Game Of Thrones Episode 1 Review
Game Of Thrones Episode 1 finally released on December 2 for PC (which is the version reviewed here) and PS4, with Xbox 360, Xbox One and iOS versions following on December 3&4; PlayStation 3 users will have to wait for December 9. I’m glad to say that Telltale was once again able to release a successful and great episodic adventure game, mimicking the previous successes of The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us.
SPOILER ALERT: The game starts from Episode 7 in Season 3 or if you read the books, from the third one of A Song of Ice and Fire (titled A Storm of Swords), so if you haven’t got this far into the TV series’ or in reading the books then I strongly recommend to catch up first before playing Game of Thrones Episode 1, because you’ll enjoy the game much more if you have a strong background of the whole story and what happened on previous seasons.
Telltale’s Game Of Thrones lets you control a house that we have yet to see on the TV show, which is House Forrester. The game revolves around three characters: Garred Tuttle, Lord Forrester’s squire; Ethan Forrester, the young Forrester who is left to rule Ironrath alone after his father died; and Mira Forrester, Ethan’s older sister who lives in King’s Landing and is handmaiden to Margaery Tyrell. Each has his/her own responsibility towards House Forrester, who was a strong and faithful ally to the Starks before the events of the Red Wedding; now the house has to prove loyalty to the crown and to its allied houses, House Bolton and House Whitehill.
Garred Tuttle is the only character of the three who has fighting scenes and therefore quick-time events where you have to dodge, parry and drive swords through your enemies; it’s also important to note that some of his actions have great effects on Ethan’s choices - your enemies remember that your house killed one of them before, and that can make choosing diplomacy over war way harder. The main purpose of Garred in this episode is to deliver a message given to him by Lord Forrester to his Uncle Duncan and only to him. I replayed the game and tried to purposely fail this particular task, delivering the message to someone else, but no major change happened in the story. Maybe doing it in this episode doesn’t have an immediate impact, but something may still happen in a future episode.
Out of all the playable characters, Ethan Forrester’s choices have the greatest impact on the whole storyline as he is now the Lord of Ironrath after his father’s death. Ethan’s dialogues are greatly written and Telltale left players the choice to either make him a lenient lord who is easily pushed around or a tough, decisive lord who takes matters into his own hands. You’ll also have to choose a Sentinel from two people: Ser Royland Degore, House Forrester’s army general who is preferable if you wish to discard diplomacy and wage war to your opponents, and Duncan Tuttle, a good friend of Lord Forrester and one who prefers negotiations before entering any wars. You are free to choose one of these two and if you’re a bit hesitant, your other uncle Malcolm Branfeld will give you some free advice.
Lastly there’s Mira, who lives at King’s Landing and has to please Queen Cersei and Margaery at the same time, which is challenging as you have to do things on the expense of losing the other character. Her entry and small role in the power clash between current queen Cersei and soon-to-be-queen Margaery is really entertaining, and you can obviously sense Cersei’s twisted ways of making people say things that show their true character; for me, the best scene in this game is the one where you have to please Cersei and show her you are only loyal to her house, the crown and House Lannister’s allies. You need to choose carefully your answers so that you don’t upset Margaery too much and at the same time please Cersei enough so that she allows you to stay at King’s Landing and continue living as Margaery’s handmaiden, instead of returning home.
There is still much to see in the upcoming episodes but this one is a great way to start, and the ending may be a great shock to those who are not totally familiar with the series’ always twisting plot. We will be reviewing each episode of this season, so come back to WorldsFactory whenever a new episode is released to read our thoughts on it. In the meantime, tell us what you think of this first episode of Game of Thrones in the comments, whether you enjoyed it or you think Telltale needed to step it up and deliver a better game.