellow squire or to go and fetch the Lords son, I helped the squire and discovered that inside the Red Wedding was about to get underway.
From this point it becomes very much like a tutorial in any other TellTale game to note, you have the movement controls and the quick time events as well as dialogue options and the consequences. All the bog standard things you come to expect from a TellTale game, it is all very familiar and second nature to people who have enjoyed “The Walking Dead” or “The Wolf Among Us”. I know people can moan about just adapting the same formula to every single game they make, but I think it is harder to try and adapt a story to their game play approach.
(Above – Gared and Lord Forrester)
When you deal with the opening chapter you find Gared getting left with a brunt of responsibility for someone who was just about to be free of menial duties. Though an encounter on the road back to the Forrester home of Ironrath (Woodland Winterfell). Events go from bad to worse in this encounter and puts the icing on the cake for Gared’s day. Once this encounter has been completed we arrive at Ironrath and fulfil the duties that were entrusted to us and find out some more of the story.
After this encounter we are then given the opportunity to play as Ethan who will becomes the main character in this chapter of the game, you begin to unravel more story from another persons point of view and find out how other people have become affected by the events that have come to pass. Ethan has a lot of power for someone his age and has far too much responsibility, the decisions you make as this young man can seem monumental in the scale of things. Though overall it is more about proving his ability and trying to discover what kind of man he wants to become.
After Ethan, we then take up the role as Mira who is in the service of the queen in waiting Marjorie Tyrell (who fans of the TV series will surely recognise). Her story takes place away from the cold and war torn “North” and takes place within the royal palace of Kings Landing which is the heart of the seven kingdoms. Mira’s story starts with her having the answer for the actions of her entire family and convince the queen that her loyalty is in the correct place. Here is another point in the episode where your decisions can affect the outcome of another characters story, but ultimately its up to you and what you decide to say. This episode is filled with a few famous faces from the TV series and with the proper actors voicing their virtual counterparts, which speaks volumes about how much effort TellTale wanted to put into the game to give it an incredibly authentic feeling.
So those are the main plot points for all playable characters within this episode, without giving story away I will now speak about some other things within the game.
I was extremely pleased with how the story jumped from character to characters which is extremely familiar to the book and TV series. The way you are stepping in and out of the major events in these characters lives gives the game a different sense of pacing than previous TellTale titles have delivered narrative. Games like “The Walking Dead” or “The Wolf Among Us” stick you to a single character and having to make ever desicion based upon one persons actions/relationships/conversations and the results. The new “wave” (if you would allow me to call it a wave) of TellTale titles (Tales from the Borderlands and Game Of Thrones) are shifting the dynamic from a single protagonist to multiple protagonists allowing for more options and possible outcomes in the story.
Another thing is that is feels true to the story and I could happily believe that this is running parallel to events that I would be reading or watching. This is also a bonus as we are in the limbo period between books and the TV series being released, so this almost feels like a top up for your Game of Thrones fix. With all the little touches such as the familiar characters making cameo appearances to some of the most noticeable music from the TV making appropriate background music.
(Hey kids it is everybody’s favourite maniac – Ramsay Snow)
I was not blown away with the graphics in this title, with some of the noticeable characters looking a little strange. This was more the glassy cold stare of Tyrion Lannister or the (not able to put my finger on it exactly) questionable look of Marjorie Tyrell. This I understand can be a minor issue as they are trying to put real people with extremely familiar faces into a graphics style that does not try to be anywhere near realistic. I also have issues that some of the texturing and location decoration looked a little bland and not imaginative, the castle of kings landing just looked a little too bare and the Ironrath almost looked like “generic forest fortress”. Though these are not massive issues I still feel they are worth adding into this review.
Overall I feel this is a great start to a series that has the potential to be something amazing and essential for people who want to top up their Game of Thrones fix before we are graced with the next series or book. I did not get bored playing this game, although in hindsight I have just realised that most of the time it is like an interactive cut scene and the player is being walked through the game with just enough interaction to still be called a “game”. With that being said, I am totally fine with that and it is something I have come to expect from TellTale Games.
Game Of Thrones Episode 1 – Iron from Ice is out now on Xbox One and Xbox 360.
Episode 1 is £1.99 or the entire season pass is £13.59 on Xbox 360
or
Episode 1 is £3.99 or the entire season pass is £19.99 on Xbox One
(Prices are correct at time of writing review)
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