Game Of Thrones: Episode 4 – Sons Of Winter
Reddy or not
Release Date: OUT NOW!
Reviewed on: Xbox One Also available on: PS4, PS3, Xbox, PC, mobile Publisher: Telltale Games
So, we’ve now
survived past the halfway point of Telltale’s Game Of Thrones series – in George RR Martin terms, this makes us practically veterans. Story- wise, things are finally starting to happen. We’re tasked with helping to liberate Meereen, resulting in a bit of simple sneaking (“press A to move to next piece of cover”) and some enjoyable combat setpieces. There are dark revelations, as well as decisions to keep or spill secrets, take or spare lives, and pick up or leave a bag full of onions.
But while the choices in the previous episode felt like they might not have that much of an impact on the story at large, here this is at times made patently obvious. At one point, for instance, we got a bit gung- ho with our approach to diplomatic negotiation and ended up getting what can only be described as “Red Wedding- ed”. The result? A fade to the “valar morghulis” screen, snapping us out of any illusion that we were determining our own fate. Why include options that are judged by the game as objectively wrong?
Frustrating, too, are the aesthetic missteps. Some accents are all over the place ( we’d no idea Australia was one of the Seven Kingdoms) and loads can be lengthy. Much of the scenery looks as if it’s been smeared with Vaseline, and some characters boast disturbingly jaggy edges. Here’s hoping the continuing story is enough to overshadow these issues next time. Emma Davies