Telltale's Game of Thrones - Episode 2 Review

Episode Two of Telltale’s A Game of Thrones starts off at a much faster pace than its predecessor. The developers, it seems, content that they’ve introduced the concept and characters, sat down and thought “right, time to let this hit the fan”.

Following the events of the first episode House Forrester, the central Westerosi house in Telltale’s story, is in turmoil. With family members spread over the land, there’s a lot of cutting between characters that didn’t happen in Episode one.

The new episode introduces Asher Forrester, a sellsword in Essos cast out by his family for a Romeo and Juliet-style love affair with the daughter of their most hated enemies. Telltale don’t shy away from the task of recreating the most memorable settings in A Song of Ice and Fire, and Yunkai, where Asher finds himself, is as lovingly recreated as other scenes from the world of Westeros and Essos.

Within a few minutes the game has already launched into a full-scale bar brawl with quick-time events galore. If you’re a veteran of Telltale’s other stories this will come as no surprise, but those new to the game may be floundering and, due to the game’s rather unforgiving nature, dying repeatedly.

On the other side of the world the Forresters are still trying to cope with the events from the first episode, and you take over the role of Rodrik, delivered half-dead from the battle of the Twins. Telltale do a masterful job of creating the look and feel of George R. R. Martin’s books and the HBO series – characters are full of life, well acted and designed – even if it could be argued that the graphics are a little outdated.

Telltale thrive on creating a story that has plenty of tough decisions to make. A Game of Thrones is no different. Multiple times you will be conflicted on which way to answer, especially as a timer counts down, forcing you to make snap decisions you may regret later. Coinciding with other games by the developers, there are a group of main decisions that can be made at key plot points and smaller ones that influence characters and smaller scenes around you.

Having gone back and played through the episodes again to test out other responses, there is definitely some weight to the argument made by Telltale’s detractors - that no matter what choice you make the end result is the same. There will be characters you simply can’t save and some you simply can’t kill - but the game is meant to be played from start to finish, with the player unknowing of what his or her other actions may have done. You can hardly call a game an interactive story if the ending is entirely ambiguous. You couldn’t, for example, simply decide to side with the Combine in Half-Life 2.

Jumping between characters as often as Episode Two does can be a little disorientating as you try to remember what was it I did with this person again? Yet small niggles fade when the real core of the game shines through. The characters are the centrepiece of the game and they really steal the show, making you feel as if you really are a part of the story. Voice actors from the show evidently relish playing their characters no matter the medium, as Tyrion Lannister, Jon Snow and Margaery Tyrell sound and look as alive as they do on the TV screen. They’re matched line-for-line by a wealth of other characters who you could have just as easily run across on the HBO show.

With four more episodes to go the story is certainly starting to pick up the pace and the player is left wondering who among their current crop of characters will live to see the end. Much like the A Song of Ice and Fire series and A Game of Thrones, nothing is completely certain. A must for fans of either, Telltale are hitting their stride with this series, one can only wonder what is in store when the next episode comes out.