Game of Thrones: Episode Five - A Nest of Vipers

 PC
User Score
6.5

Mixed or average reviews- based on 78 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 39 out of 78
  2. Mixed: 19 out of 78
  3. Negative: 20 out of 78

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. Flashripper
    Oct 19, 2015
    2
    Don't buy it.

    Game promises a lot, but fails in every aspect. Your choices don't matter at all. What's worse, they don't even make sense. The writing is very weak, and doesn't make sense. Character who would have never done it by lore actually does break the word, you're getting punished for things nobody really would care about, explanations of the characters' actions are truly    Don't buy it.

    Game promises a lot, but fails in every aspect.

    Your choices don't matter at all. What's worse, they don't even make sense. The writing is very weak, and doesn't make sense. Character who would have never done it by lore actually does break the word, you're getting punished for things nobody really would care about, explanations of the characters' actions are truly idiotic and so on and on.

    It was supposed to be messy, but it wasn't supposed to be that dumb.    … Expand
  2. Aragis
    Aug 14, 2015
    2
    As the other reviewers suggested, the story is weak even compared with the other episodes. Dialogue choices and some situations are outright stupid. As usual, most choices are meaningless and you don't really have the power to change anything. This is a trait of all Telltale games and it's understandable to a point but in this game, it's handled very poorly and thus the emptiness of yourAs the other reviewers suggested, the story is weak even compared with the other episodes. Dialogue choices and some situations are outright stupid. As usual, most choices are meaningless and you don't really have the power to change anything. This is a trait of all Telltale games and it's understandable to a point but in this game, it's handled very poorly and thus the emptiness of your choices is much more obvious than in other games by Telltale.

    The game follows the TV show's and the books' trend of torturing lead characters while constantly giving the advantage to the antagonists. While it is obvious that the world of Game of Thrones is very grim and unjust, it's quite frustrating to see our characters not be able to achieve any success at all despite the player's best efforts to make the right choices in the game. Not only are you unable to take your characters to a better position by making sound decisions, but the slightest success is always followed by the antagonists gaining the upper hand again and again and again...

    (SPOILERS after this)

    ----

    Episode 5 had many scenes that really frustrated me either due to the story or the ridiculous choices I had to make. Right off the bat, in the first scene, Ramsay Snow gives you a blade, moves your hand towards his throat and dares you to kill him. Obviously, the choice is an illusion and Ramsay somehow dodges a blade that is perhaps a centimeter away from his throat. Why give us such a fruitless choice, Telltale, why?

    After that, you have to deal with the traitor in your house, which is the guy whom you denied being your Sentinel in the first episode. There is a choice to spare him in return for information about and ambush. Again, a meaningless choice... I recommend that you just kill him because the information changes NOTHING.

    The King's Landing part was so stupid that it made me cringe. Mira is given a task by Cersei to find out who will be testifying on Tyrion's behalf. Cersei's guard takes Mira to Tyrion's dungeon cell and listens to the whole conversation in case Mira tries to betray Cersei. The most obvious thing to do would be to wink at Tyrion to imply that something's wrong but of course, that is NOT an option. After a while, Tyrion figures out that Mira is sent by Cersei and the guard comes in to tell Mira that she screwed up... in front of Tyrion... The following dialogue is absolutels ridiculous. Mira has the choice to try and persuade Tyrion even though the guard already came in and blew our cover! Seriously, a preschooler could have written a more logical scene than this...

    At Meereen, Daenerys backs down from her promise to give Asher some sellswords, no matter how well you performed the mission in the previous episode. This seemed very unrealistic to me as Daenerys values her promises very much in the TV show. I immediately remembered her quote: "Why should the people trust a queen who can't keep her promises?" Anyway, depending on some choices you've made, she may reward you with a chest full of gold bars. The gold really seemed like a huge amount to me, yet it changes NOTHING. It only gives you a couple of dialogue choices when Asher is trying to recruit pit fighters. You can recruit them just fine without any gold! In the end, Asher just sails off to the North with 7-8 fighters while he could have easily afforded an ARMY of sellswords with such a huge amount of gold. So much for rewarding players...

    In North of the Wall, pacing is slow as usual. A few wights show up, some disagreement in the party, bla bla bla. Still not any closer to the North Grove.

    And finally, Asher makes it to Westeros. He reunites with Rodrik in the most unsatisfying way. They don't seem like they've missed each other at all, especially considering how family should be extremely important in their dire circumstances. They don't even hug and act like they've only been away for a couple weeks instead of years. They're in an abandoned Northern port, and have walked into an obvious trap. Enemy troops almost appear out of thin air and their crossbowmen start firing arrows at the Forrester's paltry force. A couple of Asher's handful of men die, including the strongest one "the Beast". In the end, just when nobody thought the Forresters could get any weaker, you have to choose between saving either Asher or Rodrik, at which point I threw my wireless mouse on the ground in absolute frustration.

    The Walking Dead series also had hard choices and situations where you had to make sacrifices but it was done right! The story, the characters and their interactions were so great that I really felt emotionally engaged. When the characters had to endure hardships, I felt symphaty for them. But in Game of Thrones, thanks to the combination of bland characters, sloppy writing, slow pacing, meaningless choices and zero rewarding, all I can feel at this point is frustration...    … Expand
  3. JohnRayJr
    Jul 28, 2015
    5
    Even when a Telltale season is good overall, they never manage to get through a whole season without a hugely disappointing outlier (for example, episode 4 in the Wolf Among Us). Nest of Vipers falls well short of the expectations set by the previous four episodes. It's the shortest episode by far: the last four trophies will pop every five minutes. Literally. The whole thing feelsEven when a Telltale season is good overall, they never manage to get through a whole season without a hugely disappointing outlier (for example, episode 4 in the Wolf Among Us). Nest of Vipers falls well short of the expectations set by the previous four episodes. It's the shortest episode by far: the last four trophies will pop every five minutes. Literally. The whole thing feels improvised and hastily cobbled together. Most of the conversational depth and texture is missing.

    Of course, I have to see how it all ends in episode 6, but they did a lot of damage here.    … Expand
  4. Nobilis1984
    Jul 26, 2015
    6
    A brief episode asking no highlights. The story is weak and de-energized.
    It seems as if it was too much for Telltale Games. Hopefully the new Boarder Lands episode gets better.
  5. BomBax
    Jul 25, 2015
    10
    A true style of game of thrones the TV show. This episode has breathtaking moments and will leave you on the edge of your seat. this game makes me so angry that i will never decide the full outcome but that's the beauty of it. This episode has the hardest decision making and will lead up to the final episode which will be spectacular
  6. akaliel
    Jul 25, 2015
    0
    I don't want to waste too many words reviewing this episode because it simply doesn't deserve them. I haven't been a fan of TellTale's GoT series at all, and this is by far the worst episode. It's short, incredibly short. I finished it in an hour. All your choices are completely meaningless. The exact same result happens no matter what, with exception to the last choice you get toI don't want to waste too many words reviewing this episode because it simply doesn't deserve them. I haven't been a fan of TellTale's GoT series at all, and this is by far the worst episode. It's short, incredibly short. I finished it in an hour. All your choices are completely meaningless. The exact same result happens no matter what, with exception to the last choice you get to make. Which you won't see the results of until the last episode. They even give you the option to Stab Ramsey, which made me laugh out loud b/c there's no way it was going to happen, why bother at all, I selected it just to see how you'd fail doing it, and of course you do.

    Telltale still seems to think the player wants to see their characters get punished over and over and over and over again, because apparently they think that's fun. It isn't.

    Lazy writing, weak storytelling, no gameplay to speak of, and how come shooting a rabbit was harder than beating the best pitfighter in Meereen?

    I would give this 4 or 5 stars, but since so many people are giving it ridiculous 10 star reviews, I'll give it a 0.    … Expand
  7. erfanbasket
    Jul 23, 2015
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. what a breathtaking end for this episode. so sad you have to choose one of them. the advancing of the story is very strong and it forms us that we will have a wonderful episode 6 for this game. characters are getting more landmark and make the story more powerful. QTE scenes were awesome this episode and deliver the action part of the game very good. in my opinion this episode deserves a 10/10 ...… Expand
  8. ldav
    Jul 21, 2015
    4
    An amalgam of bad, thoughtless writing, and a lack of any meaningful consequences for all of the choices that you make.

    It's also the shortest episode of the series as of yet. It feels very rushed and of low quality, perhaps a change from episodic to regular, more lengthy development is in order? I wouldn't recommend anyone to buy this game.
  9. ldav
    Jul 21, 2015
    4
    An amalgam of bad, thoughtless writing, and a lack of any meaningful consequences for all of the choices that you make.

    It's also the shortest episode of the series as of yet. It feels very rushed and of low quality, perhaps a change from episodic to regular, more lengthy development is in order? I wouldn't recommend anyone to buy this game.

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
74

Mixed or average reviews - based on 25 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 25
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 25
  3. Negative: 0 out of 25
  1. GameOver.gr
    Sep 1, 2015
    90
    A Nest of Vipers must be the shortest of the episodes we've seen so far, but it is probably the best one. And at the same time it sets the mood for an epic epilogue.
    Read full review
  2. Multiplayer.it
    Aug 11, 2015
    84
    Game of Thrones is the only Telltale saga since The Walking Dead that you don't want to miss. Hours of impossible choices and grief await you in the first five episodes. From the way things look so far, the ending can only be a terrifying doomsday.
    Read full review
  3. Games.cz
    Aug 11, 2015
    70
    One half is just a stuffing, the other half is a very successful overture to the final episode. Next time it could be great.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »