When your book has the word "game" in the title, and it’s
about men with swords fighting monsters, you can be pretty sure that it’ll get
a video game adaptation sooner or later.
Such is the inevitable case with A Game of Thrones, which recently was adapted into a successful TV
show, and a table-top Role Playing Game. Now it is becoming a video game called A Game of Thrones - Genesis.
First of all, the game is actually based on the entirety of
George R. R. Martin’s series A Song Of Fire and Ice which has five novels so
far, and more a-coming. A Game of Thrones is
the first book in that series and, obviously, the recent hit HBO series has
raised name recognition of A Game of Thrones to the point that it surpasses the series as a whole. Yet, despite the title, A
Game of Thrones – Genesis covers events
that span a thousand years in the land of Westeros, following story lines from all
of the books and the lengthy backstory that precedes them.
The single-player campaign was worked on with Martin’s input
and will let players experience the story of A Song Of Fire And Ice from the year –750 through 299 (Using the
calendar of the fiction realm, of Westeros, of course), and the multiplayer
game will pits up to eight players against each other trying to take control of
the Iron Throne.
It will use a real-time strategy format, but with a heavy
dose of politics and intrigue.
Before declaring war on your rival houses, you’ll engage in all the
back-stabbing, bribery and assassinations that come with running one of the
eight noble houses trying to gain control of the Iron Throne. Units include Spies, Assassins, and
Bastards that can be played to raise the prestige of your house, or lower the
prestige of others.
Of course eventually all of these courtly maneuvers will
lead to inevitable war at which point the game will take on more familiar RTS
behavior like amassing armies and battling it out in locations set all over
Westeros. Early images show the
expected land battles, and sieges, but we can also see that there will be
battles at sea, and even knights on dragonback making aerial strikes on
villages!
A Game of Thrones – Genesis is being developed by Cyanide Studios who make the Blood
Bowl games, and are behind the upcoming Of
Orcs And Men, another promising fantasy
game. They also have some
experience in the RTS genre with the game Confrontation which is currently in
development. That’s a lot of new
games on the plate for this smaller French developer, but early screenshots and
media look good, and all of Cyanide’s projects are worth keeping an eye on in
the future.
A Game of Thrones – Genesis is being published by Focus Home
Interactive who previously worked with Cyanide on Blood Bowl, but should also
be known to gamers for the Runaway trilogy of adventure games. The game has been confirmed for PC
arriving later this year. Check in
with Player Affinity for more details as they become available.