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It's safe to say that Game of Thrones has earned its reputation for being a brutal, violent, and gory addition to popular culture. For better or worse, Telltale Games has continued that grand tradition through six episodes – its longest season to date – to varying degrees of success. Considering the level of quality of the source material, we've always found ourselves hoping for more from this episodic outing – but it's never really ventured beyond the realm of "good". And after a fairly weak penultimate episode, the final instalment returns proceedings to the above average status quo.
Through the previous five episodes of the season, we've witnessed a lot of horrible things happen to House Forrester. While on occasion it looked like they may be able to succeed, the developer has always been quick to throw another variable into the mix, making us realise just how mistaken we've actually been. This episode is no different in that respect, as there are multiple instances of both hope and hopelessness in the finale, and these feelings largely depend upon the characters that you'll be assuming control of. Gared, for instance, will slot you into the "hopeful" camp, while Mira and just about everyone else in the slowly dwindling cast rest in the "hopeless" category.
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There are occasional bright spots among these dark sequences, but on the whole this is a fittingly brutal and violent finale. Make no mistake, lots of people will die. Whether or not they are characters that you care about will vary, of course, and it's true that a number of the casualties are restricted to bit part players in the plot. To be fair, the deaths are used to propel the story forward, but there are so many of them that it's easy to become numb to them by the end.
Personally, the constant deaths caused us to realise just how little we cared about the cast, which is a surprise for a Telltale title. If there was this much death in Tales from the Borderlands, for example, it would be soul crushing – just as it was in The Walking Dead. Here, however, it fails to resonate. It's not that the deaths don't serve a purpose narratively, it's just that we struggled to feel an emotional response to them.
The issue may come down to the length of this episodic adventure. Telltale has pretty much perfected the five chapter arc to its stories, but the six instalments here mean that parts of the season feel plodding and padded. A snappier episode five may have helped the closing moments of this series to be a little more impactful, but instead we're left with a lot of filler.
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Problems aside, this definitely does feel like a season finale – but more in the television sense. It wraps up smaller plot lines, but the big stuff is left unresolved. If that's not what you're looking for then you may walk away from this feeling unsatisfied, but with Telltale Games confirming that a second series is in the works, at least you know that there's further closure on the horizon.
And that's perhaps the most positive thing we can say about this episode as a whole – it sets up some interesting scenarios. But this is largely indicative of the season in its entirety, as it's always felt like it's been teetering on the brink of getting going. It's a fine episode, then – decent, solid – but it's been a bit of a slow series on the whole. And now we wait to see if Game of Thrones: Season 2 can properly get this story going.
Conclusion
Game of Thrones: Episode 6 – The Ice Dragon offers an alright ending to a slightly disappointing spin-off overall. We struggled to care about a lot of the deaths here, but the story moves along reasonably well and it sets up what we hope will prove a superior second season. It can't light a candle to some of Telltale's finer work, but it's never been outwardly bad. If that's the best that can be said about a six episode series, though, it's not a resounding endorsement, is it?
Comments 5
I personally thought it was great and cared about the characters. I clearly differ from the norm though as I think TWD is absolute garbage and one of the most boring games I've ever played.
I thought GOT was paced similarly to the show with some slow plot building and moments of action. One of the things I love about Game of Thrones is that it's not just constant action...
Its a solid 8 for me.
Yes, I've been underwhelmed. I'll finish episode 6 but I won't be touching a new series unless they update the engine, facial expressions are hilarious too. I'd be more than happy with a new Walking Dead or Wolf Among Us but not this. Season 2 looks like it'll be bargain bin or rental.
@mrobinson91 I just didn't think the writing was good enough, it didn't really move anywhere near as slow as the books or TV show for me, they could have filled it with a lot more chatting and I'd have been pretty happy
I was actually quite irritated that there was VERY little resolution with the overall story arc. Then, I remembered that this is Game of Thrones, and realized it's par for the course to take 3 seasons to resolve any minor plot point
It's the weakest Telltale game, but I played only The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us.
Game of Thrones is good, but I think my familiarity with the show hurt my enjoyment of the game a bit.
I really think that my complete lack of knwoledge about Borderlands will make me enjoy Tales from the Borderlands more.
Having said that, the episodic game of the year, for me, is Life Is Strange.
Just finished this and I strongly disagree with the reviewer. The entire season was great and episode six just proved how well the writers understood the show. They could have been completely different characters set somewhere else and it'd still feel like Game of Thrones.
I cared for all the deaths and found myself several times pausing the game before making a decision. It was that difficult because I felt like my choices would greatly influence what happened next and it appears that they did. Some characters can be saved, others can be killed, etc.
Overall, I couldn't have been happier. So far I've played TWD Season 1 + 2, The Wolf Among Us and Tales from the Borderlands and GoT is easily my favourite. All great games, but not as good as this one.
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