Game of Thrones: Episode Five - A Nest of Vipers Reviews
Season one of Telltales Game of Thrones is coming to the end and it's that time that betrayals will be made and blood will be shed! I do love Game of Thrones!
The Starks are dead, both as a concept and a narrative arc. Throughout the early seasons and books, they served as the "good guys," allowing readers to pin their traditional fantasy hopes on a happy ending where everyone gets what they deserve. Their graphic and seemingly untimely deaths were a message from George R. R. Martin, spelled out in blood: this is not that kind of story. Either Telltale didn't get the message, or they're choosing to go over it again in case the mutilated corpses of everyone's favorite HBO actors didn't do the job.
Game of Thrones: Episode Five - A Nest of Vipers is possibly the weakest episode thus far. Although there are some fantastic moments, it suffers at points where it feels some of the progression of the story from previous episodes took a step backwards. This, in combination with the limited gameplay segments, makes for a disappointing entry in the series.
A few linear moments and one rather lazy twist aren't enough to derail what is perhaps the most faithful representation of the TV show to date. Well paced scenes and yet more agonising choices make Nest of Vipers a strong penultimate episode, and set up a big showdown for House Forester in the conclusion of Telltale's Game of Thrones series.
That might not prove to be the case, but I don't believe there is any chance of reaching a fully satisfactory closure in one more episode running two more hours, give or take. Regardless of that, the stage is set for a spectacular final episode that promises enough political intrigue and bloodshed to keep fans of the books and show satisfied.
Game of Thrones Episode 5: A Nest of Vipers does a pretty good job of giving players a set of satisfying experience with the main characters, while alternating pretty well between intense conversations and hectic fight scenes. While once again you don't have that much choice in what's actually going on, at least the plot is shaping up to lead in an interesting direction when the final episode comes around, probably in September or October.
Game of Thrones: Episode 5 - A Nest of Vipers reinforces the idea that happiness doesn't last. All of your victories in the previous episode — and the much smaller ones here — are easily reversed, and you get the feeling that the final episode will end in a Pyrrhic victory. With this being a shorter episode, one hopes that the end comes soon with something to make this all worthwhile.
Episode 5 arrives with such promise, yet withers a little when the game is forced to try and weave a conducive storyline out of your choices. Inevitably, as a player, you lose out on what could have been a satisfyingly unique experience.
'A Nest of Vipers' is the best episode I have played in a Telltale game, passing even the amazing final episode of season two of 'The Walking Dead'. Despite its modest running time, it manages to set a new bar for the studio's storytelling. I always wait with anticipation for the next 'Game of Thrones', but now it's more serious than ever. If for some reason you have been putting off playing this series, now is as good a time as any to get involved.
A Nest of Vipers has some shortcomings but is an overall solid episode, leaving behind a good amount of potential for what should be a climactic ending.
Either way, it's really unfortunate how formulaic these episodes continue to play out; you interact with a famous character who you can never win over, you engage in a bloody QTE action sequence, you get jerked around some more by other characters, and you top things off with a dramatic cliffhanger that makes you want to take the lumps all over again. With one more episode to go, it remains to be seen if it was all worth it, but if Telltale fails to stick the landing and also fail to innovate for their next games, then they may have to deal with being on the receiving end from angry fans crying out for freedom (to make more meaningful choices).
Despite an increase in action, Game of Thrones continues to disappoint with a sidenote storyline.
Episode 5 has it's flaws, and as I've said, there is a quite a bit of what felt like filler content, but as a lead-in to the finale, it left us with numerous cliffhangers, and a gloriously tough decision that is sure to make what's up next a ton of fun.
Nevertheless A Nest of Vipers ups the ante considerably and makes for a fine build-up to the finale. I personally can't wait to see what will happen, and whether my prediction that it's possible to lose the whole game based on your choices pans out.
The technical problems of episodes past — the variable frame rate, incessant hitching, visual glitches, etc — persist here, but at this point, we're so used to them that it hardly feels worthy of a callout here. Mostly it's just a bummer that A Nest of Vipers doesn't continue the steady uptick in quality we saw over the previous two episodes, but Episode Five nonetheless proves itself a necessary step in the lead-up to the season's conclusion next episode.
Still, this is once again a second-to-last episode that ends up being the weakest episode. No matter how accomplished I feel, I know that I'm not actually doing anything. I know nothing is changing. I know next episode I'm going to feel powerless again, and everything I did in this previous episode will barely be addressed. I have to admit, Game of Thrones has been hard to get through. So much horrible tragedy befell my characters and I was powerless to do anything about it. I wanted to quit. I still want to quit. But there's one episode left, and coming this far means I absolutely have to ride the story of house Forrester to the end. Just don't expect this episode to feel rewarding. Look at it as something you have to do for the inevitable finale.
Fans of the books and TV series will love taking part in Martin's world.
However, despite the occasionally poor animations and the poor handling of the passage of time, Telltale's Game of Thrones: Episode 5 – A Nest of Vipers presents its players with some stressful, tough choices, and uses QTEs in an fun way. It will be exciting to see where the last episode will take House Forrester, and whether they will meet their downfall or their saving grace.
With the arrival of the penultimate episode of Game of Thrones comes a rush of mixed feelings. I don't want it to be over, but House Forrester needs resolution.
With an increase in action, Game of Thrones: Episode 5 - A Nest of Vipers exists as an improvement over the series' recent episodes, and sets up a potentially grand finale with a shocking ending.