Game of Thrones “The Sword in the Darkness” review for Xbox One, PS4, PC

If you think that House Forrester had it rough in the last episode of Telltale?s Game of Thrones, well, things don?t get much better for the remaining members of the Ironwood cultivators. Outside of the misadventures of the exiled brother Asher, just about everything that can go wrong for the Forrester?s does go wrong here, much to my delight. Don?t get me wrong, I certainly feel for the plight of Rodrik, Mira, and the others, but this episode does make for some fantastic decision making moments in the conflict between House Forrester and House Whitehill.

It feels like we get a lot of story progression in general, despite the running time of ?The Sword in the Darkness? being on par with the last two episodes. I think it helps that the cast is pretty much full at this point, with the added perspectives of Asher and Rodrik, in addition to Mira?s ongoing struggles in King?s Landing, and Gared Tuttle?s difficulty acclimating to life on The Wall. This episode bounces back and forth between the four perspectives quite well, giving ample time to each in order to progress and build upon the solid groundwork of the previous episodes.

Without going into spoilers, Rodrik has the standout sequence of this episode, one that you?ll clearly recognize as soon as you play through it. I have a tough time thinking that people won?t give in to an emotional response for this sequence, and won?t be surprised if the end episode stats reflect the decisions to be nearly unanimous for this sequence. It?s probably the highlight of the series so far for me, and it?s a scene that just makes you feel sort of triumphant, even though the fallout for your actions are clearly going to be ruinous for everyone involved.

All in all, I don?t have a lot to say about this particular episode, other than the fact that Telltale?s Game of Thrones continues to be a series worth experiencing. The technical issues that I had with the second episode on Xbox One seemed to be ironed out here, I certainly didn?t have the QTE stuttering issues that I experienced at the onset of the last episode, which is a huge plus. Other than that, this very much feels like the midpoint of the series (which it is), and as such you don?t get a lot of huge reveals or surprises. Some satisfying moments, yes, but this is clearly meant to be a chapter that builds up to bigger events.