Game of Thrones is, without a doubt, one of the most popular fantasy series of all time. With its books selling millions of copies and author George R. Martin feverishsly writing the next book in the series and the HBO TV show becoming the most popular show the network has ever aired it was no surprise when adventure game company Telltale Games - creators of The Walking Dead and Wolf Among Us game series -annouced they were tackling the Game of Thrones IP. With other Game of Thrones games falling well short of expectations, the stakes for TellTale to get things right were higher than ever. Did they deliver a worthy entry into Game of Thrones lore or did they, like the ones before them, fall on their swords?
TellTale has always been known for its sprawling storylines. Across multiple episodes and in some cases multiple characters, TellTale weaves an amazing, yet heavy story within the 2 and a half hour campaign of the first episode out of six. Being a huge ‘Thrones fan, my main concern with the game going in was that TellTale wouldn’t be as heavy handed or serious as they needed to be due to (admittedly small) backlash over The Walking Dead’s tone and graphical content. I was surprised to find that Game of Thrones was way heavier in terms of themes and content than ‘Dead ever was. This might turn some fans away but I found it refreshing that a game publisher wasn’t afraid to stay faithful to the source material no matter how controversial it might be.
The story has you play as 4 different characters of House Forrester and spans a time frame between Seasons 3-4 of the TV show. The characters are all very well represented and the quick action decisions you are required to make give you a real sense of caring about what happens. This also lends to replayability of the game going forward. Especially as future episodes are released. I personally have three save files going at once to see all of the choices available for each interaction and the outcomes of each. It is insanely fun and intriguing to see how the world and characters change around you based on your actions in game.
The sound and voice acting are amazing. It is obvious that great care was given by TellTale to make sure you were totally immersed in the world they created for you and the familiar show characters who reprise their roles all do a wonderful job. Ceresi is as dastardly as ever, Tyrion is as flippant as ever and I cannot wait to see who else reprises their roles in the coming episodes. The music is also very well done and really could be released on its own as a soundtrack for ‘Thrones fans.
The game is not the best looking game out there that is for sure. Running on the Xbox One, I often noticed grainy textures and some pop in of various scenery or set pieces. It has become more obvious over time that TellTale just ported the Xbox 360 version of their game to the Xbox One rather than releasing a full Xbox One HD port. Some have argued that this is just TellTale’s chosen style, but the grainy textures, especially when you’re focused on a central thing in the foreground while the background becomes grainy and unfocused, is jarring.
“A worthy—albeit heavy—start to what should turn out to be an amazing series.”