Versions Also Available for PC, Xbox 360
By Cyanide Studios
Released June 8, 2012
2.5/5
Win or Die is the tagline for the game based on one of the years most raved about franchises. Seeing as it’s a game, the actuality of it is: “Win or die and reload from your last save”.
Cyanide chose to go with an RPG style game for the medieval/feudal fantasy story; a bold move considering that Skyrim is still carrying momentum as well as there being a number of other high profile established RPGs on the market.
Much of the interest in this particular game however would be its existence as part of the ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ universe. The game is something of a prequel to the books and TV show and so would be extremely attractive to any avid fans. Though some of the familiar characters appear, the player is given the roles of two new characters: Mors Westford, a member of the Night’s Watch and Alester Sarwyck, a Red Priest. If you don’t know what the Night’s Watch or Red Priests are, then it may help to read the books or watch the show before hand, but the game does a fair job of informing you of what you need to know, helping it stand alone for gamers who are behind on the Game of Thrones franchise.
When you start the game and are presented with your various character customisation options, it looks like a lot to get your head around, with a number of skills and stats to choose and upgrade including class, stance, hero powers, skill points, attack moves, strengths and weaknesses. Once you get going though the whole thing feels a lot simpler.
An interesting addition to the format is the strength and weakness traits. You are asked to choose a few extra boons for your character and also to choose a number of weaknesses to balance him out such as asthma, gout or a fear of the sight of blood (a silly option for hardened warriors).
As an RPG, your characters will gain experience as they adventure and battle allowing you to learn more moves and powers and increase your stats. They may also win more strength or weakness traits.
As usual in this type of game you will be presented with quests to complete in order to progress the story. You may also receive side quests to go alongside them though unlike the expansive Skyrim or even the character driven Mass Effect games, the side quests are few are far between.
Much like the above mentioned titles though, choices are important. Things that you say to certain people or do to others will affect later events or the way that you are perceived by some characters.
When a main quest is finished, usually this prompts the end of chapter and the beginning of a new one in which you will play as the alternate character. Each chapter tends to end on a cliff-hanger to keep you interested.
‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ fans may be disappointed at the limited opportunity to explore Westeros, as only small areas such as towns or forts are available to visit with fast travel taking place between them. So no chance to walk the Kingsroad.
On the other hand, the new backstory for the books will be of great interest.
Mors Westford is an officer and veteran of the Wall having served for fifteen years and earning the nickname ‘The Butcher’. His unique ability is his Skinchanger (or Warg) skill. His trusty (but strange demonic looking) dog at his side is mentally linked to him so that he may possess it and use its body to explore and follow scents as well as take enemies by surprise.
Alester Sarwyck is a noble who exiled himself some fifteen years before the events of the game. He left his home and family to become a priest of Rh’lorr. This gives him a number of flame based powers. His goal on his return is to return his home to its former glory after the death of his father.
Both characters meet people found in the books, linking them to the story world. For the most part, the designers have done a good job of capturing the shows actor’s likenesses. With George R. R. Martin on hand as story advisor the game stays true to the original vision. Rumour has it that Martin may even introduce the game characters to his books if they are received well.
Story may be a strength of the game, especially as a companion to the books but because of this it suffers from slow movement with probably a lot more talking than a game should have. Of course RPGs tend to overwhelm with the amount of people you may talk to and information you can find, but it is usually up to the player if they wish to speak with everyone that they meet. In this case, most of the talking is mandatory and makes the actual sections of playing the game seem too short.
The beginning especially suffers for this. With the need to introduce all the new characters, settings, story, backstory and the control scheme it takes a long time for the game to feel like the action is picking up. Particularly as with having two characters, the game essentially has two opening sequences.
What makes this even worse is that much of the voice acting is extremely lacklustre. You get the impression that the actors were given only their lines and not told what they were reacting to or sometimes even talking about. Even when a character is meant to be telling you an exciting backstory, it is usually delivered in such a dull way that you begin to itch to get away from them. Even the story of a man stranded on the wrong side of the Wall slaying a tribe of drunken wildmen was somehow made to sound boring. Not all of the voices have this problem – Mors is probably the best performed – though many including Alester really drone on making it difficult to engage with them.
Even if it were not for the monotone mumblings, most characters you speak to only have doom and gloom to talk about. There seems to be no one to lighten the mood at all. Mors even says at one point “When have you ever known me to be joking?” cementing his overly serious nature. Background NPCs may sometimes be heard being a little more jovial but the humour amounts to little more than the mention of ale and/or whores.
The final niggle with the speech in game is that the characters often make odd gestures that you would only ever see in a game. The strange unnatural rocking backwards and forwards on the spot while talking or flailing hand gestures that don’t seem to mean anything that are unfortunately common in gaming appear regularly here.
There are a few technical issues that should hopefully be fixed by patches in time such as difficulty in finding a ‘sweet spot’ to interact with some in game items and a few sound issues like spoken lines being missing or music skipping.
Combat is interesting. I am reminded of the system in ‘Knights of the Old Republic’ 1 and 2, in which you would click on your chosen attacks rather than use real time button bashing. In Game of Thrones you can slow down time while you choose your attacks, though they still fight in real time. This allows for more unique moves and a greater selection of things that you can do. Your characters allies will have their own set of powers so you can get quite tactical in battles.
Game of Thrones offers a number of staple RPG elements such as armour and weapon choices with tactical advantages for the different kinds and class choices based on styles from the books e.g. Water Dancers. It also throws in a few unusual and interesting things not usually seen.
For one, your characters seem to invite you to actually Role Play rather than create a character. Mors and Alester have back stories and personalities of their own, and though you have choices, it seems more fitting to play as though you would do what they would rather than doing what you would do.
When it comes down to it, the game is probably best enjoyed by fans of the books and show that it is based on. Players new to the franchise may be better off steering clear until they have enjoyed the stories elsewhere. The game is not a strong one on its own feet, but is propped up by the strength of the rest of the story world. Though it has interesting elements and some nice tactical combat, it takes some time before this picks up and offers little in the meantime.
