14 DAY TRIAL // Telltale Games released in the last few weeks the first episodes in its brand new franchises, Tales from the Borderlands and Game of Thrones, delivering new interactive adventure experiences filled with different characters, intense action, and plenty of choices. Bear in mind that the following editorial features spoilers for both episodes, so turn back now if you haven't completed them.
Unfortunately for fans of the studio who fell in love with Telltale's previous projects, such as The Walking Dead both seasons 1 and 2, or The Wolf Among Us, the newer versions have taken a turn for the worse in terms of the choices offered to players and what impact they have on the gameplay or the events that happen after them.
Choices are big in gaming
As you can see in recent titles launched lately, particularly when it comes to role-playing games like Dragon Age: Inquisition but also to first-person shooters like Far Cry 4, developers are beginning to let players make more and more choices in terms of gameplay and story, not just in terms of how they want to actually play the title.
Telltale has already gotten fans used to quite a lot of interesting choices that can severely impact the future adventures of your character. Trying to hold the group together in The Walking Dead often meant the difference between surviving the undead horde and losing the trust of others. The Wolf Among Us also allowed players to choose how their version of protagonist Bigby Wolf handled things, and depending on whether he was harsher or less tough, he was met with different attitudes by others.
Tales from the Borderlands Episode 1: Zer0 Sum featured a fair amount of choices, but in the end, not many had an impact on the overall story. Even so, they did have short-term consequences that made them believable. From choosing to betray your Hyperion buddies as Rhys to getting revenge on a former mentor as Fiona, there were some immediate results to what you chose to do.
Game of Thrones didn't have worthwhile choices
In Game of Thrones Episode 1: Iron from Ice, however, the narrative path is much harsher and only features the illusion of choice between different things. While that may not be such a bad thing, as The Walking Dead also depicted a stricter story, there are sequences where it becomes implausible.
Case in point is the conclusion, where you control Ethan Forrester, the new lord of his house, as he prepares to receive Ramsay Bolton into his fortress. You can take the diplomatic route and hope your negotiation skills succeed, or you can go the more aggressive route and show your superior power.
One of your advisers even tells you that you can let just him and a few allies into your fortress in order to ensure that you still have the overwhelming odds. Even if you do this, the conclusion still sees Ramsay march in a lot of his soldiers, without even explaining how they got into the supposedly impregnable fortress.
The conclusion is always the same no matter what, and even if it does depict the fact that things are tough in the Game of Thrones universe, it leaves players feeling like their choices don't matter at all, as Telltale's story still finds a way to circumvent them. As such, it might be better to eliminate them altogether than offer an illusion that what you do actually matters.
