Game of Thrones is all the rage these days, with seemingly every other game being focused on the low fantasy world of Westeros.
There are few game series more suited to adapting the show and books than Reigns, the classic game that gives you the control of a series of rules, making decisions and trying to keep the powers behind your realm happy.
Reigns is normally played by making a series of decisions based on random events from decks of predetermined cards. These decisions will either increase or decrease one or all of the four main factions behind your throne; the Army, the Church, the People’s Love and cold hard Cash.
This base gameplay still exists in Reigns: Game of Thrones, only it has to change a bit to make sense with the story. In normal Reigns, the player controls a series of rulers through entire millennia, with decisions and purchases and occult goings-on carrying over in a mystical, almost ghostly possession of souls.
However, because Game of Thrones is an established universe with well-known characters, it wouldn’t make any sense to do the same thing but set the beginning few decisions in the realm of Westeros that we know.
Instead, a ruler’s reign is based on months, instead of years. Additionally, if you die as a result of either too much or not enough appreciation in one of the four factions, your session will end and you’ll be able to choose one of the rulers you’ve already unlocked to try again.[sc name=”quote” text=”… if you die as a result of either too much or not enough appreciation in one of the four factions, your session will end and you’ll be able to choose one of the rulers you’ve already unlocked to try again.”]
It’s all framed by Melissandre, the Red Witch, looking into the future and trying to determine the best possible course for the future of Westeros. Thus, you will play as Daenerys, Tyrion and even Sansa, eventually unlocking a further six characters to play through.
Each time you fail, you essentially get a do-over, as you clearly didn’t take the right choices.
There is an element of luck within the game, as you simply might not get the events at the right time or the right life, so you might find yourself repeating the same things over and over again, desperately trying to accomplish the missions that are set for you in between lives.
However, because the missions are quite clearly set, it’s difficult to misinterpret them, so once you do finally get the event, it becomes quite clear what you need to do.
Reigns: Game of Thrones is an an interesting type of Reigns game, as it takes a long running series with established mechanics, yet changes them just enough to fit into the new adopted world of Westeros and the Game of Thrones Mythos. It even possesses quite in-depth knowledge of the books, as well as readers’ probable interpretations of events after the book.
As an adaption of Game of Thrones and carrying on the story, Reigns: Game of Thrones does extremely well.[sc name=”quote” text=”As an adaption of Game of Thrones and carrying on the story, Reigns: Game of Thrones does extremely well.”]
As a Reigns game? It’s… pretty good. But the forced story of the Game of Thrones world somewhat limits its potential in comparison to other installments in the Reigns series.
[review pros=”Provides An interesting way to tell more of the Game of Thrones story, but using Reigns mechanics. There is clearly a great deal of research into the Game of Thrones mythos.” cons=”The story format of Game of Thrones is a bit restrictive in comparison to other Reigns games.” score=7]
[appbox appstore id1342309192]
[appbox googleplay com.devolver.reignsGot]
