Sometime this year, developer Netmarble will release a new video game called Game of Thrones: Kingsroad, a Game of Thrones video game with an open world, action-adventure gameplay, and interactions with characters fans will remember from the show. A closed beta for the game began today, meaning that some people will be playing an early version of the game and then giving feedback to the developer before release. Javi Marcos from Los Siete Reinos is one of those beta players, and he's sharing his first impressions!
Game of Thrones: Kingsroad takes place during the fourth season of the show, and it sounds like the game will lean into that part of the story. After a narration from Varys about the War of the Five Kings, the player designs their character, which can be male or female. You can choose to play as a knight, a sellsword or an assassin, each of whom plays different. You can also alter your physical appearance. But no matter what kind of character you build, within the context of the story you are a bastard child of House Tyre, a small house in the North. You're sent to the Wall to investigate why your father, Marrok Tyre, hasn't heard from your uncle in a while. You arrive to learn that the wildlings are going to attack Castle Black, which ultimately happens in the penultimate episode of season 4.
Based on trailers we've seen, your character will travel elsewhere in Westeros and meet characters besides Jon Snow, but it feels like every game may begin in the North. LSR mentions Ramsay Snow turning up and making a joke about cakes, possibly a reference to the book A Dance With Dragons where a bunch of a treacherous Frey soldiers are baked into pies. In the beta, Marcos has visited places like Winterfell as well as the Dreadfort, the Last Hearth and Long Lake, all notable places in the North. LSR makes not of some odd canon niggles, like Marrok Tyre being called Ser when he should be called Lord, but overall the story sounds pretty solid.
Potential monetization in Game of Thrones: Kingsroad
As for the gameplay, it feels like the kind of thing action gamers are used to: there's a strong attack and a weak attack. You can block, dodge, and do combos. Eventually you can get a bow to attack from far away and sneak around to strike from the shadows. There's also a role-play element complete with experience points, skill trees and putting on different equipment to increase your stats.
Overall, LSR enjoyed what they played, although they haven't been able to sample the online and multiplayer aspects yet. There are some caveats: to start, Game of Thrones: Kingsroad is a mobile game, although it can be played on PC. That might give some players pause if they wanted a more epic home console experience. Also, LSR notes that certain things in the game — like fast travel, reviving after death, and cosmetic stuff like outfits and horse saddles — require resources. You can likely find those resources in the game...but if Kingsroad is like other mobile games, it's also likely that you can exchange real money to get these resources.
We don't have a release date for Game of Thrones: Kingsroad yet, but it'll be out sometime in 2025.
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