It is surprising that of all the development studios, Game of Thrones was picked up by the French-Canadian Cyanide, which has spent its entire life sculpting sports managers and board game strategies. Trying out a new genre turned out to be strange. On the one hand, the lack of funds and experience is evident in every frame. On the other hand, the script and quests are no worse than those of famous competitors. Oh, if only these people were given a budget!..

Game of ice...

There are also unpleasant little things like a stupid mini-map that will show you everything: doors, passages to neighboring locations, important NPCs, merchants... except city streets. Of course, by the middle of the game the geography of Castle Black, King's Landing and Riverspring is firmly etched into the brain. But at first you will often look at the big map.

...and flames

Behind the unkempt appearance and boring “combat”, where skirmishes come down to alternating one or two killer blows, lies an interesting RPG. In order not to repeat myself, I suggest to those who have not heard about Game of Thrones, look into ours - there’s a colleague there Kostya Fomin talked about what awaits players in the first three chapters out of fifteen, and described in detail the role-playing system.

You don’t have to be a fan of the book series “A Song of Ice and Fire” or “Game of Thrones,” its television adaptation. The scriptwriters skillfully bring us up to date, sending the curious to articles in the built-in encyclopedia, presented in intelligible language. Tea, not arcade games based on Harry Potter, in which without knowledge of the films or the literary source, the devil will break his leg.

The authors created the characters from scratch, including them with approval George Martin into the political landscape of the first book. By the way, the writer got a funny role in Castlewood Castle - a kind-hearted alchemist in glasses who, without knowing it, will greatly help out the heroes. He, by the way, is one of the few who does not lie and does not betray Game of Thrones. Westeros is a dark kingdom of deceivers and scoundrels, so Cyanide took her soul away by coming up with sudden plot twists. They hit you in the stomach and plunge daggers into your back very deftly here; I would like to give some striking example, but then I will steal a bit of pleasure from you.

The same goes for quests. The adventures of Sir Morse Westford and the red priest Alistair Sarvik, despite the general linearity of the narrative, are full of moments where we are given the right to choose. Some actions, as it should be in decent houses, will come back to haunt you in the course of events, although don’t count on a slide show in the spirit - after all, four more thick volumes have been written for those who want to know what happened in the Seven Kingdoms. The developers are digging not in breadth or distance, but in depth, surprising both with their love for someone else’s universe and with a fresh look at hackneyed genre clichés. Each side task is done conscientiously; even if something looks like a courier order or “go kill”, don’t turn your nose up - everything is more complicated than it seems.

And don’t even think about refusing to participate in the illegal battles for survival that take place in the sewers of King’s Landing! It’s clear that in an RPG, any gladiator arena is like a Chekhov’s gun: sooner or later we’ll be forced to break bones for the amusement of drunken people, but it’s not a shame to spend half an hour on it. There are pretentious scenes, dangerous rivals, and an amusing sweepstakes, whose organizer gets the point across - betting on your opponent and losing matches is much more profitable than winning. One caveat: the losers are sometimes killed at the behest of the public, so you have to appease the audience by treating them to beer.

Well, at the end of the 20-hour campaign, the authors give out as many as five endings, and such that even recognized RPG masters are just right to draw ideas. I don’t doubt it for a second: if BioWare had done something like this in any of its hits, the Internet would now be rocked by virtual protest marches. But Cyanide is inconspicuous, and fans of “The Song of…” have long been accustomed to the fact that justice in Westeros is a rare bird, so no one writes stupid petitions.

* * *

There is no justice on this Earth either. From the license for popular books Martina Bethesda and BioWare turned their backs at one time. A modest French studio bought the rights before the series exploded on HBO, almost tore their stomachs working on the project, and ended up receiving a tub of snake venom from critics who noticed nothing but a faded picture.

Certainly, Game of Thrones- not a masterpiece, but it would be a sin not to take it at a seasonal sale. Especially for those who value complex characters and serious drama above all else.

Let the book series "Song of Ice and Fire" and not as old as the legendary one "Lord of the Rings", and not as popular as "Harry Potter", but it also took its rightful place in the pantheon of good, serviceable fantasy. Only here are the books George Martin strikingly different from most works of this genre. Everything here is extremely harsh: blood, wars, sex - nothing is taboo. And yet, the most important thing is not this, but the magnificent plot, twisted like the drum of a working washing machine. Subtle court intrigues and political behind-the-scenes battles, which often escalate into a real war. That's what it's called Game of Thrones, after which this RPG was named.

Alas, by "Songs of Ice and Fire" They have already released one toy, a strategy, which turned out to be a real "cotton wool". Fortunately, the role-playing game was made by completely different people - a French company Cyanide Studio, which once pleased players with its projects Chaos League And Loki. And they managed to cope with their task much better.

Winter is coming

When I started going through it, I was at first afraid that the plot twists and turns would be “merged” due to the need to follow the story of the book. And really – what’s the point in looking at the same plot twists again if you’ve already read them, or watched the now very popular television series of the same name. It turned out that the game creators solved this problem gracefully. We play not as heroes of the saga itself, but as completely new characters, who, however, participate in the events of the first book and meet people we know from it. Thus, we are shown another side of those events, and therefore I advise everyone who is planning to go through Game of Thrones, first read the first book or watch the first season of the series! This is not to say that otherwise you will not understand anything, but it will be much more interesting.

So, we have to lead two very dissimilar heroes into battle: the veteran Mors Westford, who is serving lifelong service in the Night's Watch on the Wall, and the prodigal son, the nobleman Alester from the house of Sarvik, who disappeared for fifteen years on the neighboring continent and became a monk of R"hlor there.

Morse's adventures will mainly take place in the north of the continent, and Alester - in the center. Accordingly, Morse will have more harsh battles, and Alester will have to understand the intricacies of political intrigue. But both will have to wave the sword, and the stern, straightforward Westford will also suffer from court intrigues. We will be thrown from one hero to another as we progress, and thanks to this, we will be able to see the whole picture of what is happening.

And there will be something to see - in Game of Thrones A wonderful, twisted plot with unexpected twists. Alas, it is impossible to describe it, so as not to spoil your pleasure, but believe me: when allies can turn out to be enemies, the motives of the characters suddenly turn out to be completely different, and a mystery awaits around every turn, it is impossible to tear yourself away from the story.

Two heads are better!

The game also boasts detailed and well-voiced dialogue. Here you will have to talk even more than fight, and your words, fortunately, will influence events in the future.

When the arguments run out and diplomacy becomes powerless, we will have to speak in the “language of steel.” At first, the combat system disappointed me a little: it seemed almost completely copied from or the same. You select an enemy, run up to him, and a sad waving begins, as if “towards the enemy,” which is not at all similar to a real battle. But gradually, when the heroes began to acquire skills and there were more and more enemies, the situation improved.

Using skills in Game of Thrones done nicely. When you hit the pause that's common in RPGs like Dragon Age and others like him, the battle does not stop. Everything just slows down a lot and the player can give orders to their characters. The skill wheel is confusing at first. Personally, I was confused between different characters and their specific skills, but I quickly got used to this whole “cuisine”. Naturally, skills should be used wisely. For example, any skill with the Interrupt property can interrupt a skill your enemy is performing and possibly save you from death. But you will have to use them sparingly - 1-2 skills, and your energy is exhausted. It can be recharged immediately, but then you have to wait 20 seconds before the next recharge. During this time you may well be stumped, because the battles in Game of Thrones quite fleeting.

You can see the enemy's armor type and choose the right "tool" against it.

The fighting style of our heroes is also different. Of course, you can choose classes here, but Morse remains a stern warrior, relying more on strength, and Alester is a more “subtle” fighter. In addition, thanks to serving the god R'hlor, Alester received part of his power and can control fire, which heals friends and cripples enemies.

But Morse is no slouch in mystical matters. He is endowed with the rare gift of Skinchanger, and is able to possess his fighting dog. By controlling a dog, you can sneak past enemies and rip their throats out by attacking from behind. The dog will also help in quests thanks to his ability to sniff out traces of different people.

But with the graphics, everything is not as great as with everything else. The game has a lot of blurry and not very beautiful textures, but, fortunately, this flaw only appears in various story cutscenes and when the characters are talking, when everything that surrounds them is shown in a close-up perspective. The rest of the time this drawback is not noticeable.

Role system Game of Thrones so classic that there is nowhere else to go: you gain experience, take levels and distribute your mastery of different types of weapons. Sometimes they give an increase to one of the main indicators. You know, strength, agility and stuff like that. Also, each level is a dry ration of a class skill and one “heroic” skill, peculiar only to this person: the mystical powers of R”lor for Alester and the possession of a dog (as well as all sorts of combat “goodies” for it) for Morse. The final chord is there "traits", just like in Fallout! Some of them can be taken when creating a character, and some can only be obtained as you progress through the game.

I advise all RPG fans to read this Game of Thrones, and the fans "Songs of Ice and Fire" I recommend it a hundredfold! I repeat: it is highly recommended to read the first book or watch the first season of the series to make playing even more interesting and fun. Even if this project has some shortcomings in the graphics, everything else is at a very decent level, especially the plot, which gradually entangles you in the web of the game of thrones and then brings down a cold shower of unexpected events.

7 GW Verdict

Graphics: 6/10

Sound: 9/10

Gameplay: 7/10

Interesting story| traveling to familiar places and meeting your favorite characters from the series| excellent soundtrack

Nightmare graphics| incomprehensible combat system| unusual and not very convenient controls

A successful book is followed by a film, and a film is followed by a game. This order of things is unlikely to change anything. The trouble is that, with only rare exceptions, developers pay due attention to a product based on a cinematic license in order to get something worthwhile in the end.

“Game of Thrones” is a sensational series that raised a real wave of discussions that flooded the Internet quickly and for a long time. An excellent, expensive and incredibly high-quality film adaptation based on the equally amazing series of novels by George R.R. Martin “A Song of Ice and Fire” is rightfully considered one of the best television series of our time.

It is not at all surprising that games appeared immediately after the television version. The first pancake is the real-time strategy Game of Thrones. Start". It’s not that it’s worthless, but it’s hard to call it a successful example of a licensed game. But the second pancake pleasantly surprised me. The choice of RPG as a genre clearly benefited the series, and the refusal to endlessly jump through centuries of a fictional world, and hundreds of names that are forgotten after a couple of minutes, as was the case in “Inception,” breathed a real Martinian plot into “Game of Thrones.” In addition, the game was released in Russian localization 1C-Softclub, which greatly facilitates the perception of the intricacies of local history.

But don't expect Game of Thrones to be a multi-million dollar blockbuster. The project looks cheap. Everything speaks about this - extremely washed out, outdated graphics, a strange combat system, unfinished animation, clearly novice dubbing actors. But, despite all this, the game turned out to be good. True true. Its strongest point is the plot, and it easily outweighs all other shortcomings. Plus, the amazing soundtrack from the film version finally finishes off the skeptic in the player and forces him to immerse himself further into the plot.

We will follow the events on the continent of Westeros through the eyes of two characters: Mors Westerford and Alester Sarvik. The first is the stern brother of the Night's Watch, the same one that protects the northern borders of the continent from wild people and various mythical evil spirits. The second is the son of Lord Sarvik, who fled the continent 15 years ago and returned back for his father's funeral. Both characters, one way or another, served the House of Lannister - the richest family in Westeros. And also, both took part in the rebellion of Robert Baratheon - a grandiose rebel war that unfolded against the mad king from the Targaryan family.

Game of Thrones takes place shortly before the death of Jon Arryn, King Robert's Hand (chief advisor), an event that sets in motion the main story described in the books. Morse receives command of a platoon of recruits and a task: one of the squads has clearly decided to desert...

At the same time, Alester, returning home for his father's funeral, finds himself in a pit of trouble. The once prosperous city is in decline, a colossal hole separates the poor and the rich, instigators are rampaging in the port - the people are one step away from revolt. Old acquaintances, rightfully considering the prodigal son a traitor, finally allow Alester to bury his father. And then the city boils over: the flames of rebellion flare up...

As already mentioned, the story is the strongest aspect of Game of Thrones. By the way, Martin himself, the author of novels, actively collaborated with Cyanide, helping them write the script. As a result, the book letter is visible quite clearly. It’s not black and white, you can’t say for sure who you’re playing for - a hero or a scoundrel, whether you met a scoundrel or a nice fellow along the way.

Once you define the character of the hero, Game of Thrones gives you new food for thought. The same Morse at the very beginning of the game executes his best friend because he got scared and decided to run away; another traitor, who saw both his “brothers” and the Night Watch in the grave, dying, warns of an enemy ambush. And there are a lot of such nuances.

And yet, here very often you have to choose. Of course, the choice is not as global as in the same “The Witcher”, from which the passage changes radically, but small and local, but no less important. Suppress the uprising by force, or judge everything fairly, support the rich with influence, or protect the people - the choice is yours. And, by the way, it is not always obvious and, at times, forces you to carefully weigh what’s what.

It's unfortunate, but after writing the script, the passion of the Cyanide team completely faded. Or the lack of experience came to light... On the technical side, Game of Thrones has nothing but problems. Firstly, the graphics: by golly, how did you have to pervert the Unreal Engine so that it would produce such a terrible picture? And in general, it’s very strange that an RPG was made using an engine for various action games. And okay, if the fights were done like in various slashers with beautiful movements and a combination of strong and weak blows, then no!

The combat system of Game of Thrones seemed extremely strange to me, it even put me in a stupor at first. Almost all the time we have a squad running around with us, which the player has to control. During a fight, you must constantly enter the combat pause mode (although it is difficult to call it a “pause” - when you press a button, time simply slows down) and give orders. And then “ours” beat the “aliens” with exactly the same blows, since the game is poor in animation.

I understand, reading this, you will think that such a method of managing a squad was at least in the recent Dragon Age, but believe me, the battles here look really strange, which is easy to see after playing it once.

But the role-playing system does not cause any controversy. The character is completely yours and you can customize it to suit you. There are three classes to choose from: exaggeratingly, you can call them a thief, a soldier and a shooter. Let me immediately mention that the shooter in Game of Thrones is useless - battles take place in too small spaces, there is simply nowhere for him to turn around. There is also an extensive skill tree, with skills for every taste. But the most interesting thing here is to choose the advantages and, you won’t believe it, disadvantages of the character.

A hero can have four strengths that must be selected from a list. Each has its own price, for example leadership costs four points, and good reaction costs one. By choosing four advantages, you will get a certain sum of points, for example 8. This means that you need to select as many disadvantages as possible to establish a balance. The game puts us in an awkward position, forcing us to weaken the protagonist: oh, how difficult the choice is sometimes.

Also, Game of Thrones has a pleasant soundtrack, although this is more the merit of the series composer than the game.

Cyanide Studio presented the role-playing game Game of Thrones based on the plot of the popular series “Game of Thrones” and the saga “A Song of Ice and Fire” by George R.R. Martin. In our review of URPUR.RU we’ll tell you a little about the sensational game in which a politician’s talent can be stronger than a deadly sword

The main local attraction is the ancient ice wall dividing the continent from west to east. This fence was built after an attack on people by strange creatures with glowing blue eyes - the White Walkers. Having been defeated, the enemies went into the permafrost. Since then, the wall preventing attacks has been guarded by troops of the Night's Watch. The stern warriors renounced everything and devoted themselves to serving the kingdom.

GAME-BOOK

Let us remind you that “Game of Thrones” is not the first attempt by developers from the French studio Cyanide Studio to transfer the book series “A Song of Ice and Fire” into the gaming space. The real-time strategy “Game of Thrones: Genesis” received an avalanche of dissatisfied criticism from fans of the saga, in most cases regarding the graphics. This did not stop the creators, who have a modest budget and a great desire to make their dream come true, from releasing a new game based on the books of the American writer. This is a full-fledged RPG with a third-person view, which may remind gamers of The Witcher and Dragon Age. For those who are new to the first book, let's tell you a little about the main points that formed the basis of the game's plot. The action takes place on the continent of Westeros, vaguely similar to Foggy Albion. The state of the Seven Kingdoms is ruled by a king. Head of State of the Seven Kingdoms, Robert Baratheon is quite an entertaining character. He came to power fifteen years ago, after a rebellion that overthrew the ruling Targaryen family. The legitimate rulers fled and did not abandon their dream and attempts to return the usurped throne. Carried away by the pleasures of an idle life, Baratheon delegated all matters to his Hand - John Arryn, with whose death the game begins. The first hero you will play as is Mors Westford, the last of his kind, a warrior of the Night's Watch. A not very beautiful, but very useful dog helps him drive away barbarians and prepare novice hunters. The second hero is Alester Sarvik, who returned to his homeland to bury his father. Due to circumstances, he is forced to put down the beginning of the uprising of the poor, while at the same time restoring his native nest and trying to find his brother Gavin, who is accused of murdering their father. The situation is complicated by all sorts of intrigues, cunning interweavings and conspiracies.

You can immerse yourself in all the events and go through a series of fateful choices in one breath. At the end of the game you have to make an extremely difficult choice: which side to choose. At the last minute, a stunning ending forces you to take a less bloody, but still hopeful, path. Maybe with a different budget, but the game requires a sequel.

A DIFFICULT CHOICE
Playing either as Alester Sarvik or as Morse Westford, new chapters will be opened, the narrative is transferred to different storylines. At the character creation stage, you cannot “assemble” his appearance from scratch. But along with changing the class, you can change equipment and clothing. For each hero - 3 classes. Westford focuses more on piercing and cutting weapons - axes, swords (knight with a shield, warrior with a two-handed weapon, berserker warrior). Alester's weapons are more sophisticated (a nimble fighter with two-handed weapons, a warrior with daggers, and an archer with a wide arsenal for distance combat). By choosing a class, the player receives character bonuses for equipment and weapons. The rules are such that in exchange for powerful equipment, some advantages change, including abilities and talents. During the gameplay, each enemy displays an icon indicating the strength of their armor - armor or chain mail, leather or regular clothing. It is better to attack a warrior in chain mail with a spear; you cannot take armor with a sword or arrows: you will have to arm yourself with an ax. You can change your combat kit with one click of a button. And now a little about the special task that must be solved at the stage of creating a hero: to maintain as much balance as possible, choosing the qualities with which he will be endowed. Your shirt-guy, brave man and excellent commander must, for example, be lame, have a seizure, or have hemophilia. Also, the player himself decides how strong, dexterous, lucky and powerful the fighter will be. In addition, after completing a level, the points received can be used to “pump up” the talent tree - about twenty for each hero. In the case of Morse Westford, additional skills are transferred to his dog, which can be controlled in werewolf mode. A faithful friend will not only determine the type of task “by smell”, but will also rush at the enemy, baring his sharp teeth. The more frantically we press the attack button, the closer we fall to the enemy’s tender neck. Military equipment is not mastered immediately. We enter the first battle and immediately understand that it is talents and skills that play a key role in the outcome of the fight. To select “skills” you won’t be able to stop time – it will only slow down a little. This will require sacrificing precious energy. Sometimes allies help fight enemies. The game is built on a linear principle: going to any part of Westeros and significantly deviating from the plot will not work. You cannot independently collect ingredients and brew some kind of miracle potion. But on the way you will come across various bottles with tinctures for healing or attack. Empty containers are not thrown away in the game: they are kept and asked to be refilled from merchants.

GENERAL IMPRESSION

In the game, the amount of cruelty and violence is kept to a minimum. Unlike the series, there are no disemboweled entrails or erotic scenes. The heroes are endowed with magical powers from the very beginning. The graphics of The Game of Thrones are not very pleasing, but taking into account the small budget component, in comparison with A Game of Thrones: Genesis, things are still better. Of course, sometimes you can’t look at the characters in pain: either problems with shoulder joints, or stone chests and reluctant movements. But the impression of the visual environment is slightly softened by the dialogues, read and agreed upon by George Martin himself. The game turned out to be really interesting. It feels like the guys from Cyanide Studio relied on the original Martin plot and recreating the atmosphere of the original serial plot. The heroes’ need to constantly make a deal with their conscience adds spice; they unwittingly become involved in the game of thrones, from which they will either emerge victorious or lose. Gamers who are accustomed to expecting freedom, flexibility and an open world from the game are unlikely to be delighted with Game of Thrones. Nevertheless, the brainchild of Cyanide has something to give to the player who is not afraid of cutscenes and narrow corridors, and is ready to forgive all shortcomings of the plot, characters and universe.

You don’t have the opportunity to collect ingredients yourself and brew some kind of miracle potion. But on the way you will come across various bottles with tinctures for healing or attack. Empty containers are not thrown away in the game: they are kept and asked to be refilled from merchants. The markets and shops are full of smart, expensive goods. It is more profitable to get them for completing the quest and destroying bosses

“Game under license” is a label that usually means that this is a hastily assembled product that has one single goal - to take advantage of the popularity of a movie or book to extract a dozen other green pieces of paper from the wallets of gullible buyers. Sometimes it happens that an undemanding audience is even satisfied. But it’s more difficult to please hardcore players, so nothing but Battle for Middle-earth immediately comes to mind. So at first I looked at the subject of today’s conversation with caution - Cyanide Studio’s previous attempt to convert Westeros into digital was, to put it mildly, not the most successful.

Game of Thrones

Genre role-playing game
Developer Cyanide Studio
Publisher"1C-Softclub"
Website games.1c.ru/got_rpg//pc/

Grade

Almost Martinovsky plot, old school role-playing system

General dampness of the game, outdated graphics

One of the best stories of recent years against the overall dampness of the project

This time, the French decided to stop their experiments in the strategy segment and turn to the good old genre of role-playing games. And, in principle, they succeeded. It’s good that the developers didn’t ask us to relive the events of Martin’s first book for the third time - the game’s action develops parallel to the main storyline of the first book in the Song of Ice and Fire series. This approach guarantees us both a familiar world and characters, as well as a fresh look at well-known events.

There are two main characters in the game - the brother of the Night's Watch, and in the past a vassal of Tywin Lannister, Mors Westford, nicknamed the Butcher, and, who returned from voluntary exile for his father's funeral, Alistair Sarvik, the crown lord of Riverspring (in the Russian version of the Keys). The first is a grunt from God - a warg, magnar, boundary or land knight, the second is a water dancer, mercenary or ranger, and part-time priest of Rhllor. The first is a dark, embittered hunter of deserters from the Wall. The second is the gloomy prodigal son, tormented by a guilt complex. Both are callous, calculating and cynical guys who never fit the definition of “hero”.

I’ll say right away – the game came out a little damp. However, who will be surprised by this now? Lately, developers often don’t bother releasing a finished product and continue to finish and polish projects for several months after release. In the case of Game of Thrones, a patch correcting optimization problems appeared promptly, but the gameplay was not yet fully fixed. What's wrong with him? Serious balance problems. For several hours of play, you may not meet a single more or less worthy opponent, and then stumble over an almost unkillable group of enemies. This is annoying, and very annoying.

The role-playing system is hello from the distant past and no, this is not a minus. At a time when everyone is trying to simplify this aspect of the game as much as possible, the Game of Thrones developers are sticking to the classic scheme. In addition to the standard strength, agility, vitality, and so on, the game has a truly extensive list of skills associated with the use of various types of weapons and armor. And that's not all - not only when creating a character you can choose several positive features that need to be balanced with negative ones, you will also receive perks simply during the game. If you didn’t give the traitor a quick death and tortured him for a long time, you’ll get a 1% increase in the chance of inflicting a critical hit, and so on.

The combat system, like the role-playing system, in the game is quite interesting, but requires careful finishing with a file. Battles take place in real time, but giving orders and using skills is much more convenient in the local slo-mo mode. It's almost like a controlled pause; when turned on, the action slows down and you can assess the situation and, if necessary, change tactics or switch to a second set of weapons. Why switch? Then, it is better to deal with enemies in plate armor with a hammer, and it will be faster to pacify an enemy in some kind of quilted armor with a rapier. However, sometimes you can simply not pay attention to such trifles and bravely draw figure eights with a giant two-handed sword.

Not everything is good with the skills - despite the fact that there are a lot of them, really a lot, you won’t use most of them. For example, my water dancer knows that he just needs to set fire to the sword, ignite the enemy and, in the case of a large crowd of enemies, blow him up and everyone around him, and if the enemy is alone, slowly fry him until crispy while the hedge knight draws the mills flamberge, apply stunning and send the dog either to knock him down or to take away the weapon or shield. This works 99 times out of 100. That's it. The remaining skills can be used, but they are either less effective or extremely situational and are rarely used.

But what really amazed me about the game was the plot. Which is not surprising, since Martin himself followed him, as well as the dialogues. As a result, we got a dark story not much inferior to the original. There are no friends here, there are only temporary allies, characters are dying like flies, yesterday's heroes turn out to be scoundrels, and the scoundrels... they become even worse.

The plot is really interesting to follow, you forget about the imbalance of the combat, and the not-so-pretty picture, and the awkward interface. Maybe it was the fact that I'm a big fan of the book, but it was really difficult for me to tear myself away from the game precisely because of the excellent plot. It was he who kept me at the screen when I returned for the sixth time to the damn boring King’s Landing, which in Cyanide Studio’s version turned into some kind of Royal Farm of three and a half streets and two dozen houses. It was thanks to the storyline that I endured the dampness of the game, the abuse that Unreal Engine 3 was subjected to.

And the ending, of which, by the way, there are four... yes, connoisseurs of Martin’s work know that the one who plays the game of thrones either wins or dies. This rule also applies at a less epic level. I will say one thing - over the past few years, there has not been a story in role-playing games that has impressed me more.

So if you value a good story and are willing to endure glitches and rough gameplay for the sake of it, don’t pass it by. And if you are used to skipping cut scenes and dialogues, you don’t even have to look at Game of Thrones, because without these moments you will be faced with a very mediocre role-playing game, albeit not with the most banal quests.