For the most part, the fourth episode of Telltale's Game of Thrones left the characters on a high note. Gared is well on his way to finding the lost land that his uncle told him about. Asher successfully helped put Daenerys' plan into motion and is about to get his sellswords. Rodrik has finally stood up for his house and can put up an offense against the Bolton house, while Myra has done her part to sabotage the Bolton efforts in ironwood trade and has learned of the plot against her family. The game also left us with a cliffhanger of sorts with the return of an old character. With two more episodes to go, Episode 5, A Nest of Vipers, aims to push all of these stories forward before the big resolution.

The game begins the same way it ended, with Rodrik coming face-to-face with Ramsay Snow in the hall. After a heated verbal exchange, you see the aftermath of disobedience when someone pays the price at Ramsay's hand. With the gruesome exchange over, Ramsay calls for both houses to go to war anyway to settle who will own the ironwood. Rodrik must find new allies now that his are nearly gone.

Rodrik's sections are once again dialogue-heavy, and the scenes with Ramsay echo your earlier interactions in the second and third episodes, where you're taking all of the abuse dished out to you and are unable to fight. At least it doesn't last long and a sense of dignity returns when you speak with your possible betrothed instead of dealing with house matters. The game finally reveals the traitor, but it feels anticlimactic since you could sense the secret since the first episode. The answer wasn't obvious, but since it was handled in other media, it wasn't a surprise at all. Nevertheless, his sections did what was necessary to set up things for the end.

Asher's section starts out with Daenerys. Although you completed the mission, the death of a slave owner prompts the queen of dragons to go back on the deal for sellswords. In a bind, he turns to Beshka for help, which leads to a meeting with pit fighters to help in the upcoming war. After winning their favor, he makes the journey home to see his family again.

This is really Asher's episode, as you'll be spending a great deal of time with him. Just like his introduction in the second episode, we don't get much information about his backstory or personal issues, since his sections are mostly action-based. The scene with the pit fighters is a real standout, as is the fight itself. His personality meshes well with the surroundings, and he becomes a more likeable character, so you're a bit disappointed when you leave his scenes. If you're the sort who looks for family drama, you're also going to be disappointed when he and his brother finally meet, as they seem to resolve things rather quickly. As in past episodes, he makes the strongest showing and is the reason to keep moving forward.

Unlike the other episodes, you don't get to spend much time in King's Landing. After Mira's little episode at the reception, everyone seems to be abandoning you. When things couldn't get any worse, you're suddenly summoned by Cersei to weasel information from Tyrion in his cell before the trial begins. With the promise of help for your family, you've got no choice but to take the deal.

There isn't much story progression in Mira's section, but few will mind since you get to spend time with the Lannister siblings. Just like previous episodes, the interactions with them prove to be one of the more enjoyable parts of the game. Cersei is still as menacing as ever, and even without someone else watching your answers, the tension is still there. Meanwhile, Tyrion is humorous because he always seems one step ahead of you, and the exchanges are enjoyable to watch as a result. Though Mira's sections only serve as a means to tie the game into the series, they're still enjoyable to a degree.

As for Gared's tale, we find him in the forest with an injured Cotter and his sister. Despite Gared's desire to find the North Grove, the sister wants to move south to safety. The argument is brief, and while you spend some time hunting for dinner, your party is ambushed by White Walkers. With the numbers against you, the decision to go north is quickly made.

Gared's tale has been a hit-or-miss thing for the series thus far, and this entry definitely belongs in the miss column. He has a good fight scene that comes after Asher's pit fight, so the action feels non-stop at this point, but his sections are short. There isn't enough time to make meaningful progress in his tale beyond pointing him north. It feels like filler, and while the action is always welcome in such a dialogue-heavy game, saving this sequence for the finale wouldn't have hurt the pacing.

Amidst the abundant action and dialogue, players will notice that this is probably the shortest of the episodes thus far. Sections go by at a rather fast rate, and you're not given the chance to linger on one character for too long before you're whisked away to take control of someone else. It is difficult to say whether this means that the finale will be longer than the other episodes to balance things out, but you get the feeling that Telltale simply wants to set up everything one last time in a quick manner before they end it all and catch up with the TV series.

Game of Thrones: Episode 5 - A Nest of Vipers reinforces the idea that happiness doesn't last. All of your victories in the previous episode — and the much smaller ones here — are easily reversed, and you get the feeling that the final episode will end in a Pyrrhic victory. With this being a shorter episode, one hopes that the end comes soon with something to make this all worthwhile.

Score: 7.5/10