Game of Thrones: A Telltale Games Series - Iron From Ice

Editor's Notes

Digital version reviewed for Xbox One. This review attempts to avoid spoilers for the game, show, and book series, however, there is some plot and lore discussion and therefore light spoilers may be present.

Introduction

Telltale Games has been very busy this year. They finished up their 2013 series, 'The Wolf Among Us' and season two of 'The Walking Dead'. They have recently released the first episode of 'Tales from the Borderlands' and now comes their take on 'Game of Thrones', the popular HBO original show based on a fantasy book series by George R. R. Martin. The first episode is 'Iron From Ice'. Note that this game is unrelated to the Cyanide release from 2012.

The world of 'Game of Thrones' takes place primarily on two continents: Westeros, which resembles Britain and Western Europe (politically, if not geographically) and Essos, which is more Eastern in culture. The level of development roughly corresponds to the thirteenth or fourteenth century in real life history. For instance, crossbows are common, but gunpowder is not available. There is some magic, often in the form of undead or fantastical creatures like dragons. During the setting of the book series, the capital of Westeros is in a state of civil war with its northern provinces, with many noble families and other interested parties vying for the continental throne. In the midst of this chaos, two other forces threaten Westeros: the White Walkers, mysterious and powerful undead necromancers from the north, and Daenerys Targaryen, scion of an exiled royal family, who has consolidated a massive power base from Essos.

The Game Itself: Our Reviewer's Take

'Game of Thrones' is a story-based adventure game. Unlike more conventional games, movement and actions by the player are severely limited. The player takes control of a series of characters, and the primary gameplay consists of conversations and multiple-choice questions that determine (to a certain extent) the storyline of the series. The series is episodic, so choices made can influence events later. Quick-time events occur occasionally, usually during action scenes, and a fail there results in a game over and checkpoint restart. Episode 1, 'Iron From Ice', has three playable characters, and Telltale has stated that a total of five will be available throughout the six-episode season.

Season one follows the exploits of House Forrester, a minor noble family who was very briefly mentioned in book five of Martin’s series. The lack of canonical details about the family permits Telltale a great deal of freedom in its storytelling on a character level. Forrester is a northern house whose claim to fame is a large and lucrative forest of ironwood trees. As its name would suggest, the wood is extremely durable, and its strength and relatively light weight lend to its use in armor and shipbuilding. This gives the house a strategic and economic advantage over its rival, House Whitehill, and a level of influence in continental affairs above what a small house would normally enjoy.

'Iron From Ice' is set at the end of the third season of HBO’s show, specifically on the night of the notorious Red Wedding. The three player characters are Gared Tuttle, squire to the house patriarch, Ethan Forrester, the house’s thirdborn son and barely a teenager, and Mira Forrester, the eldest daughter who lives in the capital and serves as a handmaiden to the King's fiancée. The perspective switches between the three fluidly throughout the episode, moving time forward as necessary to advance the story. The plot adeptly captures the bloody, dark, depressing nature of 'Game of Thrones'. Choices I made had immediate impact, sometimes drastically so. This is a series where characters are infamously short-lived, and Telltale does a good job of making me invest in characters for as long as I have with them. The plot and dialogue are well-written and the game feels much like its source material; deep and complex, but with a much smaller and more manageable cast of characters. My only complaint is that the game is a bit light on introductions to the byzantine lore of the franchise, but this is mitigated somewhat by an in-game codex to help keep players brushed up on characters.