We’re getting to it now. This the penultimate episode of Telltale’s Game of Thrones, which is actually Telltale’s longest episodic series since Sam & Max: Season One. If you watch the show (and if you’re playing this you really should’ve been) you’ll know that it’s not the finale that shocks, it’s the episode before that. The last episode is just the fallout from the penultimate episode. The Battle of the Wall. The Red Wedding. The Battle of the Blackwater. The death of Ned Stark. And now in Telltale’s… well, that’d be telling. But it’s equally heartrending, if not quite as epic.
No spoilers for this episode as usual, but a few minor ones for previous episodes in this paragraph alone. Basically Roderick, current Lord of Ironrath, has had his plan to get back his brother foiled by Ramsay Bolton and the traitor in the Forrester midst. Gared Tuttle has fled the Wall and the Night’s Watch in search of the North Grove. Asher has helped liberate Meereen for Queen Daenerys Targaryen. Mira has uncovered a plot to send an army of sellswords to aid the Whitehills which will spell doom for the Forresters. Everyone’s in deep s***, basically.
Stab the bugger. Please
A Nest of Vipers is where the story finally stops limping along and shifts into higher gear, and about time too. However Episode 5 is still not without its slow moments. Asher stays pretty entertaining, and Mira is pretty useless but at least has a number of cool character chats, but the first half of Gared’s story is basically just a bunch of moaning. Then things properly kick into motion, and I hate that I just agreed not to spoil anything. Think of the things you want from Game of Thrones and you’ll get most of them in Episode 5. Oh yes, that too.
Of course it’s your choices that define Telltale’s games once again, and here we have one big payoff and one epic massive choice that’ll change Episode 6 completely. The payoff is the identity of the traitor, which I’m assuming is based some choices I made thus far and not a set thing. Only another play through the whole season will tell, but it feels like it should change. Mine was a little obvious, truth be told. As for the big epic choice, well, the build up to it was both obvious and silly but the event itself was done extremely well. Other than that choice-wise I love the one where you get to decide whether or not to stab Ramsay Bolton. You know it’ll fail but it’s fun to try. Still, I should point out to Telltale that the dialogue option “that’s fine by me” does not equal “f*** off”.
MORTAL KOMBAT!
What I still like much less are the “other” gameplay sections. The QTEs are better in this episode I have to say, unlike Episode 4 where they were painfully bad and hard to see. Here at least they’re doable. What I didn’t like though was the rabbit shooting minigame. No, I’ve got nothing against hunting, but this minigame is terrible. The first rabbit, by the time you’ve worked out the slightly obtuse controls it’s already run off. With the second rabbit though Telltale don’t even allow you to aim at the damn thing until it’s running across the screen! Explain your minigames better next time, Telltale, give us a safe fail to learn first and allow players to experience the shooting controls before you throw them in the deep end. Don’t punish players for playing your series episodically, which is supposedly how it’s meant to be played but I’m having my doubts. The aiming tutorial was months ago, how are we supposed to remember that?
While the acting remains good the graphics remain pretty bad and getting worse. The one area of Game of Thrones we’re not getting from Telltale is the epic scenes, the moments where you forget you’re watching a TV show because it looks so good. The fights are kept small, the character models basic, and the big shots of amazing locations like King’s Landing and Meereen are incredibly simplistic paintings. Basically we lose all sense of the epic and we’re back to playing another simple Telltale game. Seriously guys, Game of Thrones should be the final nail in the Telltale Tool coffin. Bust out the 2.0 version.
Oh bugger
I don’t want to tackle the full season just yet as of course I’m saving that for the finale, but before I wrap up my Episode 5 review I just want to call attention to something missing from the series thus far that undoubtedly will not feature in Episode 6 either: humour. Even in the darkest moments of Game of Thrones the TV series or book we can count on a bit of mood-lightening not long after, whether it’s Bronn being sarcastic, Tyrion cracking wise, or Hodor saying “hodor” a lot. Telltale’s Game of Thrones has been frustratingly light on levity, with even Peter Dinklage’s Tyrion Lannister seeming more restrained than usual. Consequently there’s nothing to balance the darkness and the whole thing ends up very tough to get through.
GAME OF THRONES: EPISODE 5 - A NEST OF VIPERS VERDICT
The penultimate episode of Telltale’s Game of Thrones finally sees the series kick into high gear in preparation for the finale, with at least one major choice and the payoff for a string of previous choices taking place. Nevertheless the weaknesses of the series are also still apparent, with the aging Telltale Tool and a general lack of levity being centre among them. Nevertheless A Nest of Vipers ups the ante considerably and makes for a fine build-up to the finale. I personally can’t wait to see what will happen, and whether my prediction that it’s possible to lose the whole game based on your choices pans out.
TOP GAME MOMENT
The ending. Woo boy.
Good vs Bad
- Story kicking into high gear at last in preparation for the final episode.
- One massive choice and the payoff to another.
- Graphics are still uninspired, with the aging game engine offering no chance of any truly epic moments.
- Where's the happier moments? This is one difficult series to get through.
