Game of Thrones: Episode Three - The Sword in the Darkness (PS4) - Review
by Joseph Trotter , posted on 15 April 2015 / 6,119 Views
Living in a fantasy world ought to be a lot of fun. Demons to kill, lovers to save, magic to wield, kingdoms to explore. Ought to be. In Westeros, survival is the only aim, ideally without fucking or killing a family member in the process. Easier said than done, apparently.
The geographically spread members of the Forrester’s of Ironwood have so far avoided the above temptations, but are finding their general survival a greater struggle. Whitehill troops garrison the Ironwood, while Mira struggles in the political quagmire of King’s Landing, and Asher seeks his return from the East. Each playable character makes their own, quick decisions, with a slight awareness of how it may affect the others.
As has become clear, these decisions really do alter the fortunes of other family members. A decision by Mira has damaging consequences for the family nucleus at home, but may open up a possible source of revenue for another to take advantage of. Each choice is microcosmic of greater events, but has local, unintentional consequences. Although the body-rate has slowed, the stakes are higher than ever, particularly with the head of each family member potentially mounted on top of them.
The Sword in the Darkness is the best in the series yet. The narrative is coherent, choices tangible, acting stellar, and some of the odd writing in early episodes cleaned up. Interesting from beginning to end, although far from a rollicking affair, Sword holds one’s attention far better than the previous, slightly stodgy scene-setters. The sense of menace creates a level of tension that instils interest in the quick-time events that they probably do not deserve.
Graphically, Game of Thrones still struggles comparatively to other Telltale series; it is neither as striking as The Walking Dead nor as delightful as Tales from the Borderlands. Its quasi-cartoon-semi-realistic style sits uneasy upon the general design and ethos of the brand, while the blur-faze of objects in the distance is becoming unpleasant. Backgrounds, however, are inexplicably delicious in comparison, while the human models have a recognisably humane, understandable quality to their facial reactions.
This probably stems directly from the industry leading voice-acting. The actors make light work of a sometimes staid script, and judge every conversation perfectly in terms of both tone and urgency. It really is brilliant.
Sword in the Darkness is a step in the right direction for the series. Sharp, unhurried yet eventful, the disastrous consequences of small decisions means that every conversation is conducted with the utmost care. It needs to be – one mistake could lead to the deaths of many.
This review is based on a digital copy of Game of Thrones: Episode Three - The Sword in the Darkness for the PS4, provided by the publisher.
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Just played this episode this weekend on Xbox One. I'm enjoying the game overall. Loved Fables: The Wolf Among Us by TellTale Games as well. Yes, it's all QTE's, but that's the point of their games. You're basically playing a Choose Your Own Adventure storybook, which I used to love reading when I was a kid.
Also congrats for evolving reviews beyond a numbers based game. However I think the last paragraph should definitely contain a specific recommendation. Saying "step in the right direction" for the series, and "best of the series so far" is only informative to those who have already played the previous installments.
True, but it is assumed if you are reading a review of the third incanation of a serial then you are familar with the games. Why risk spoilers otherwise? The review of the first episode is always the most important for something like this. Difficult not to use spoilers by this point.
Tell Tale games all use QTE's as pretty much the mainstay of the gameplay. Even the conversation options mechanic is essentially a QTE. I don't really perccieve much different in QTEs between GoT, TotB or TWD, and the text of the review doesn't go into detail about how the QTEs are rubbish. Unless the review just thinks QTEs in general are rubbish, in which case it's not really a negative for the game itself, but a negative for the subgenre. Like me saying fps is rubbish, and then highlighting that as a specific downside in a CoD review.
I've reviewed pretty much every Telltale game for the site (except TWAU) and the GoT QTE's are noticeably rubbish, particularly compared to TftB's, which are actually very good. I'm doing that as a series review, and I reckon it is the best Telltale have produced yet. So to answer your question, it is particularly the GoT QTE I do not like, not the method itself. I should maybe make that clear next time in the Cons.
So are they going to release this in an open world all of the episodes are released? That would be worth it.
