Version Tested – Playstation 4
It seemed the most unlikely of projects. A videogame based on a TV show based on a series of books. Considering Telltale’s mixed pedigree with licenses, with Back to the Future basing itself on the films and The Walking Dead basing itself somewhere between the comics and the TV show, we were left wondering throughout the game’s development where they would sit with Thrones.
Fortunately, the answer is they just damn well nailed it.
House Forrester, loyal to House Stark, are briefly eluded to in Dance with Dragons, their scouts sent to Stannis as he begins his march from Deepwood Motte to Winterfell, but other than that their presence has been anonymous in Martin’s world. That is, until now.
The game begins just moments before THAT pivotal scene in Season 3 of Game of Thrones. If you’ve seen it, you’ll know the one I mean. So as you might expect, the action gets fast and furious pretty quickly. But before that, Lord Gregor Forrester takes aside a young squire, Gared Tuttle, and tells him that he plans to give him a promotion and make him his personal assistant. Gregor asks him to keep it to himself, but then things happen. Suddenly the narrative kicks into high gear and doesn’t let up until the end. From Kings Landing to Ironrath, you quickly get immersed in Forrester family drama and are cast into scenarios directly impacted in the show.
The game has a lovely art style and the environments are full of variety, giving us a real look at the majesty and splendor of Westeros. Likenesses from the TV show are well represented and everyone assumes their original voice, from Lena Headey to Peter ‘Don’t call me Ghost’ Dinklage. Headey, in particular, is as direct and sinister as the Cersei we see on TV.
I was genuinely impressed with Telltale’s work. It’s an expansive world and there’s plenty of ways a game could be approached, but this defied expectation. This felt so authentic, so much like the HBO series and even faithful to George R Martin’s books. Telltale are masters of finding a happy medium and they’ve proven that again with Iron From Ice.
The Good Stuff
- Westeros looks great
- Solid decisions and implications
- Story is solid
The Bad Stuff
- Some very slight technical issues like the odd skip in frame-rate and long loading times.
Final Analysis
Iron from Ice is quite possibly one of the best episodes Telltale have ever done. It has everything: weighted, important decisions that genuinely impact the world and set the scene for everything to come, solid voice-acting, great script, beautiful graphics and one hell of a cliffhanger! This is one hell of an opener.
You must be logged in to post a comment.