Game of Thrones: Episode Four - Sons of Winter (PlayStation 4) Review

By Drew Hurley 06.06.2015

Review for Game of Thrones: Episode Four - Sons of Winter on PlayStation 4

The story is over halfway done, and thus far Telltale has crafted a superb story, but can it continue with the standard of quality set in Iron from Ice and The Lost Lords? Cubed3 straps on its Valyrian Steel and heads North of the Wall with Sons of Winter. The previous episode, The Sword in the Darkness, was a great return to the standards set in the premiere episode. It included some of the best aspects of Telltale's games, brimming with difficult choices and some fantastic character development, along with some truly superb writing. Now that the series is past the halfway point, all of the story threads and choices will begin to converge, and with this chapter, House Forrester begins its long awaited counter-attack.

As the world of Westeros now stands, each of the protagonists find themselves in very perilous situations. The Foresters' ancestral home is still under occupation by House Whitehill, with the youngest son, Gryff, presiding in a non-too-friendly manner. Roderik is constantly mocked and pushed, forced to make hard decisions and bear the torture to save his people from it. Gared begins gathering friends in his brothers at The Wall but then suddenly also finds himself living with the enemy, reunited with the killer of his family, "Britt." The incident with Gared's family gets Britt sent to The Wall, too, something for which he blames Gared, and regardless of if Gared wanted a fight or not, he soon finds himself with blood on his hands and Britt finds a way out of the Night's Watch… the only way. Meanwhile, Mira finds herself completely without allies in King's Landing, her possible alliance with Tyrion is ruined, Margaery and Cersei are furious with her, and now she has to question if the few friends she has made are truly loyal. Finally, Asher has possibly found himself an army to bring home, although he may have lost his only friend in the process, and he will only get that army if he can convince Daenerys to share…

Screenshot for Game of Thrones: Episode Four - Sons of Winter on PlayStation 4

Each of the playable characters begins to truly develop to become more unique and three dimensional this time round, instead of being seemingly pale caricatures of established characters from the source material. While Rodrik and Asher have already had very individual stories, Mira felt like a replay of Sansa's troubles in King's Landing and much of the Gared story closely mirrored what Jon Snow went through. Now they are developing away from that and forging their own path. It's not just the playable characters that are developed during this episode, though, as Sons of Winter does a great job of using the signature Game of Thrones style to develop those originally thought of as "Bad Guys" into deeper characters. The motivation of the Whitehills is investigated here, showing what they have been through and how they have been treated to explain some of their behaviour. House Whitehill and Forrester were once close but inferred slights and arguments have driven the families apart and built the animosity between the two. Even some of the behaviour of Gryff can be forgiven when his background is explained.

Screenshot for Game of Thrones: Episode Four - Sons of Winter on PlayStation 4

The stage is truly set at this point, all of the players are on the board and moving towards their individual endgames, and as their goals all begin to converge it becomes more evident how each person's actions will affect the others. Mira, Asher, and Gared are each looking to recruit allies to help Roderik, but with each having their own challenges to deal with it's hard to see whether anything will be left of the Forresters and Ironrath by the time help arrives.

Sons of Winter finally gives a little cathartic action to the player and it is fantastic, if a little short lived, and hopefully it is a preview of what's to come. Every one of the playable characters gets a chance to take a stand at last - yes, even Mira. Considering each had been beaten, bullied, and forced into their current situations, it makes their backlash feel all the sweeter. While the stories of the main cast are superb again here, it's actually one of the supporting cast that becomes the breakout star - Asher's companion, Beskha. After a close run-in with old enemies and Drogon in The Sword in the Darkness, she is already on edge, and when a dark time from her past is revisited, the writers don't disappoint, giving her a fantastic story arc that will make fans eager to get their hands on the next instalment to see the fallout.

Screenshot for Game of Thrones: Episode Four - Sons of Winter on PlayStation 4

Sons of Winter continues to be filled with choices that will clearly result in some major impacts and deviations to the upcoming two episodes and the ending of the series. Many of these choices force the lesser of two evils to be picked, and some have no obvious answer in regards to the effect that decision will cause. It's great to have moments where there is real difficulty in deciding just what choice to make and some may even find themselves regretting the direction taken based on the reactions to their selection. Many a moment in this episode can make players furious with those on-screen, especially when what seems like an innocuous or innocent reply in a conversation can give some very unexpected results.

With only two episodes left, it's hard to see how Telltale can possibly wrap this up as there's simply not enough time. With a second season not yet announced, it doesn't seem to be steering towards a happy ending for House Forrester. Despite this, it makes for superb storytelling and leaves the fans ravenous for the next instalment, although fans of the source material should be well acquainted with waiting for the next instalment, at least.

Screenshot for Game of Thrones: Episode Four - Sons of Winter on PlayStation 4

Cubed3 Rating

8/10
Rated 8 out of 10

Great - Silver Award

Rated 8 out of 10

Game of Thrones: Episode Four - Sons of Winter again meets the high quality set by previous episodes. The superbly written characters continue to keep people truly invested in their stories and the choices are really beginning to show just how much player choice can influence the tale. This and Tales from the Borderlands are fantastic examples of just why Telltale's games are so well loved.

Developer

Telltale

Publisher

Telltale

Genre

Adventure

Players

1

C3 Score

Rated $score out of 10  8/10

Reader Score

Rated $score out of 10  0 (0 Votes)

European release date Out now   North America release date Out now   Japan release date None   Australian release date Out now   

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