Telltale’s Game of Thrones: Episodes 1 & 2 (Xbox One)

*SPOILERS*

Telltale Games has hit another home run with its adaptation of “Game of Thrones.”

The game follows several members of the Forrester family; the lords of Ironrath and bannermen to the Starks. If you are familiar with the books, you may recognize the name, as they are given brief mention a couple of times, but their stories are not really explored. This gives a perfect blank slate which the game’s writers work beautifully.

The story opens at The Twins outside The Red Wedding as the first strains of “The Rains of Castamere” float down out of the castle windows (apologies for any hysterical weeping that sentence may have caused just now). As a squire for Lord Forrester, you must fight off the ambush laid by the Freys, and choose who to save and who to leave behind.

Much like the books and TV show, the game follows several different storylines. While your first character is eventually sent to The Wall, you also play as the young Lord Forrester (who inherits his seat after his father dies in the initial ambush), a daughter of the Forrester house who is handmaiden to Margaery Tyrell in King’s Landing, and an exiled son of the Forrester house working as a sellsword across the Narrow Sea (in the second episode). All of these characters have rich storylines and their decisions effect one another greatly. And of course, since the game is set in the Game of Thrones universe, you might find one or two of your favorite characters do not make it through the first episode.

Fans of the show will be delighted to hear excellent voice performances from all the key cast: Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister, Kit Harrington as Jon Snow, Natalie Dormer as Margaery Tyrell, Iwan Rheon as Ramsay Snow, and Lena Headley as Cersei Lannister, among other (the latter two are just as terrifying to interact with as you would imagine).

Some Telltale games in the past have been plagued by release date issues (looking at you, Wolf Among Us), but so far this one seems to be right on schedule.

If a great story line and masterful voice acting performances isn’t enough to get you into this game, just remember that the next season doesn’t come out until April. You might just need this in order to get your fix.

Billy Whitehouse

Billy is a freelance writer living in Indianapolis with his dog, BoJack. He enjoys TED talks, video games, sunny days, football, and the salty tears of his enemies.