Telltale’s Game of Thrones review: Forget winning, The Ice Dragon season finale demos just how entertaining it can be to lose

Right off the bat, “When you play the Game of Thrones, you win or you die” is possibly the most bandied-about phrase — after “Winter is coming” — from the HBO television show, but in Telltale Games’ six-part Game of Thrones (TTGoT) series, the phrase serves only to deceive. And this is more than evident in the series finale titled The Ice Dragon, that was released across all platforms earlier this week. Simply put, there is dying, and lots of it, but no winning. It’s only a matter of the degree of loss — into which death certainly plays a major role — and how much of it you can avoid. In other words, how well you did matters less than how badly you didn’t do. Take a moment with that, we’ve got time. And if that puts you off TTGoT, it would be an absolute shame because therein lies the beauty of the series.

Set across the landscape of Westeros and within the same timeframe of the TV show, The Ice Dragon is set at the very start of Season Five of the HBO show. And the first episode — Iron from Ice that released in November last year — kicks off at the tail-end of the third season, specifically, the Red Wedding. If those last two words make no sense to you, it’s worth binge-watching the TV show before embarking on this journey. Disclaimer: While this is a spoiler-free zone, the rest of this look back at TTGoT requires some knowledge of the Game of Thrones television show… at least. In a similar vein to Telltale’s other notable titles like The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us, TTGoT exists in the same universe as its source material, is canonical and follows a very simple — not to mention accessible — point-tap-swipe format, where minimal action and maximum choices drive your story along. That isn’t to say there isn’t any action. Decapitation? Check. Amputation? Check. Deep flesh wounds? Check. And much much more. However, even the most brutal battles are reduced to a series of quick-time events (swipes and taps) and a healthy dose of screen-hammering (the tablet generation’s equivalent of button-mashing). Fail too many of these and you will be greeted with a game over screen — a screen emblazoned with the words ‘Valar Morghulis’ — and a prompt to resume from your last saved checkpoint. Saving is automatic and checkpoints are frequent, so you won’t have to track back too far. But the key element of gameplay is choice: Choosing what to say, choosing what orders to give, and even choosing who lives and who dies. Dialogue options appear a la Kaun Banega Crorepati in a four-choice array, including the choice to remain silent (it is golden, after all). Depending on the criticality of the statement to be made, the time allotted for the choice — displayed in a handy timer below — varies. However, when the huge life-or-death situations — literally in this case — come along, the game allows you the time to reflect on the possible ramifications before making your selection. And when you aren’t fighting or talking, there’s all sorts of exploration to be done. The game makes it simple by highlighting interactive objects. [caption id=“attachment_288497” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Screen grab from the game[/caption] So there’s decision-making, there’s simple fighting mechanics; but what’s it all about, you may well ask. For the uninitiated, TTGoT’s plot follows the trials and tribulations of House Forrester, which is loyal is to the Starks. The fact that the Forresters do not appear in the TV show (and are barely even mentioned in the books) has allowed the game’s makers to take liberties with their storylines, and turn them into a microcosm of the larger Game of Thrones universe. In short then, you find yourself in control of five characters of the beleaguered family Forrester — immediately after the massacre of their soldiers and patriarch Lord Gregor at the Twins — in their bid to stave off rival House Whitehill’s efforts to humiliate and crush them. Supported by Ramsay Snow, the Whitehills are part of most of the series’ most gripping sequences, especially two notable standoffs in the fifth and sixth episodes. Along the way, you’ll forge alliances of politics, muscle and even love. But do prepare to be deceived, betrayed and stabbed in the back (quite literally) fairly regularly. While the ‘prodigal son’ story-arc of the exiled second-born Asher Forrester is arguably the most interesting, it’s not that far ahead of the eldest Forrester daughter Mira’s political wheeling and dealing in King’s Landing, or Gared Tuttle’s metamorphosis from a polite squire to Gregor, to a member of the Night’s Watch and beyond. Over the course of six 90-to-120 minute-long (a lot depends on how much time you spend on exploring areas and interacting with objects in every possible way) episodes, the tempo of the story understandably shifts gears from tender conversations to sword-slashing moments of violence. And for the large part, the makers have got the pacing right. However, if there is a complaint to be made, it’s that your choices don’t seem to have any impact on the game’s broader storyline. Until, that is, you load up the final episode. Choices made in previous episodes — that includes alliances forged, betrothals broken, and lives saved and lost — including a Hobson’s choice about which of two protagonists to save at the end of the fifth episode, play a major role in defining how the final chapter plays out. After over seven hours of making decisions and seeing them have virtually no impact on the story, the final episode seems to be the one where everything matters. Even the most trivial — at the time, at least — choices made in previous episodes can and do come back to bite you in the proverbial. The Ice Dragon massively boosts the series’ replay value, as do Telltale CEO Kevin Bruner’s remarks to  The Hollywood Reporter that “The questions left on the table at the conclusion of season one — who survived and who didn’t — as well as all the other choices you made play a huge role in the second season. We’ve been planning the second season all along, but I really shouldn’t be revealing more than that”. But back to The Ice Dragon, and the final 90 minutes of the first series of TTGoT take you on quite a gut-wrenching emotional roller coaster. And this is Telltale’s real test. The thought you put into choices in this final leg are linked closely to how much the game’s makers were able to get you to care about the characters. Opinions about the results of this test will invariably vary, but to this reviewer, Telltale performs well, but falls just short of securing top marks. Presentation-wise, TTGoT scores much better. The oil painting visuals undoubtedly provide a beautiful setting for your characters to undertake their far-from-beautiful deeds. But the real winner is the sound, right from the background score to the impressive voice acting. Peter Dinklage, Lena Headey, Kit Harington, Natalie Dormer, Iwan Rheon and Emilia Clarke reprise their onscreen roles with élan (and in the case of Rheon, pure menace), but Martha Mackintosh (Mira), Russ Bain (Rodrik Forrestor) and Alex Jordan (Asher) are no slouches either. In terms of performance, bugs were few and far between, albeit noticeable, ranging from the extremely rare crash to home screen, to poorly-synced dialogue and some visual gremlins (like a character disappearing off the screen only to reappear seconds later). Ultimately, this is a must-play for fans of the books, television show, or both, and a worth-checking-out for more those yet to explore George RR Martin’s rich universe. The game is available on PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Mac, iOS (version tested) and Android. For iOS users, the game is available on the App Store for Rs 300 for each individual episode, or Rs 1,200 for the entire bundle.  Episodes released: 1)Iron from Ice 2)The Lost Lords 3)The Sword in the Darkness 4)Sons of Winter 5)A Nest of Vipers 6)The Ice Dragon All images (except the screen grab) have been taken from Telltale Games’ official Game of Thrones website