Game of Thrones Episode 5: A Nest of Vipers Review (PC)

The Game of Thrones saga boasts tens of millions of fans all around the world, as a lot of people adore the novels written by author George R.R. Martin, while even more enjoy watching the Game of Thrones TV show made by HBO.

Gamers have also received several titles based on the property and the most recent one, coming from developer Telltale Games, offers a pretty interesting take by bringing an all-new story that's deeply embedded into the main narrative.

Already four different episodes have appeared and now the fifth chapter, out of a total of six, is finally available. Called A Den of Vipers, the new episode promises intense situations for each of the main protagonists, while setting up the conclusion.

Does A Den of Vipers manage to continue the pretty solid stream of episodes from Telltale Games or should the season end prematurely? Let's find out.

Story

The story in the overall episode continues the pretty grim direction established by the previous chapters. Things are going from bad to worse for House Forrester and almost all of the main protagonists are encountering gigantic hurdles.

Before I delve into the story, bear in mind that I will mention spoilers for previous episodes and talk about the details already portrayed by Telltale Games in the official screenshots and gameplay video for Episode 5. As such, proceed with caution if you want to avoid any spoilers.

First up, back in Ironrath, Rodrik is forced to deal with the consequences of his previous actions. The eerie Ramsay Bolton has dealt with the small rebellion and Rodrik must carefully deal with him. This plotline advances in some interesting ways but once again players can't make that many big choices, despite some being presented to them.

Wights in Game of Thrones

Heading south, to King's Landing, Mira gets to interact more with Cersei Lannister as well as with Tyrion, who's now imprisoned for the death of Joffrey Baratheon. The choices are pretty intense and the conversations prove tougher than some of the battles already portrayed in the game.

Beyond the Wall, Gared progresses towards the Northern Grove, alongside two of his Night's Watch brothers, as well as a Wildling girl. The story is a bit more lighthearted when compared to the other plotlines, but things quickly get serious due to the White Walkers and their army of undead Wights.

Last but not least, across the Narrow Sea, there's Asher. His plotline offers a very interesting glimpse to Meereen after it got "liberated" by Daenerys Targaryen, an aspect that wasn't explored all that much by the books or the TV show. The free slaves as well as the former fighters pose some interesting challenges and a pretty big portion of the action provided by the episode overall. Expect to see some interesting developments here as well.

All in all, the new episode manages to paint a decent overview of the four main protagonists and their most important predicaments. The final chapter is looking set to be massive in scope if it wants to settle everything.

Gameplay

In terms of gameplay, A Nest of Vipers doesn't differ all that much from previous chapters in the Game of Thrones series. While Mira and Rodrik rely more on intense conversations, Asher and Gared provide some more action-oriented situations for players to navigate.

The dialog options are on point and described fairly well in the brief previews, although once again the tone of their delivery may surprise players and end up getting a different effect in the conversation.

The quick-time events are pretty well done and some are pretty exciting, keeping you glued to your seat. Others, however, aren't that dramatic.

Don't expect to perform that much exploration, as Telltale keeps players on a very short leash this time around, guiding them throughout almost all of the sequences.

Intense fights in Game of Thrones

Visuals and Sound

Episode 5 doesn't try to do anything new in terms of graphics or visual design, so fans shouldn't expect a sudden increase in quality. The water-paint style is still present, with good and bad sides. The original characters tend to look quite good while those modeled on the TV show actors, not to mention some of the backgrounds, are of a noticeable lower quality. There are fewer animation problems than in previous chapters, so at least a bit of progress is present.

The soundtrack serves more of the same in terms of songs, themes, and content. The voice acting, however, once again shines, both in the case of professional voice actors as well as for the TV show actors who lend their talent in the game.

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The Good

The Bad

Conclusion