I was rather excited when it was announced that the next Game of Thrones title (following ATLUS and Cyanide’s disastrous crack at the series) would be helmed by Telltale Games. Their strong emphasis on narrative and ability to craft no-win scenarios that make you feel like shit, made them feel like a natural home for HBO’s critical darling. Fast forward twelve months later and the series is just now wrapping up its first season. Was it truly the match made in heaven we had hoped for? Well let’s take a look…
Telltale’s take on Game of Thrones tells the story of the canon (but until now unseen) House Forrester. A family residing in the north end of Westeros in their home keep Ironrath. The family is known both for their loyalty to the Starks and their remarkable supply of Ironwood, an extra fortified tree that produces weapons and armor that are highly valued in times of war.
After an unfortunate massacre at The Twins (an event book readers and show watchers will be deeply familiar with) Lord Forrester and his eldest son are presumed dead and the family must contend with the opportunistic Whitehills, their face-punchingly awful neighbors who see the turmoil in the house as their chance to overtake the Forrester’s share of the extremely valuable Ironwood once and for all.
As the player you control five different members of the Forrester clan including Ethan, the young boy put into the unenviable position of Lord of Ironrath after his father and brother’s demise; Mira, who is residing in King’s landing as a handmaiden to Margery Tyrell; Gared, who escapes the massacre at the Twins only to find himself re-routing on a journey that takes him to the wall and beyond; and Asher, the family’s second oldest son who has been exiled across the narrow sea and must find his way home after he learns of his family’s plight.
The game plays very similarly to Telltale’s recent releases, dropping out puzzles pretty much entirely in favor of simply presenting the player with a series of choices matched up with the mandatory quick time events we’ve come to expect. If you don’t find this model enjoyable, there is almost certainly not going to be anything in Game of Thrones to change your mind. For me, Telltale’s schtick is still working, albeit slightly less than it has in years past.
The narrative in the game is hamstrung by several factors, likely stemming from the deal Telltale has struck with HBO. The first big issue is Telltale’s desire (or more likely requirement) to include characters from the show in the game. Tyrion, Cersei, Margery, Daenerys, and Jon Snow all make less than offensive (and often unnecessary) appearances but then we have Ramsay Snow, a particularly frustrating villain who has an enormous effect on the world but is also covered by a very thick coat of plot armor that kills a lot of the stakes. When given the option to stab Ramsay in his stupid face, it’s pretty obvious that it’s not going to actually work.
The second big issue is that whatever deal Telltale has penned with HBO it appears that it spans multiple years and multiple games which means that season one was never going to be the end of the Forrester’s story. This means that much like Ramsay, the Whitehills have a slightly lesser rite of protection over them as well, lest they all die and leave no villains for the sequel.
And then there’s the issue of Gared’s quest for the North Grove, a portion of the story that’s almost completely separate from most of the chaos happening with the Forresters. The magical Grove is played up as being profoundly important, but it seems unlikely that it will ever appear in the books or show so really just how important could it actually wind up being? We don’t really have a way of knowing as the game ends before we can get any real concrete answers regarding its value.
I will admit that as I moved into the finale I had an impending sense of dread that we’d be headed for the usual Telltale fare, that is to say that my series of choices would ultimately land me in the exact same situation as everyone else playing the game. The fear did wind up being mostly true, despite your choices the game will largely conclude the Whitehill/Forrester conflict in the same way. I was however impressed that the game allowed as many characters to be killed as it did (only one of the five main characters is 100% safe from death). Simultaneously this is unfortunate because it means that the surviving characters will likely have very limited or diminished roles when the second season comes around. It’s a shame because I can literally not think of any secondary characters that I want to see carry on the Forrester torch in the next game.
The first season of The Walking Dead did a remarkable job of telling a compartmentalized story that wrapped itself up in a really satisfying fashion. I wish Telltale had taken more cues there because in the end Game of Thrones’ finale feels largely unsatisfying. After watching The Forresters get shit on for five episodes I was really looking forward to a reckoning that just doesn’t quite come. I would have enjoyed the game much more if it had been a stand-alone story and then moved onto something else for the next season.
Visually Telltale isn’t exactly known for their realism. Their engine is something better designed to handle comic adaptations and cell shaded games like Borderlands and Minecraft. When presented with the challenge of adapting real life characters the team made the very smart choice of portraying everything in a fashion similar to an oil painting. The effect works well enough in the engine without harming the overall feel of the game’s source material. While the aesthetics themselves are fine, problems will frequently arise when the game is actually in motion.
The studio has never been renowned for their technical prowess and Game of Thrones is a fantastic showcase for exactly how that reputation was earned. We have it all here folks, low frame rates, a startling amount of stutters, terrible load times, distracting long pauses where you can tell the game is factoring in your choice and considering what scene to show next, all rounded off with those lifeless and stiff animations you’ve come to expect from the studio. I’ll confess that my playthrough was on a PS4, but I’ve watched a sizable portion of PC footage on YouTube and it’s clear that a plethora of the same problems exist there as well
In the end it feels a bit like Game of Thrones has done more to point out the flaws in Telltale’s model than truly take advantage of its benefits. I certainly enjoyed my time with the Forresters and had a difficult time making some pretty agonizing choices, in that sense the game achieves its goal, but the long-term plans for this series have left me somewhat cold. Fans of the show and Telltale will probably find something to like here, and I’m totally willing to acknowledge that Telltale could stick the landing with future seasons, but at this moment Game of Thrones is a bit too much of a downer to give a glowing recommendation.
