By: Robert Murphy
Often times it's easy to think by the end of the story that the good guy wins and all of the bad guys will be soundly defeated. Game of Thrones writer George R.R. Martin has been one of those voices in the world to drastically change that opinion though and this is something that Telltale has taken to heart throughout it's entire Game of Thrones adaptation and so it's climactic conclusion should prove to be no different. The Ice Dragon has placed all the members of the Forrester house in key positions for the upcoming battle but now the weight of all your previous decisions may prove to come back and haunt you.
It's easy to disregard certain minor choices that you have made in a video game because they are just that, they're minor, and even Telltale has chosen to view them as that, or at least that's what I thought. The first few moments with each of the remaining Forrester house members set the town for how perilous your entire playing experience will be for this chapter. Did you choose to place your family first above everything else and not played it safe with the relationships you were forming around you. Were you brash and defiant to those who are in power or did you play it safe and bind your time? The game will certainly let you feel all of it if that is the case.
Rodrick/Asher and House Forrester have found themselves starring down their greatest enemies, The Whitehills, and their entire massive force which now sits outside of their gates. Both have their own major plans and schemes that you will see unfold (depending on your choice last episode) but in the end it really ends the same. This isn't to say I didn't deeply enjoy carving out some much due vengeance against my enemies but it felt rather fruitless by the end due to the promise of something more. Yes, it appears that there will another season to the Telltale Game of Thrones experience and while the thought of another game does sound good, it left much to be desired by some of the conclusions, especially with Rodrick/Asher. The battle unfolds and despite your best efforts everything ends the same and you are left to question how you could possibly save your house, nothing feels concluded here and it's a big let down for all the efforts up until this point to do something about the upcoming threat.
Another criticism to be had with these events is that they bore a little too closely to some of the series more famous source material. Not much of what I was experiencing felt all that new to me and the added parts weren't that exceptional but rather they were thrown in to add to the shock and bloodshed that is strewn throughout this final chapter. I sincerely doubt that Telltale wanted to make such a striking similarity to what has already been done before them but it still felt stilted in the end.
As for the rest of House Forrester things fair in much the same fashion as the fate of their doomed house seemed all the more certain. Mira Forrester finds the snake that has been coiling around her grow increasingly tighter after events with a certain Lannister guard put her in serious danger. Her exploits up until this point have been nothing short of amazing though as a little handmaiden she has effectively usurped people who have been playing at the games of The Red Keep for far longer than her. Her story has been one of the constant highlights for the series and this fact makes her constant defeated choices this chapter feel all the more painful. No matter what I felt that there was a no win scenario for Mira in this last chapter, no choice I could make and no deal I could forge to save me which confused me since I had made so many friendships. It was one of the moments where I felt the choice system failed me and that I should have been able to get out of the situation I found myself in.
Far north of The Wall things for Gared and his dwindling party of friends were no better off. Gared's story has been a steady stream of inconsistency and this doesn't change for this last chapter, even though he finally finds The North Grove. Aside from it's inhabitants possessing some interesting powers there really is nothing grand about the place. The two new mystery characters hint and the potential power that his hidden away here but never explain exactly what it is. There were plenty of heebie jeebie moments to be had here but outside of that everything is once again a big let down for Gared's story and just like with things back at the Forrester's home, we are left on another cliff hanger for the potential next season.
As I've said before, nothing in the Game of Thrones universe ends happily ever after because this fairy tale isn't like the ones from your childhood. The conclusion to the first season of Telltale's Game of Thrones does have everything you would come to expect, a bloody conclusion to end out the torment of House Forrester. If only it were truly the end of things however, plenty of what is done for this last episode serves as nothing more than a segway to later things. So rather than leaving players with a tremendous last note everything feels open ended and dragged out when it could of ended quick and clean like a sword on the executioners block in true Martin fashion.
Good:
- Asher/Rodrik's much needed vengeance
- Impossible choices
Bad:
- Lacks a worthy conclusion for any of the characters
- Still don't know what The North Grove is
- Mira's upsetting story
- Cuts closely to the source material
Scully Rating: 6.0 out of 10
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