For a second in time, fantasy followers have been cut up between whether or not Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films or HBO’s Recreation of Thrones status TV present was the perfect adaptation of a traditional e-book collection. However the Oliphaunt within the room is that the final seasons of the latter plummeted to this point in high quality that it soured opinions on the present as an entire, particularly with its divisive ending. However an upcoming GoT online game adaptation due out in 2026 will give gamers an opportunity to set the report straight and make their very own new ending to the saga of noble homes, loyalty, betrayal and dragons.
Recreation of Thrones: Warfare for Westeros, from Australian developer and writer PlaySide Studios, is a real-time technique sport for PC during which gamers tackle their faction of alternative and veer away from the storyline of the books and TV present. Again in June at Summer season Recreation Fest, I descended the steps beneath the media lounge right into a dimly lit interview spot (probably the most fantasy dungeon-adjacent spot on the occasion) to speak with Ryan McMahon, the sport’s director.
McMahon defined PlaySide’s imaginative and prescient for the sport alongside his personal deep affection for the Track of Ice and Hearth books and Recreation of Thrones TV present. Within the latter years of the present, he’d maintain watch events with different PlaySide builders to see the most recent episodes the evening they aired.
PlaySide’s historical past of RTS video games, like its personal property Age of Darkness: Ultimate Stand, and work on Warcraft 3: Reforged and Civilization 7 VR, made the technique style appear applicable for its adaptation of the franchise.
“Recreation of Thrones actually felt like a pure match for that as a result of it is a present about mass conquest and preventing for territory and main these armies, in addition to the political layers inside it,” McMahon mentioned. “There’s lots of complexity to it that basically can shine in a technique style.”
That features representing the warring factions in Recreation of Thrones as totally different forces in Warfare for Westeros, every with their very own distinct items and techniques. The sport could have 4 playable factions at launch: Home Stark with all its minor homes representing the North of the continent of Westeros; Home Lannister representing these within the southern half; Home Targaryen with the forces she’s collected within the Free Cities, alongside together with her dragons; and at last the Night time King along with his military of the useless and White Walkers.
Whereas Warfare for Westeros primarily references the Recreation of Thrones world constructed within the TV present, PlaySide used lore from the books to fill within the gaps, together with among the many minor homes and the forces of the Night time King, McMahon defined. PlaySide did not seek the advice of straight with collection creator George R.R. Martin, however the studio has consulted the creator’s crew by rights holder Warner Bros. throughout improvement when exploring new territory, McMahon mentioned, “particularly relating to the White Walkers.”
And whereas Warfare for Westeros focuses on technique gameplay over character constructing and world lore, there are nonetheless nods to the supply materials.
“We undoubtedly try to sprinkle as many little Easter eggs and lore mentions the place we are able to to essentially deliver that taste,” McMahon mentioned. “In case you’re a e-book reader, there will certainly be stuff for you.”
A conflict of player-kings
PlaySide is designing Warfare for Westeros’ 4 factions to be balanced however distinct. Within the sport, cavalry, siege engines, giants and dragons are among the many items distinctive to every faction, although McMahon declined to elaborate additional about how every power will differ from the opposite, saying PlaySide would share extra particulars when it was able to reveal extra gameplay.
However even the reveal trailer unveiled throughout SGF hints on the mechanics and uneven items fielded by every faction. The accompanying developer diary confirmed prealpha gameplay footage that features columns of foot troopers organized to march into battle — a few of which have been fully incinerated by an enormous dragon belching flames.
Although the armies will every have their totally different items, mechanics, heroes and play types, PlaySide is striving to maintain them balanced towards one another — and most significantly, make all sides attention-grabbing to play.
“We need to make dragons really feel highly effective, however we need to make it possible for the Lannisters, the Starks and the White Walkers all have one thing that appears like a robust equal that may doubtlessly contest the dragons in a roundabout way,” McMahon mentioned.
The developer diary additionally touches on the political side of Warfare for Westeros, although that is much less just like the systems-heavy diplomacy of technique video games like Civilization 7 and extra just like the jockeying that occurs every time a number of gamers are gunning for the win in a tabletop sport like Danger or Settlers of Catan. Every playthrough of Warfare for Westeros solely ends when one participant sits the Iron Throne, so McMahon expects them to naturally type and break alliances at strategic moments — similar to in Recreation of Thrones.
“If I do know this individual over right here (controlling) Home Stark is pushing in on the Lannisters, and I am taking part in because the Targaryens, that might be my alternative to push in in the event that they’re forward,” McMahon mentioned.
Single-player mode could have its personal particular layers of political interplay, he added, however the sport design’s focus is on how gamers pit themselves towards one another. There will likely be a sport mode the place gamers can set customized modifiers to range their playthrough and set their very own guidelines. The geography has its personal circumstances: Within the developer diary, there’s footage of an overworld map of Westeros that includes well-known areas like Winterfell and King’s Touchdown. Gamers will not be preventing throughout the iconic castles of the present, however they may conflict towards enemy armies in handcrafted maps tailor-made to the assorted biomes of the continent.
A storm of technique swords
PlaySide has leaned on its earlier technique expertise, making its personal RTS, Age of Darkness, and technique video games from different IPs to make sure Warfare for Westeros has a satisfying core gameplay loop. With all that have, the studio can incorporate layers of complexity whereas additionally making it approachable, McMahon mentioned. Given Recreation of Thrones’ reputation, the sport might be going to be lots of gamers’ first RTS (or first in a really very long time).
As a sport in improvement, issues can at all times change earlier than Warfare for Westeros comes out in 2026, and McMahon could not say loads concerning the sport. However I needed to ask: What is the faction McMahon himself likes taking part in most proper now? Whereas his favourite character from the books is Tyrion Lannister, and he actually enjoys how the Targaryen hero Daenerys capabilities, and the faction’s dragons, his sympathies lie with the undead Night time King and his White Walkers.
“I am naturally a really aggressive participant in video video games, eager to push ahead, take territory, put lots of strain on my opponent,” McMahon mentioned. “The White Walkers, as they stand proper now, lean closely into that kind of play.”
A lot of our dialog centered across the state of the sport at launch, with the implication that extra might be coming later, although that each one is dependent upon how the sport is acquired. Nonetheless, McMahon emphasised that the crew has lots of concepts.
“Truly, there’s a lot you are able to do with the world of the Track of Ice and Hearth — outdoors of Westeros, inside Westeros — that we are able to faucet into,” McMahon mentioned. “However proper now, our focus is on the launch itself. After which, (if) issues go effectively there, there’s loads we would like to do.”
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