TellTale Games’ Game of Thrones: Season 1/ Episode 5 "A Nest of Vipers" – Overview/ Review (with Spoilers)

Initial Thoughts

All has been setup for the finale: Your attempts at politics with Mira; you trying to find some secret grove with Gared; Asher trying to convince newly freed slaves to join him, and those at Ironrath trying to buy time. It isn’t the end of the journey, but it doesn’t seem many decisions are left to be made. Something which becomes increasingly worrisome as the episode ends with one less ally, which may mean more than you might initially realize.

Play Through Time: 1 Hour and 23 Minutes

Review (with Spoilers) – Below

Characters & Story (with Commentary)

To begin, Mira is placed in the position where she learns Cersei finds her quite intriguing. Not enough to outright protect her, but with Mira lying to Margaery, if she must, and having a relationship with Tyrion, she thinks she can be of some use. Unfortunately for my play through, though, lying to Tyrion wasn’t something I could go through, even if it meant possibly killing off another one of Whitehill’s allies. And with that, I might have ultimately failed when it comes to Mira’s part in helping Ironrath. Granted, I have kept Whitehill from purchasing a huge army, but will that be enough? Especially considering how I have further and further distanced myself from Margaery all in the effort to protect Mira’s family?

Moving on, Gared is finding himself in quite the predicament. If only because Sylvi, Cotter’s sister, is presenting quite the obstacle. For with her wanting to go south, and join Mance Rayder, this leads you to having to convince her to join you instead. An issue because, like many free folk, she doesn’t trust crows. However, thanks to some good archery work, it seems she has come to at least accept Gared. Add in some white walkers forcing them to abandon camp, and Finn dying, and it seems Sylvi will end up taking us to the North Grove. As for whether or not this may ultimately be a good idea though? Well, only the finale can reveal that.

Leading to what crafted the shocking conclusion. To begin, Rodrik, through Talia, learns that it has been Ser Royland who has betrayed Ironrath, all in the name of trying to save the family he claims. Leading to the push for his head, but in doing so I thought things would possibly turn worse. After all, Royland is a respected commander of the army, and even with little men, he still is the one who trained many of them. Plus, so he claimed, he knew something. So with his life officially spared he told us an ambush was planned for Asher as he returned. Something which was a huge issue for me since, thanks to a good amount of quick time events, I was able to convince many of Beskha’s associates to join me. However, then comes the ending which may make everything become highly difficult.

You see, the episode ends with us having to choose between Asher and Rodrik, in terms of who lives. With Asher living means these hired sellswords will remain loyal, and maybe Royland will calm the hell down since he respects Asher. However, being that Rodrik has not officially married Elaena, it could mean Rodrik’s death could lose us the Glenmore alliance. For, unless she is pregnant by Rodrik or the death of her brother Arthur in the episode may fuel her father wanting revenge, we may have lost a powerful ally. Either way, the only shaky one right now is Mira, who could very well end up the next one dead because of me. As for everyone else? Things currently seem as good as they can be, all things considered.

Praise

The amount of stress which comes from wondering if your decisions were right or wrong is ridiculous. To the point that, I wouldn’t say I wanted to go back to previous episodes and maybe change decisions, but I definitely felt like I was often walking on eggshells. This is especially true for Mira for as Sera decides to abandon my cause, it means only that poor boy I saved is my only one true ally in King’s Landing. A frightening thought since Cersei and Margaery are the main two I find myself between.

As for everyone else, Asher’s situation was exciting, because we finally got to the point of us meeting him, but with his situation being life or game over, it did take away from the idea that maybe losing would mean you failing. Though, considering some of the dialog choices, perhaps what you say and do would affect how many of these former pit warriors you got. Only those who can stand replaying this countless times will know.

Leaving Gared, for Rodrik’s storyline pretty much has just become buying time for me after my decision to let him die. I must admit, I have no idea what it at the North Grove, but between Sylvi hyping it, and the title of the next episode being “The Ice Dragon” it does bring a bit of excitement. And while the show, based off my current memories, was a bit anti-climatic in the end, at the very least the video game may do what the show didn’t, and may make the next season something exciting to look forward to.

Criticism

Being that there are such huge gaps between each episodes, I must admit that I wish the recap covered a bit more of what was decided by you, especially in terms of what is to come. Though, alongside that, again I wish that before every major decision the game would create a save point. For, when it came to winning over Sylvi, it was quite annoying to restart repeatedly. Which, I get, is perhaps supposed to deter you from changing your mind, or the sequence of events, just because, but considering this game is very much like a delta, you’d think they would make rewinding back to major decisions a feature to add replay value.

Things to Note

Sera, after all you’ve done for her, has decided to abandon you to save her marriage. Which, in my playthrough, I saved by lying to her possible future husband…. bleeping traitor.