This week Telltale Games’ released Episode two, The Lost Lords, of its Games of Thrones graphic adventure game. The game will consist of six episodes in total, with each being released periodically. The series takes place alongside the TV series, however, it focuses on the Forrester family and ties in familiar faces and events from the show.

Valar Morghulis

I’ll let you in on a secret. I wasn’t overly impressed with episode one of Telltale’s Game of Thrones the first time I played through the chapter. It was good, don’t get me wrong, but it felt a bit rushed and muddled in terms of introducing the Forrester family. The world of Game of Thrones is unlike any other narrative that Telltale has adapted over the years. In fact, it’s unlike any other narrative even of its own genre. Its world is epically massive and massively convoluted. Taking this world on is a huge risk for Telltale, even with the blessing and watchful eye of George RR Martin; there is a lot that could go wrong. Martin’s writing is flawless and especially precise and detailed, getting that wrong and not living up to expectations could spell ruin for the game even before it has really begun. I think that is part of why the first episode stood out to me. It felt at odds to be playing as a new family in this already well-established, lore-heavy world and I don’t think it gave us enough time to really learn much at all of the Forrester family we are playing as and supposed to be rooting for.

Telltale, rather smartly, has crafted its Game of Thrones world to mimic that of the television series, even going so far as to add their own interpretation of the fantastic theme tune. One of the best elements the game has taken from the TV series is in enlisting the help of the original actors. Getting the original voice actors on board for characters we already know and love definitely was a nice touch; can you imagine how cringey it would have been having soundalikes? So, kudos to Telltale for that.

After spending a few extra hours with the Forrester’s in episode two, The Lost Lords, any fears I may have had for the game have been well and truly dispelled. Rather than the episodic nature of previous Telltale stories, such as The Walking Dead, where something shocking or ‘big’ had to happen each chapter, Game of Thrones appears to be telling one big, slow-burning, season-long, television-style story that, yes, may have started off rather slow, but is already gaining good speed. That doesn’t mean there won’t be any revelatory moments that aren’t going to shock us in the individual episodes, but I really feel like once we’ve experienced the bigger story, that’s when we’ll be most impressed. I’m already trying to work out what is going to happen, or rather, what I hope will happen, at the end of the season. How often can you say that about an episodically released game!

Spirit of Iron

The art style used in Telltale’s Game of Thrones is perfectly suited. Everything appears coloured with a sweeping, pastel style, which echoes the fantastical nature of the setting and stories being told. It’s very similar to that of the Telltale style we’ve seen in previous episodic games, but Telltale seems to have had more of a flair with artistic textures here, especially in the background design.

It also appears the issue I liked to call the ‘Telltale transition’, has finally been resolved; where upon loading the next scene the game would freeze for a few seconds, which could potentially get you killed if you were loading into a QTE. I experienced no lag or freezing at all during my entire play-through of the episode. Had this issue still been present, I’m not sure how well I would have fared in the opening scene within the tavern. An almost Bourne-like, fast paced and brutal fight scene involving new-to-the-story Asher Forrester, his companion Beskha, and around 10 guards from the Lost Legion.

The Lost Lords also gave us our first visit to The Wall, thanks to Gared being exiled there for the ‘crimes’ he’d committed in the first episode. Walking through the tiny Castle Black, forever in the shadow of the mighty wall, with your soon-to-be-brother crows, is the perfect simile of how even the smallest person or people can have a much larger effect on the bigger things in this world. It also perfectly describes not only the idea of Game of Thrones, but also the philosophy of Telltale games.

Returning to House Forrester is its new lord, Rodrik. Believed to have been killed at the Red Wedding massacre, he is now heavily injured, but ready for his next battle against those of house Whitehill. Already a bane on House Forrester in episode one, their existence continues to frustrate and annoy at every opportunity. What’s great about this part of the story is that unlike other chapters, where characters intentions are murky at best, the Whitehills’ are very much the ‘bad guys’ and it really helps to have an enemy at the heart of the story; also Lord Whitehill is so very easy to hate. After the bastard of Bolton not only killed Ethan, but forced the Forresters to give half of their Ironwood forests to the Whitehill’s in the last episode, Lord Whitehill himself returns to further attempt at capitalizing any potential weakness of House Forrester. As the lord of the house, it’s now Rodrik’s job to make sure this doesn’t happen.

Heading further south and into warmer climates, the Kings Landing story is really starting to heat up with Mira further attempting to create important politically motivated alliances that will either make or break house Forrester. Of all the four locations you’d be forgiven into thinking that this may be the weakest, but in actuality this is where Telltale displays just how well it understands the world that George RR Martin has created. Sure you can win fights up at The Wall and in Yunkai with swords and bows, but winning the Game of Thrones is a far more dangerous war of words, and that’s why the Kings Landing scenes excel.

I regularly found myself thinking about my choices right up to the last possible moment, worried that unlike the harshness of Yunkai, or bleakness of The Wall, where an incorrect guess could spell disaster for that particular character, getting it wrong down here in the capital city would be the end of the entire House Forrester. And in a game where the emphasis is on choice, what higher praise can I dispel.

One issue I did encounter was that my choices from episode one did not carry over, an issue that many Xbox One users are reporting and that Telltale has been made aware of. However, although it was a bit of a shame to not see my choices in action, I still enjoyed The Lost Lords thoroughly.

Verdict

What I’m trying to say is that Telltale’s Game of Thrones, The Lost Lords is good. Very good. Everything the first episode introduced is built upon. The characters feel more rounded and well written. Each of the Forresters’ now vie for my attention; their own stories already giving crumbs of rewards, whilst adding bigger questions and mysteries for themselves, and also the overall House Forrester story. Telltale truly has captured the look and feel of Westeros, whilst staying true to the mythos as well as its own style of game, further proving it really is the king of this newly created interactive storytelling genre and finally making the biggest of questions answerable…

Who will win the Game of Thrones…? My money is on Telltale.

Oli Pelliccio

Contributor at Geeks Don't Lie

Oli's first ever games were Glider and Shufflepuck Cafe for the Mac and his gaming obsession has continued ever since.