The Game of Thrones universe has been acclaimed for its depth, and the books and subsequent HBO show have been hailed for their epic stories and multi-dimensional characters. Sounds like a perfect fit for Telltale’s narrative-driven adventure format to me.

Just a little disclaimer: I have never read any Game of Thrones book and I’ve only seen a couple of episodes of the series. I’m probably one of the few critics in the unique position of being able to review Telltale’s efforts without having the spectre of the books looming overhead.

Iron from Ice begins with an earnest, northern squire named Gared, in servitude to House Forrester. Lord Forrester and his soldiers are celebrating a royal wedding when a rival house, the Freys, launches an unexpected attack and kills them all, leaving only Gared remaining. Beaten and traumatised, he has to return to House Forrester in order to deliver a weapon and an important message.

The second protagonist is Ethan, the young and newly instated lord of the Forrester House. With the house in crisis and its enemies drawing closer with no help in sight, Ethan is burdened with the task of organising his people in order to deal with the crisis in whatever way he sees fit, allowing for reckless violence or more measured negotiation.

The third and final protagonist of the first episode is Ethan’s older sister Mira Forrester, a handmaiden to Margaery Tyrell, who is betrothed to King Joffrey, the ruler of the Seven Kingdoms. Mira is asked by her family to seek help from the her employer, but she must do saw under the suspicious gaze of Cersei Lannister, Joffrey’s mother.

If it felt like you were just overloaded with information and names that don’t mean anything, you’re not the only one. Telltale understandably assumed that every player would already be familiar with the names and titles thrown out in the dialogue.

At first, I thought it might be impenetrable to the uninitiated, but despite the fact it was occasionally bewildering keeping up with the number of important characters, I never felt out in the cold. It would have benefited from having an audience surrogate character, who could have asked “Who are the Boltons? Who were the Starks? Why should I be worried about them?”, but I imagine it would have been difficult to include that kind of character without it seeming forced.

Regardless, I enjoyed being gradually informed about the world of Westeros. The thought of exploring the characters and the lore further is probably strongest lure to play the other episodes.

Unlike the fantastic first episode of Tales from the Borderlands, which felt like a complete adventure in itself, Iron from Ice is all set-up and no pay-off. It’s clear that Telltale are aiming at an epic power-struggle that will stretch across the land, and although the first episode hints at what’s to come, the majority of it consists of grim-looking medieval folk bitching about other grim-looking medieval folk.

Fortunately, it does leave the player wanting more and anticipating the next episode. The ending in particular was hard to swallow. I won’t spoil, but a villain that makes you clench your fist in rage is always a good sign of things to come.

In terms of gameplay, it’s standard ‘Telltale’ with no real attempt to shake things up. The player chooses dialogue options during the conversational sections and is challenged to a series of quick-time events during the ‘action’ sequences.

It’s a testament to the writing that the action sequences were the least exciting parts of the episode. However, if the series is to succeed further on down the line, it needs to find some way of making the combat sections more exciting. Maybe when the stakes are risen, pressing X to dodge a sword swing will seem more pivotal.

If there’s one thing Telltale’s Game of Thrones succeeds in, its making the player sweat over each decision. We are constantly reminded of the powers that be and their grasp over House Forrester. We are constantly told of the far-reaching consequences of our actions.

Particularly with Ethan (who I’m sorry to say was by far my favourite character), the future of House Forrester will be shaped by your decisions, and no choice is easy. Do you choose aggression and put the lives of your loyal subjects at risk, or do you attempt diplomacy and welcome your enemies in, in the hopes that they don’t stab you in the back?

Although Iron from Ice is a slow-start to the series, it does leave the impression that its building to something, and I’m already excited to see what that might be. With no previous experience of Game of Thrones and therefore no bias towards it, that’s a triumph.

7/10

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