Instead, Telltale chose to focus on the conflict and character interactions. Eventually it came down to attacking enemies with three or four moves over and over, with unbalanced status buffs and no real variety in ways to kill people.įor contrast, The Walking Dead showed that a zombie game didn't need to be an FPS to be exciting. Cyanide's 2012 Game of Thrones game featured action-queue and levelling systems that won some praise, but critics noted how stale the fighting became after a few battles. It's about political machinations, manipulating others, and how far people are willing to go to get what they want.Īs such, Telltale needs to avoid drawn-out swordfighting as much as possible. At its core, Game of Thrones isn't about large-scale battles or one-on-one duelling.
GRRM does describe battles in great detail when they occur, and the HBO series has had two episode-length battles during its run so far, but what's more important than the battles are the political forces that cause them and their aftereffects. Yet it's surprising how little fighting there is during the story.
The books and TV series focus on a conflict known as the War of the Five Kings. The result was a game that showed you just how vulnerable you were to the slightest mistake, and it was a significantly better game because of it. Yet Telltale also added the young girl Clementine, whom the main character has to protect throughout the series. The Walking Dead universe made this feat pretty doable in Telltale's Season One: pull together a group of people and have them battle against hordes of undead just to survive. Give them the ability to choose their path and deal with the consequences of their actions, as severe and lasting as they may be. The draw is political drama on a large scale, the high stakes involved in almost every decision, and thematic questions of power and control. Millions of people read GRRM's books and binge-watch the HBO series, but not just for the shocking acts of violence and sexuality. Martin's ASOIAF universe is a dangerous place to live in, and that's a perfect element to exploit for this series. Let the Audience Play the "Game of Thrones" Basically, if we changed all the names and didn't reference the world or characters of Game of Thrones, would it still be worth playing? The answer needs to be yes.
Yet it should also be strong enough to operate independently of that material.
Similar to The Walking Dead: Season One, there's value in carving out an original story that integrates itself with the source material in familiar ways (even with some added fan-service). It's an inviting framework in which Telltale can weave its own original story, while still having support in the form of the War of the Five Kings conflict. House Forrester, which will be the focus of this series, is a perfect example of this: a lesser house mentioned in the briefest of ways in Martin's fifth book, yet choicely located in the North and in a politically precarious position as Stark bannermen. Second only to consultation with Martin himself, this arrangement allows the studio remarkable insight into the ASOIAF universe as a whole. They can pick out elements not explored in the TV show or even the books, like the histories of different houses or different types of magic, and from there create their own narrative. It was a relief when Telltale announced that GRRM's personal assistant was going to work as a "story consultant" for the project. There are hints that Telltale is definitely working in this direction. Game of Thones needs to stand out from the main plot of Martin's books and the TV series, while still working alongside it. But again and again we see tie-in games of great franchises (with interesting plots) that truly suck (I'm looking at you, Harry Potter). It can be a death-blow when a game re-enacts every scene and plot point from its source material. It's obvious that any game needs to have a compelling story to do well, both for critics' reviews and the aggregated opinion of the gaming public. (Note: unless otherwise stated, Game of Thrones from now on will refer to Telltale's upcoming episodic series.) 1.
Taking into account the 2012 game's mistakes as well as Telltale's previous work with The Walking Dead, here are four ways the new series can actually be a faithful, yet original and compelling adaptation of the ASOIAF universe we all know and love. Telltale Games needs to deliver a strong opening in "Episode 1: Iron from Ice" so as to convince us that its series won't be another shoddy video game tie-in like the mess that was Cyanide's 2012 title. Yet Martin's book series and HBO's TV adaptations are towering achievements, and any foray into the ASOIAF universe must hold its own for fans who will expect nothing less than a stellar experience.