Post-Play: Telltale Games and the need to embrace player choice

To get myself back into Game of Thrones in time for Season 6 of the TV series, I bought Telltale’s Game of Thrones last Christmas and just finished it off. It’s a good game in my book, but I feel that it was quite lacking when it came to player choice. People have been quick to call the developer out on this in recent years and I thought I’d give my own personal take.

Telltale Games are very story driven and the team has always stood by their writing staff, but in the modern gaming landscape, their focus is definitely starting to become a little stale. The player has some influence on specific story elements but for the most part, the developers demand that we experience their story their way with little in the way of variation. It’s a formula which may not last much longer, even if the developer continues to snag some of the biggest licenses in entertainment media.

As mentioned in my review, the last episode of Telltale’s series could have used a Mass Effect 2 style climax. How? Let me break it down…

The survivability of House Forrester is based on how many pieces you move into play for the final battle. These include…

1. Mira’s dealings in King’s Landing: If Mira can set up a strong deal for ironwood then there will be more reason to keep the Forresters around and the other rival houses won’t dare touch Ironrath.

2. Asher and his soldiers: How many soldiers did Asher recruit? How motivated are they to fight? These forces have the potential to greatly improve the central garrison at Ironrath.

3. Getting Ryon back: If Rodrick and company got Ryon back before the battle; the Whitehills will have nothing to shield themselves with, making for an easier fight.

4. Gared and the North Grove: If he was able to convince them, the fighters of the North Grove can provide extra reinforcement by jumping the Whitehills from behind.

5. The Glenmore alliance: Did Rodrick secure his betrothal to Elaena Glenmore? If yes then that family will also come to lend a hand against the Whitehills.

The following scale determines the House’s survivability…

0-2 Pieces in play: It’s a total loss; House Whitehill overruns Ironrath and murders everyone in the process. Time for a new game…

3-4 Pieces in play: A relatively good defence, but it’s not without casualties. One or two Forrester family members won’t make it and most of the small folk are either dead or missing. Better re-evaluate some of your choices…

5 Pieces in play: The Forresters are victorious! You built a near perfect defence with very low casualties. Few will dare to mess with Ironrath again, but winter is coming…

Depending on the outcome, the final speeches from Cersei, Margarey and Ramsay (Jon will remain the same) will be much different as a result. In this way, you can have either a hopeful or heart-wrenching ending which is much more dependent on your choices.

Those were my own ideas for how Telltale’s Game of Thrones Season 1 could have turned out with a few story edits and rewrites here and there. On that note, I can’t recall a single game I’ve played which fully incorporated every single choice and consequence the player ran into; Dishonored, Deus Ex: Human Revolution and the Mass Effect trilogy all came close to varying degrees. They all have their own limitations due to game design and the way the story is told. From Telltale’s perspective, they have to find ways to squeeze into the canon of the Game of Thrones TV series; they can’t kill or maim characters like Ramsay for example which really limits player choice in that regard.

Telltale games need more dynamic elements of choice, more diversity with multiple endings. The Walking Dead Season 2 did manage to do this with Clementine ending up in different locations depending on the final choices. When your gameplay is relatively basic, the narrative needs to make up for it in spades; while Telltale may always wish to stand by their artistic vision, the way they work choice into the equation may need a serious upgrade in the future.