Game of Thrones Kingsroad Review – A Dance With Monetization

by

George R. R. Martin’s epic fantasy series, “A Song of Ice and Fire,” and its television counterpart, “Game of Thrones” on HBO, have long seemed ripe for a gaming adaptation. While there have been several attempts at the IP in the gaming world, such as Telltale’s “Game of Thrones” series, these projects haven’t quite reached the level of success one might expect from such an expansive franchise. Recently, Netmarble tried their hand at an adaption with their own version – “Game of Thrones: Kingsroad.” Regrettably, this endeavor has resulted in a blend of positive and negative outcomes.

Regarding the fighting, you’ll find a straightforward combo system for your melee weapons. The type of combo you can execute depends on whether you use light or heavy attacks.

To start off, let’s clear up some fundamentals. The video game called “Game of Thrones: Kingsroad” is a role-playing game with action elements. It has a world that isn’t fully open at first but expands as you move forward in the main plot. The primary narrative centers around your character, a member of House Tyre, who must complete two significant missions: one involves gathering support for the Night’s Watch to confront the increasing danger from the White Walkers, and the other is delivering a letter to King’s Landing that verifies your character as an heir to House Tyre.

Supporters of the series or literature will identify the game’s timeframe, following the Red Wedding events. At present, the Northern regions of Westeros are largely under House Bolton’s rule – a family known for their grim symbol, an upside-down flayed man. Given that the North’s struggle for independence was just concluded by the Red Wedding (massacre of most Stark family members), the land remains devastated. Farmers and peasants continue to be victimized by bandits and dishonest soldiers demanding payments. As the main character, you will find yourself frequently confronting Roose Bolton, the head of House Bolton.

Players of the game can identify that it’s set during a similar timeframe to the show or books, following the occurrence of the Red Wedding event.

Essentially, the narrative of the “Game of Thrones: Kingsroad” may captivate us at first, but it eventually seems pointless because we’ve already seen how the tale unfolds due to HBO’s TV series. This means that House Tyrell, a house introduced solely for the game, doesn’t matter much in the grand scheme. Furthermore, it’s clear that the White Walkers will be overlooked by most significant houses north of the Wall until Daenerys Targaryen arrives in Westeros. Consequently, the storyline appears to lack any real sense of danger or consequence.

In my perspective as an avid fan, blending a captivating political drama with action RPG combat within Game of Thrones seems like an intriguing idea on paper. However, I found myself yearning for the complex narrative and character dynamics that made the original series so compelling, instead encountering repetitive human-on-human combat.

Given the low fantasy nature of the universe, it’s understandable that magical elements are scarce, making most common enemies human. After a few skirmishes, this human-centric combat can become monotonous. Although there are some fantastical foes scattered throughout the game, they are primarily confined to multiplayer boss fights, with large wolves being the exception.

In terms of the fighting, you’ll find a straightforward combo system for melee weapons based on whether you use light or heavy strikes. A bow can initiate battles as well, but due to its clumsy design, ranged attacks become less effective after a few shots because enemies will soon close in for melee combat. In essence, the fights are quite simple – you’ll repetitively use your preferred combos, intermittently dodging or blocking enemy attacks, and occasionally employing a few special abilities which usually just look more elaborate than regular combos.

With your melee weapons, you’ll find a straightforward system for the types of attacks based on whether you use light or heavy strikes.

In the fast-paced gameplay of Game of Thrones: Kingsroad, the true tests often lie not in moment-to-moment action, but rather in the game’s progression system and your equipment. Feeling under-equipped for combat can be quite harsh; enemies take longer to defeat and deal significant damage to your health. This can be mitigated by engaging with the various progression options available in the game. These advancement systems encompass a passive skill tree, a combo/ability boosting skill tree, a gear upgrade system involving crafting materials, a leveling up system for House Sigils, and a “research” system where your character learns to enhance existing items. However, these progression systems can be numerous and each comes with its own set of challenges.

The two methods for advancing your skills are straightforward; by completing quests and exploring the game world, you acquire upgrade books. These books can be used to enhance different nodes on these skill trees. These nodes provide a variety of upgrades, such as increasing basic damage or improving Rage generation, and even allowing you to select specific combos that will deal more damage. Most other progression systems require considerable grinding, waiting, and ideally for Netmarble, additional purchases using real money.

It’s quite clear that the design of Game of Thrones: Kingsroad was primarily focused on mobile devices. The advanced progression systems, coupled with user interface and experience elements that appear custom-made for touch screens, suggest this. Large buttons and frequent exclamation marks draw attention to various pop-up notifications throughout gameplay, further emphasizing the mobile-first approach.

It’s great that once you start playing, most UX issues tend to disappear. Yet, other issues become more apparent over time. One major issue I encountered while using it was the game’s persistent chatter. Every time I accomplished a quest or discovered a new area, I was bombarded with notifications, almost as if it was trying to celebrate every small victory like Hercules’ twelve labors.

Characters similar to Jon Snow, Roose, and Ramsay Bolton, who show up in the game, are exceptionally detailed.

As a gamer, I just took out a couple of pesky bandits, and lo and behold, three enticing windows pop up, each brimming with rewards ranging from in-game currency to RP points. Knocked off a boss in a team? Well, feast your eyes on the rewards from that boss battle, along with the perks from my Battle Pass progression, AND the rewards for completing the daily goal of slaying a boss – and that’s just the tip of the iceberg! This game has got me reminiscing about my adventures in other popular mobile action RPGs like Diablo Immortal from Blizzard. It seems to me that the creators, Netmarble, are more focused on enhancing “player engagement” numbers than crafting a genuinely enjoyable and fulfilling experience.

Playing Game of Thrones Kingsroad, I find myself accumulating complaints, and the inventory system only adds to my growing list. Unlike many games where items are divided between a basic storage and an equipment section, both in this game feel abridged, leaving you space-strapped even after a brief 15 minutes in the wilderness. The process of disposing excess items is also cumbersome; instead of being able to select items for sale all at once, you have to sell off each unwanted piece of gear separately.

Regarding graphics, it’s clear that the mobile version of “Game of Thrones: Kingsroad” had to make some concessions for playability on smartphones. The cutscenes in the PC version are noticeably higher quality compared to gameplay scenes. While playing the game, the visuals don’t stand out as remarkable. The vast landscapes of Westeros, consisting mainly of mountains and plains, can become rather monotonous, making it difficult to discern one location from another aside from consulting the map. However, notable landmarks like the Wall in the North and Winterfell Castle, as depicted in the HBO series, are accurately portrayed. Characters such as Jon Snow and Roose and Ramsay Bolton are also well-modeled, bearing a striking resemblance to their on-screen counterparts.

In essence, each significant boss encounter allows you to utilize Resource Points (RP) for the rewards. It’s possible to deplete your RP rather swiftly.

In terms of audio, the game features a mix of common orchestral tracks that may be quickly forgotten or variations on the widely recognized theme song from the HBO adaptation. You’ll find yourself hearing this theme tune frequently as it’s used extensively throughout the game. Even when you level up, a brief rendition of it plays. As for voice acting, it’s competently executed, although the original actors didn’t return for

Kingsroad” is often criticized for being less enjoyable due to its numerous monetization strategies and progression hurdles that frequently push players towards making purchases. A notable instance of this is the Resource Point (RP) system, which serves as the primary method of acquiring rewards from multiplayer interactions. Basically, whenever you defeat a significant boss, you can utilize RP to claim its rewards. However, you can deplete your RP rather quickly, and although it does replenish over time, additional RP can also be purchased.

By merging its monetization, poor user interface, laborious progression systems, and insignificant storyline with gameplay that essentially boils down to repetitive button pressing against the same unimaginative adversaries, you have a game that shamelessly imitates more successful titles in the market, offering few, if any, commendable aspects.

This game was reviewed on PC.

Read More

2025-05-30 13:12