Game of Thrones Episode 3: The Sword in the Darkness Review (PC)

Telltale Games has delighted millions of fans in recent years through some stellar episodic adventure games, from The Walking Dead to The Wolf Among Us and other such things. Nowadays, the studio is working on several major projects but its two unfolding series consist of Tales from the Borderlands, which just saw episode 2 debut earlier this month, and Game of Thrones, which has just received its third chapter.

Episode 3 is called The Sword in the Darkness and promises to escalate the events of the game to new heights, while going over one of the biggest elements of the book and TV series, in the form of the infamous Purple Wedding.

Does the latest episode of Game of Thrones manage to deliver a great time or should we tune in next time and hope for the best? Let's find out.

Story

Episode 3 continues from where the last chapter left off, with the Forrester family and allies scattered through Westeros and Essos, the two large continents in the fictional universe originally imagined by author George R.R. Martin.

First up, there's Asher Forrester who, alongside his uncle and his sellsword lady friend, is trying to get to the Second Sons mercenary company while avoiding enemies along the way. As you can see in the promotional image above, their travel through Essos eventually leads to Drogon, one of the most savage dragons owned by Daenerys Targaryen in the books and TV show. I won't spoil anything but those sequences are quite intense, as are those that follow in terms of Asher's plot.

Back in Westeros, Gared Tuttle continues his evolution in the Night's Watch, under the careful eye of Jon Snow, and must deal with quite a few new surprises that test his newly-made vows while putting his loyalty in question. A few surprises are also revealed to players and it's safe to say that his storyline is going to be quite important in future episodes.

Meanwhile, at the Forrester home in Ironwood, things get even more serious, as Rodrik must deal with new occupants from the rival Whitehill family. While a few surprises are also shared here, the whole series of events just feels a bit repetitive, as the same themes were once again enforced back in the first two episodes, of playing the game of thrones and sucking up to whoever is in power in order to stay alive.

Finally, in King's Landing, Mira Forester and the rest of the city's inhabitants go through the infamous Purple Wedding event, which has repercussions on Mira's plans, while forcing some new developments. Things are getting interesting here but, besides the actual wedding, things don't progress all that much.

Pledge your vows in Game of Thrones

Gameplay

Game of Thrones episode 3 doesn't bring that many new things in terms of gameplay, as you'll still mostly deal with navigating through dialog options and quick-time events.

The dialog is written fairly well, but there are a bit too many situations where the reply described in the choices differ from what's going to be uttered by the character. There are also sequences where even a calm choice is delivered in a bad way, just to justify situations in the future, which is quite upsetting.

The quick-time events are relatively well-delivered this time around and the actual situations are intense, to say the least.

There are also a few freezes and slowdowns when pausing and resuming the actions, as well as when you alt-tab out of the game, so be careful when you do such things.

Visuals and Sound

The visuals in Game of Thrones Episode 3 don't show any big improvements from previous chapters in the series although a few character models tend to look a bit better in this iteration. The water painting style is still employed, for better or worse, and while it does show a dedication to this design, it makes background elements feel a bit unimpressive or low-quality. The animations are still a bit crude and some facial ones are also quite sudden in some situations, leading to a few hilarious moments.

The soundtrack is pretty good and the voice acting is still solid, with good performances both from the main protagonists, but also from the cast of actors from the HBO TV show. In this episode you can spot Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister, Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister, Natalie Dormer as Margaery Tyrell, not to mention Kit Harrington as Jon Snow and, for a few sequences at least, Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen.

Make tough choices in Game of Thrones

The Good

The Bad

Conclusion

Game of Thrones Episode 3 is a pretty solid entry in the series made by Telltale Games. It takes the overall story to some interesting new areas, but some aspects, such as the Rodrik sequences, tend to feel repetitive and uninspired. The next few episodes are shaping up to bring some even bigger events, so expect to see even more interesting developments in the future.

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