Review: Game Of Thrones — The Lost Lords

The release of Game Of Thrones — The Lost Lords has come and now we have Telltale's second episode for the six part story that links into the TV Show from HBO. The first episode was a bit on the slow side and stayed safe with all of the standards that have been set up via Telltale's normal storytelling structure but did this episode follow suit? Or did The Lost Lords break free of the iron bonds and give us something really new to experience with Game Of Thrones? For that matter did it at least fix the pacing of the story to keep people like myself intrigued and wanting more? Read on to find out in our review of Game Of Thrones — The Lost Lords.

Story

We pick up right where the last episode left off. I won't spoil those events too much but we are still looking to make sure that the Ironwood forest isn't pillaged by invading forces and that the House Forrester still has some kind of strong leader. This time around we get to hop between multiple family members still kicking and try to bolster an army to remove said invading forces. In normal Game Of Thrones ways more bullshittery happens to keep us wondering how anyone lives in this world and we have to choose how everyone will react to the events. I say kill them all with dragons…

Hated

The pacing of the game's action was slightly fixed in The Lost Lords here but we are back to the same old tried and true methods and formula as with all of Telltale's other titles. This is the part that bugs me about the episode. Again we start with high action followed into some slow drama. From there we see the new conflict coming and there are no options that would let us nip it in the bud early as then there would be no game with a bit of gameplay other than QTE and dialog choices mixed in. All to wrap with the same cliffhanger ending and teases for future events we all have to wait for. Pretty much the same as the first episode.

I'll be honest here, this has now become the most glaring and only thing I did not like about The Lost Lords. Even though some of the voice work sounded a bit off and some of the characters I want to see make a cameo where not here I could overlook all that. It is the same formula used in The Walking Dead, The Wolf Among Us, and was left out of Tales From The Borderlands. It feels almost as if Telltale had to play it safe and couldn't take the risk of breaking the formula because of all of the rabid Game Of Thrones fans who are not looking for their video games to do more than expand on their world. I just hope this is left behind as we move forward with the next episodes.

Loved

Seven Hells! There was a little bit of new gameplay into the mix and even though it was nothing more than what has been perfected by FPS games, it was a great mix up thrown into The Lost Lords that it shocked me. More than Garden Of Betrayal "plot twist" that was written into the story. This proves that Telltale is willing to try and take a few risks with their formula and even though it is so small it makes this more than a point and click adventure. I know it seems a little weird being excited and loving something so small but when all you are fed is Oat Bran every day and then you are given a Doughnut Hole you would get excited too. Or change that to whatever foods you would prefer to get the idea.

As I mentioned above Game Of Thrones — The Lost Lords did have a bit of a faster pace to the overall story unlike the last episode. Not by much but it was just enough to still keep all of the basic intrigue that the show has while keeping video gamers interested in holding their controller or mouse as it plays out. I was really hoping this would come through as Game Of Thrones continued and now I just hope it stays at the same pace or maybe only slight faster. I think this episode was just about right for the tone of the story and for that I am back in love with Game Of Thrones here. Just don't go too crazy unless you are going to have us all replay the scenes with Wildfire.

Overall

Game Of Thrones — The Lost Lords has added in a few things and tweaked a bit of what I found to be issues for the whole game so far. Telltale does seem to be playing things a bit safe in terms of their overall formula for the story and how the game events occur but if that changes in future episodes I think that it would be worth the time and money to pick up each episode as they are released instead of waiting. It would also make the full season pass worth it when all is said and done for those holding out for the full thing. I am also at the point where I won't say don't pick it up but I am not fully telling you to spend the time and money. Hopefully all the episodes after The Lost Lords will galvanize that to the NEED TO BUY NOW side but I'm not fully there yet.

I give Game Of Thrones — The Lost Lords 12 bottles of Cersei Lannister's wine on the wine scale.

Game Of Thrones — The Lost Lords

Game Of Thrones — The Lost Lords was developed by Telltale Games and HBO. Game Of Thrones — The Lost Lords was published by Telltale Games for the PS3, PS4, PS Vita and PC on February 3rd 2015 with the Xbox 360 and Xbox One versions on February 4th 2015. A copy of the game was provided by the publisher for reviewing purposes.

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