Title: Game of Thrones Episode 1 – Iron From Ice
Genre: Adventure
Developer and Publisher: Telltale Games
Platform: PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PC (Reviewed on)
Release Date: 2 Dec, 2014
Telltale Games are all about choices, while Game of Thrones is an unfair world with little hope. It offers little mercy and often the noble and honourable are deceived by knavish men. So what becomes when you follow a trio of honest and loyal to their house desperately trying to save it from being overtaken. In Telltale’s envisioning of the world of Westeros, every choice you make arises a question that you must answer for. These are questions you are asked again and again forcing you to second guess every decision you make. Would my house fare better had I chosen the other or should I have chosen to keep myself safe. It is no easy task to keep secrets and stay loyal and most of your choices reminds you of that.
Gameplay
The game follows a typical Telltale format of a strong narratively lead plot with point and click styled interactions and quick time events. You are often given time based dialogue choices for some key decisions. The gameplay is easy to follow even if you have not played any Telltale games. I played the first chapter twice and your choices have little consequences but I expect the repercussions to follow in the upcoming episodes.
Iron From Ice is a short episodic game only lasting 2 hours at best. However, those two hours are packed with action and story with a couple of breaks in the middle where you can explore rooms for more lore. Similar to the narration style of the source the perspective keeps shifting between the main characters to keep the any arc from stagnating.
Presentation
The art is a mix of hand drawn landscapes with a realistic looking soft cartoonish character style inspired by their TV counterparts. The art may not be to the taste of all as I found it to be soft for the portraits and the broad strokes of the background with the depth of field seeming shabby making it look low in quality. The music is not present much but the sound effects are apt. The voice acting is superb and makes for the believability of the story with the television series actors (Margaery Tyrell, Cersei and Tyrion Lannister and Ramsay Snow) representing their own voice. The animation although is a bit stiff and every now and then it bugs out.
Story of Iron From Ice
Iron From Ice begins at the Season 3 ending of the TV series and hence may hold major spoilers for those who have not watched the show/ read the books till the said point. The story was well crafted placing you in the perspective of various members of the Forrester family under the Warden of the North. Their allegiance to the Starks in battle does cause concern for them after the Starks fall. You play as different characters, the new young king, the sister at Kings Landing and a squire to the former king of House Forrester. You try to save your kingdom from being taken over through show of strength and diplomacy, often meeting many famous characters from the books and tv show in your path.
In the short time the story provides apt motivation for your actions with perfect pacing to flesh out each character. It clearly defines the enemy of your house and shows a glimmer of hope only to put it out and throw you into a spiral of despair. The game is not afraid of shocking the player as you encounter gore in the form of Ramsey Snow’s brutality and a shocking ending that befits the series. The characters introduced are themselves very well written, a noble squire inspired by his lord, an elder son trying desperately to fill the shoes of his father and a sister far off in woe of the tales narrated by her mother’s letters. All try to do what they can and making promises on behalf of their house with unforeseen consequences.
Conclusion
Iron From Ice sets the stage perfectly in the Game of Thrones style of way. It sets off a butterfly effect and if future episodes can maintain a similar level of fear and responsibility we may have an excellent story on our hands. A depressingly dark high drama which will wrap you in its story and its characters only to distress you with their struggles. The negligible issue of art and animation are only highlighted because of the excellent production all around it. This is an experience centered around story and and plot twists with occasional combat QTEs thrown in to keeps things fresh. I would say for any fan of the show this is easily recommended.
