Second episodes always tend to be a little tricky to pull off - you’ve had your first episode to set out the scene, usually with a set-piece or two to pique the curiosity of attention-fickle viewers. It’s even more difficult with games where the passivity of watching a series is replaced with interactivity - not only does the story have to be compelling but the gameplay has to avoid becoming stale. That’s not to say it needs to radically change in every episode, but when you go from escaping the terror of the Red Wedding to moving a heavy barrel across the courtyard of Castle Black, you can’t help but feel things have been dialled down a notch
Game of Thrones got off to a solid start with Episode 1: Iron From Ice. Telltale’s six part episodic series follows a sub-plot of the overarching Game of Thrones television and book series, focusing on House Forrester, the former bannermen to House Stark. Episode 2: The Lost Lords picks up in Essos with the exiled Asher Forrester, who is now a sellsword making a deal with the Lost Legion. The transaction quickly goes south and Asher has to fight his way out of a sticky situation.
Chalgyr's Game Room writes:
Back in the early 2000s (2002 or so?), my brother handed me a book he thought I would like. It was A Game of Thrones, the first book in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series. At first, I was a caught a little off guard by the fact that the perspective shifted between characters every chapter, but once it got going, I was hooked. I immediately went out and got the next two in the series and joined the fans waiting for book 4…and 5…and now 6.
Critically Sane: "Episode Two gets it all right. The narrative is fast paced, the scenes never linger too long, and aside from a couple instances of it reminding us that it is very much a game, this episode truly felt like an episode of Game of Thrones that we were in charge of. And personally, that is all I can ask for out of this series. If Telltale continues on this route for the next four episodes, I’ll be a very happy camper."
