- 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.
Following on from that jaw dropping conclusion to episode one Iron from Ice, House Forrester is in disarray and chaos, all thanks to Ramsey Bolton and the Whitehall’s soldiers taking over the house and to add insult to injury, they will starve the house of their unique Ironwood (House Forresters method of currency and bargaining tool). Now following the deaths of Lord Gregor Forrester and young Lord Ethan, the house needs a new lord to the helm and up steps a battered and war torn Rodrick Forrester. With the house seemingly crumbling to its knees, Rodrick must not only show his strength to his people, but also his enemy. But with friends few and far between, Rodrick must convince Elaena, his childhood sweetheart to not only marry for their love, but also for the sake of his house.
Meanwhile far away in Meereen, Asher Forrester who was exiled by his house, is called upon to return home to lead an army to fight against the Bolton’s iron fist. Though we only encounter Asher briefly in episode two, it’s clear that he will have a huge part to play going forward. And if his wise cracking, yet ruthless attitude are anything to go by, he could play out to be a very interesting character indeed. Continuing away from the location of House Forrester, the two characters that could have the biggest implications in future episodes are Gerald Tuttle, the once loyal squire to Lord Gregor Forrester and Mira Forrester, handmaiden to Margaery Tyrell in Kings Landing.
Following on from the ambush and betrayal that led to the death of Lord Gregor Forrester, Gerald arrives at the Night’s Watch after being harshly banished from House Forrester. He soon learns that The Wall is no place for the weak and he must give no one an itch, otherwise they could take a mile! As Tuttle attempts to prove his worth as a Ranger, he soon forms a bond with none other than John Snow. The Nights Watch is full of murderers, rapists and thieves, not the kind of folk that Gerald would normally associate. But can he put his feelings aside and be one with these newly found brothers? Well he’ll have no choice, unless he intends on being just another Nights Watch death statistic.
Arguably the biggest player in episode two is Mira Forrester; handmaiden to Margaery Tyrell in King’s Landing. Torn between her loyalty to Margaery and using what influence she can to save her family’s house from afar, she has some very tough choices to make and soon learns that friends are far fewer then foes in Kings Landing. For Mira, the game of politics soon becomes a game of life or death. Her choices will blur the lines between what’s right or wrong, but what or who is she willing to sacrifice in order to save her family? Thankfully for Mira, she has formed an alliance of sorts with Tyrion Lannister, who clearly has his own agenda. But in desperate times, comes desperate measures and Mira may have to show trust in the untrustworthy, even it its means sacrificing the safety of others, to ensure her families survival.
While episode two The Lost Lords, may lack the kind of jaw-dropping finale that we encountered in episode one Iron From Ice, the choices that you have to make, may even prove more of a challenge. Fans of Game of Thrones will know that politics have a huge part to play and at times, you can’t even trust the closest of friends or allies. The conversations with Rodrick and Elaena will have the most political gain, while the choices made by Mira in King’s Landing will certainly challenge the blurry line between what’s right and wrong. This is one of the reasons we love Game of Thrones, and why the series can form a perfect match with Telltale Games.
However, unlike episode one and just about every episode of the Game of Thrones HBO series, while some choices are tough in The Lost Lords, the episode seems to lack the kind of gripping tension that we’ve grown accustom to from the talented developers, especially when considering the closing moments of Iron From Ice. It feels more like a filler episode, then anything else, something that I’m not use to from either the Game of Thrones HBO series or from Telltale Games. Perhaps I’ve been spoiled over the years by the ability of Telltale Games and Game of Thrones to leave you on a huge cliffhanger, something that in my humble opinion, The Lost Lords seems to have lacked somewhat. But this is only episode two after all, so I’ll give the series the benefit of the doubt and for now I’ll assume this is the calm before the storm, especially knowing that we could expect to see some major characters introduced into episode three, The Sword in the Darkness and after. This is only episode two or six, so there’s still time for the season to develop.
Sadly episode two still suffers from the occasional graphical jitter when loading up a new scene and I’ve noticed the odd sound glitch. Not that it’s acceptable, but it’s certainly not game breaking, nor did it effect the enjoyment of the episode. But and this is quite a big but, I did encounter a save glitch when playing on the Xbox One, which failed to recognise my progress and choices from episode one. This sadly, kind of made my choices in the first episode, absolutely pointless. From what I can tell, this only seems to be a problem with the Xbox One version of the game and I really do hope that Telltale fixes this glitch by patching the already released episodes or take other measures to ensure that this doesn’t happen for episode three.
Sometimes unforeseen shit happens and I will give Telltale a little benefit of the doubt, for now. But if episode three fails to acknowledge my progress from previous episodes, that will be very disappointing. In the most part (glitches aside), episode two The Lost Lords was an enjoyable experience and the choices that you make, will heavily impact the season going forward and I really can’t wait to see how events play out. I just hope that unlike episode one, my choices in episode two will have meaning. Yes save glitch, I am eyeballing you square in the eye. So please Telltale, please make sure that this is not a recurring problem for on-going episodes. So on that note, I am still looking forward in seeing how events transpire in episode three, The Sword in the Darkness.
- Episode One: Iron From Ice Review
- Episode Three: The Sword in the Darkness Review