Game of Thrones Episode 2: The Lost Lords Review

By AJ Hanson on 29/04/2024 21:51 UTC

Telltale's first entry in its Game of Thrones series hit the nail on the head with its fast paced gameplay, amazing voice acting, and stunning narrative. Episode 2, titled The Lost Lords, is vast and expansive in its reach. Taking the player from previously visited areas of Ironrath and Kings Landing to new areas like the slaver city of Yunkai and The Wall. It all adds up to an eventful and memorable experience but one that feels like more of a set up for the following episodes and as such is devoid of the more “Game of Thrones”-esque moments the first episode had.

In the opening scene we meet Asher Forrester who is as cocky and brash as I had imagined. His scenes are almost pure banter and sarcasm with some quick time event action thrown in for good measure. He's likeable from the get-go if you're into that sort of character but I can only hope for more depth out of him in the coming episodes. I was taken aback by how quickly the story shifted focus from this new character to Ironrath where you spent the majority of the previous episode. I was also shocked at how little my choices from the previous episode as Ethan mattered at this point. It is very unlike Telltale to have choices mean so little (or appear to mean so little) at this point in their games. I can only hope the consequences of my choices in episode one have a more far reaching effect in the coming episodes.

The introduction of The Wall and its events also did little to bring excitement to the game for me. An appearance by Jon Snow was the highlight of the encounter while stale quick time event combat training and archery did little to stop my longing for the action and seemingly meaningful decisions of the first episode. Finally things picked up in King's Landing with Mira Forrester who remains my favorite character so far. There are a few choices you make as Mira that really had me wrangling with my emotions. Unlike most Telltale games, there is no timer on these decisions so I sat there for awhile pondering which option was best. It was my favorite part of the episode and I can see already the conflicts to come in episodes 3-6 because of the choice I made. I cannot wait to play through again once the full game is released and make a different choice to see how that impacts what happens going forward.

I had hoped given mine and some other reviewers criticism of the graphical prowess of the Xbox One version in the first episode, that Telltale would step up their game a little bit with The Lost Lords. Sadly, that is not the case. Foreground textures appear fuzzy and out of focus at times and I can't tell whether this is an art style choice, or simply due to the Xbox One game being a port of the Xbox 360 or PC version. It's disappointing that Telltale, while not known for their amazing graphics, has not taken full advantage of the newest generation of consoles. I can only hope at this point that we get an HD texture pack or something similar once the full game (episodes 1-6) have been released.

The game's music is still one of the major highlights for me. Sweeping and sprawling stringed pieces give way to huge blasts of horns and woodwinds that delighted me like few game soundtracks have. You can tell that Telltale really took their time here besides borrowing a few notes from the hit HBO TV show. Its one of the areas I feel Telltale is at its best besides the storytelling.

7.5

“Doesn't advance the story in any meaningful way, but introduces new characters well.”

Overall, this episode feels like a set up-isode for the rest of the series. Its not totally disappointing, but I wasn't left on the edge of my seat like I was for most of episode one. Here's hoping episode three delivers the kind of action and storytelling Game of Thrones fans are used to!
Story70%
Gameplay70%
Graphics60%