Game of Thrones Episode 3 Review - The Adventure Continues As We See A Dragon While Choosing Between Family And Friends

Written by Andrew Gonzalez on March 29, 2015

Reviews: After a rocky start, the Game of Thrones series is picking up with a fun, tense and choice heavy episode three.

Telltale Games usually grips the players with excellent storylines and tough decisions that remain with us long after the credits roll, but their Game of Thrones series is kind of a mixed bag. There are moments that are wonderful and other moments are just forgettable and tedious. While the first episode was intriguing enough, episode 2 was pretty boring and hardly had many redeeming qualities. Game of Thrones Episode Three: The Sword in the Darkness is easily the best episode in the season so far, but Telltale needs to make some improvements before I can recommend this game as a whole.

The Sword in the Darkness works best when it places us in some seriously tough situations. The stakes are high throughout this episode and there’s never a time to catch your breath. Each character we control deals with something life-altering which will change the dynamic of future episodes. Being a fan of the show put me in uncomfortable positions because I wanted to please characters from the show I like even if that would be bad for the characters I control. The tension in episode three makes this a tough one to put down.

Mira’s storyline continues to be the superior portion of the game. Her character is well written and it’s easy to get behind and support her motivations. Torn between helping her family by waiting patiently for Margaery Tyrell to help her or by making dealings with Tyrion, the choice is up to us. More than ever, these choices will come to play in full force. The dynamic of the game and for Mira especially rests on these moments. One of the problems that I have been noticing with the Game of Thrones series is the fact that my choices don’t seem to have an effect on the storyline. Fortunately, there are moments in The Sword in the Darkness that bring up conversations from episode 1 that were well worth the wait.

My personal favorite storyline in episode three was Asher and Beskha’s section of the game. Their chemistry is so awesome. Out of every character I control, Asher is the character I look forward to playing as. The Sword in the Darkness takes Asher, Malcolm and Beskha on a quest to find Daenerys Targaryen and see if they can use some of her soldiers for a fierce upcoming battle. We see one of her dragons early on and are faced with deciding to help family (Malcolm) or a friend (Beskha). Telltale Games is known for tense, quick thinking moments and they started episode three with perfection.

Gared’s section provided some interesting moments. The more “interactive” moments in terms of combat happened with him in this episode. It’s interesting because Telltale’s games always seem to make me think about the person I am. As Gared, I promised not to fight and be respectful to a person from my past who only caused pain. Seeing my character pushed to his limit made me feel as if I were in his shoes. Could I stand back and be the bigger man or would I succumb to my inner darkness? Moments like this make me love the feelings a game from Telltale can produce. It puts the player on the edge of their seats and that is a memorable experience.

The worst parts of this episode occur in Ironrath. In episode one, I was engaged in the ongoing struggle between the Forresters and the Whitehills, but after three episodes, this conflict keeps following the same beats. The Ironrath portions are just so boring. I hope there is a big payoff down the road because I am quickly losing interest.

After a rocky start, the Game of Thrones series is picking up with a fun, tense and choice heavy episode three. Decisions are starting to matter and our characters finally seem to have purpose. Despite the Ironrath sections of the episode, The Sword in the Darkness was the first great episode in Telltale’s Game of Thrones series.