- As always with any of my Telltale Game reviews, I will attempt to keep spoilers to a minimum, but there still maybe some spoilers ahead, especially when talking about episode one. So with that in mind, you have been warned.
Episode two The Lost Lords wasn’t the best work from Telltale Games, first of all it completely ignored the choices that I made in episode one and secondly, it lacked any real tension and the customary cliff-hanger ending that we had come to expect from HBO’s Game of Thrones and other games from TT. Thankfully I can say that it seems TT Games has fixed the issue of not acknowledging your choices, because everything that I did in episode two is reflected in episode three and The Sword in the Darkness has returned to the high standards that you come to expect and I would say that it’s just about on par with the first episode in the series, perhaps better even.
The Sword in the Darkness mainly focuses on three of the Forrester family with Mira in Kings Landing, Rodrick with the ever evolving troubles at House Forrester and Gared adjusting to life at the Nights Watch. One of the highlights of the previous episode was the antics of Asher Forrester who was exiled by his family. At present Asher still remains in Essos with his loyal sister-in-arms Beskha and in episode two, Malcolm Branfield was sent to bring Asher back home with an army to go against Whitehills. Even though we don’t see much of Asher in this episode either, it’s clear that he’s being built up as a main character, it wouldn’t surprise me if TT Games are saving the best to last or at the very least, he will feature heavily in episode four with an iconic figure in the Game of Thrones series.
Over in House Forrester, Rodrick is being pushed to his absolute limits as he desperately tries to keep his house in order, while trying to contain the tyranny within caused by the Whitehills. Rodrick has whispers in either-side of his ears, each with conflicting advice. Does he play the waiting game, allow himself and his family to be bullied by the Whitehills and look weak in front of his people? Or does he stand his ground and refuse to be made an example of in his crumbling home? Rodrick possibly faces the toughest of all the choices in episode three, because regardless of whether it’s in a videogame or in real life, nobody likes to be pushed around and we all like to think that we’d take a stand. But how long can he allow himself to be trampled on without putting his beloved family at greater risk and is patience really a virtue when time is quickly ticking by?
Mira Forrester over in King’s Landing is certainly finding the game of politics a more then challenging task, but if you want any hope of surviving in the home of the Lannisters, you must learn and adapt quickly. But other than trying to put her families predicament first from a far, she’ll be no good to her family is she dies. As fast as she must learn the game of politics, she must learn who to trust, even to those who appear to be the dearest of friends and allies. Unfortunately with the events in Kings Landing being smack bang in the middle of the Purple Wedding, tension is at an all-time high and Mira must think fast and of the consequences later.
Finally we have Gared Tuttle at the Nights Watch. As harsh as his banishment was by the Forresters that led to him being sent to The Wall, he’s adjusting and it seems those who he thought might be the most bitter of enemies are actually the ones he now calls brothers, especially now that he has become a Ranger. It is often said that you should never judge a book by its cover and that saying could never be more true in the Nights Watch. Upon the death of Lord Forrester in the first episode, Gared was entrusted with a secret that he must only share with his uncle, Duncan Tuttle. Now that sworn secret is about to grow wings and Gared will no doubt find him having to choose between his Forrester family and his oath to his brothers of the Nights Watch. If that wasn’t enough for Gared to contemplate, a ghost has come back to haunt him and a secret has been uncovered from within The Wall and whatever choices Gared is to make, it’s not going to end well for someone either way.
If I was to have one criticism of this episode, would be that at times there’s an odd sound glitch that repeats the first word of a sentence during the opening of a scene. In fact I did notice this during episode two, but I gave TT the benefit of the doubt. It most certainly didn’t affect my enjoyment of the episode, but I would like to see that jittery glitch ironed out in future episodes truth be told. To be honest, following the somewhat lacklustre second episode The Lost Lords, I had doubts with the remainder of the series and thought it will be steadily downhill from here on out. Perhaps that may be a little harsh in thinking, but it’s only a result of the supreme high standards set by Telltale Games and the HBO Game of Thrones series. So going into The Sword in the Darkness, my optimism couldn’t have been much lower. Yet I’m so glad to find out that I couldn’t be any more wrong.
The link between this Telltale series and that of HBO becomes ever more apparent in episode three, especially with events occurring around the Purple Wedding and it has the kind of ending that makes you wish that episode four was only a download away. Telltales Game of Thrones has more than clawed its way back to the high standards set by themselves, this is story telling reaching its pinnacle of entertainment. Episode four “Sons of Winter” couldn’t come soon enough and I can’t wait to see where this series takes us before it reaches its inevitable conclusion. To take a pun inspired by Game of Thrones, Telltale Games are most certainly coming for the Iron Throne.
- Episode One: Iron From Ice Review
- Episode Two: The Lost Lords Review