TellTale's Game of Thrones

Telltale games, the company behind the excellent The Walking Dead games, is set to bring us an all new episodic adventure series set in Westeros, the home of Game of Thrones.

It has been reported that HBO has assigned a story consultant to work on the game. Does this suggest that it takes place in the universe shown to us in the television show, opposed to that of the books? Will some of the actors that have brought these characters to life on the small screen reprise their roles for the game? Probably not. It’s more likely that the HBO consultant is there to ensure the games don’t contradict anything, or reveal something that has yet to occur on the show.

Usually a game based on an existing license is little to get excited about, just look at any of the video games based on recent comic book movies for proof, but Telltale’s involvement is reason enough to get your hopes up. The Wolf Among Us has been a neon lit delight so far, but The Walking Dead is the jewel in Telltale’s proverbial crown. That game’s first “Season” was so strong it quickly surpassed both the (admittedly weak) television series and the comic book series on which it was based. If Telltale’s Game of Thrones can do the same, then, wow, we’ve got one hell of a game to look forward to.

Little is known about what direction Telltale will take with the game, but the possibilities alone are exciting. Will the player take control of a character created especially for the games who interacts with existing characters in the Game of Thrones universe, ala Lee and Clem in The Walking Dead? Or will we play as one of the characters we already know and love and guide them through an original story, similar to what Telltale has been doing in The Wolf Among Us, their property based on the Fables comic book? Either way offers plenty of story potential.

Personally I’m hoping they take the Walking Dead route on this one. As much as I have been enjoying their games based on the DC comics Fables property, and I have been enjoying them, I do have a slight grievance with the series. Throughout the games the player takes control of Bigby Wolf (the big bad wolf from the fairytales, though now he’s in human form… most of the time), an existing character from the comics, and guides him through a murder investigation. The story is engaging, the puzzles are straightforward but not disappointingly so, and the quick time events keep the player on their toes. The fact that different choices can lead to drastically different outcomes (in my play through a certain character is long dead, but in a friend’s that same character is still very much alive) also adds tension to the game. It’s strong stuff. Where the game loses me in just the smallest way is that I’m playing as a character I already know, and so when I occasionally make a decision that causes Bigby to act in a manner I know he wouldn’t act, it brings me out of the game. In the comics I’ve spent a long time with Bigby, just as many of us have with the Game of Thrones characters, and I feel I know the character pretty well. This robs the game of the opportunity to really explore the character in the same way The Walking Dead explores Lee and Clem.

In The Walking Dead players take control of Lee as the entire world falls down around him. Lee, a character not in the comics or television show, is completely new to the player and each interaction feels like a discovery. Lee soon meets Clementine, a little girl whose parents are missing and is in desperate need of help. The two of you spend five episodic adventures together where a true friendship is formed by fire. Lee and Clem battle to survive, to keep their humanity in the face of such horror, and ultimately stay together. Clem becomes a daughter to Lee and Lee a father to Clem. It is one of the most touching, believable relationships in all of videogames (and certainly in all of The Walking Dead, both the comics and television show). The reason Telltale have the room to craft this keenly felt dynamic between the characters is down to the fact they are original creations. We don’t know where their stories are going, or who they are until we actually experience it with them. As they get to know each other, we get to know them. Bigby Wolf is in no real danger in The Wolf Among Us because we know where his story goes after the game. We know he survives. We know about his relationship with Snow White. The game offers choices to the player throughout the game, but knowing where the character ends up regardless of these choices robs them of some of their weight. The game is enjoyable and seeing the characters brought to life in a different medium is pretty cool, but it’s difficult to emotionally invest in it in the same way.

This is why I hope Telltale does something similar with Game of Thrones. Let us explore some parts of Westeros that we haven’t yet. Keep the tone, and the themes, and the rich universe that George R R Martin has created, but expand upon it. Having new characters also offers another advantage: It makes seeing existing characters that much more exciting. Yes, playing as Jaqen H’ghar on an all new adventure full of death and intrigue would be awesome, but you’d soon get used to inhabiting that character. Having him turn up and interacting with an all new character that the player has essentially defined by making the choices they’ve made? It offers more possibilities. For one, there’s the fear Jaqen could kill us.

What do you guys think? How would you like to see the game turn out?