A Game of Thrones – Genesis is a noble attempt by Cyanide to translate George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Fire and Ice novels and the Game of Thrones HBO series to the real-time strategy genre more known for units smashing and shooting each other than diplomacy and conspiracies. Attempting to break from convention by delving into the history of Westeros doesn’t exactly turn out to be a page turner though.

I was introduced to Martin’s books thanks to the excellent Game of Thrones series on HBO and immediately tore through all five books in just as many weeks and am already anxiously waiting for the sixth. I had hoped that Genesis would salve some of my yearnings but, despite the writer’s involvement, there was little for me to get excited about.

“When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die. There is no middle ground.”

Genesis throws gamers back to the early days of Westeros when Nymeria landed on the shores of Dorne, and then moves up through the 700 year history of the land including Aegon the Conqueror’s arrival at King’s Landing. Oddly, despite the fact that the game has tutorial levels, most of the game still feels like a tutorial as units and mechanics are introduced throughout which add new layers of strategy to the game.

And there’s the main rub that many may not expect with the A Game of Thrones – Genesis. There’s really not much of sending units into battle. Instead, players send envoys to seal alliances with towns, mines, castles and Septs in a ‘capture the node’ strategy. Spies can also be sent to create secret alliances, rogues to start uprisings or buy off enemy units, and noble ladies to secure blood alliances. Assassins may take out important units by knife or by poison, and they all have a Rock, Paper Scissors basis to block, repel and defeat one another.

It’s all in an effort to capture the intrigue of the books and the TV show but I’m not sure it translates into gaming excitement. Watching an envoy leisurely stroll across the map and then looking at a green bar increase to indicate an allied town doesn’t get the juices flowing at all.

“Some battles are won with swords and spears, others with quills and ravens.”

Genesis can be won either militarily, diplomatically or economically by reaching 100 prestige. With two of the three winning options and most of the units dedicated to non-military matters, that means players spend most of their game time protecting their envoys, securing alliances and hunting down spies and secret alliances with opposing houses. In fact, war can actually have a negative effect on prestige if not planned for and handled wisely.

During peacetime, military units can be used to kill assassins that a spy spotted and arrest turncoats. Other than that, their primary function is to protect envoys from getting assassinated or to just hold strategically important cities. In the rare occurrence the player and his rival house tick off each other enough, war will be declared and then the fighting begins, but it is largely a drab and standard experience. There are a few special units for each house that can be pulled into play but, aside from coloring, units for each house look identical and the animations lackluster. The only exception to this is with the later set pieces in the game that finally pull in some of the fantasy elements from the books.

While war is declared, players no longer need to focus on the diplomatic (though you may want to hold on to your spies and assassins) and the town, mine and castle control nodes can only be taken by laying siege to them. Raising armies is expensive though and players will need food instead of money to support them.

“First Lesson. Stick them with the pointy end.”

Ultimately, the single-player campaign feels like a build-up to the House vs House mode where players choose a number of scenarios and have the full playbook of units and tactics available. The Houses available in these modes are locked in based on the scenario chosen but they range from the two House skirmishes over a single region of Westeros to eight houses covering the entire continent. These same modes are available online yet even a week after release I have not been able to find anyone to play.

“Look with your eyes.”

Don’t expect to be blown away graphically and aurally by Genesis. The terrain and buildings are passable if you don’t mind dated graphics with washed out color. As mentioned before, the units are nothing to write about as well, with dodgy animations which may be why the camera doesn’t zoom in very far. The fantastic theme song from the TV show is not used at all and we are instead treated to some rather generic fantasy music.

Similarly, the user interface is rather clunky and does not lend itself well to creating and managing units on the fly when there’s an enemy rogue starting an uprising, an envoy that’s secretly been turned, mercenaries that need to be deployed and a bastard child that needs to be hidden.

Perhaps what would be considered a death knell from the fans is how the story is told. It is largely lifeless and uninteresting and told without any of Martin’s ability to make you sympathize and even like the bad characters while wanting to strangle the good.

“I did warn you not to trust me, you know.”

George R.R. Martin broke many of the conventions of fantasy literature with his A Song of Fire and Ice novels. A Game of Thrones – Genesis attempts to break many of the conventions of the RTS genre and provide something new but, if intrigues and back-stabbing can translate to gaming, I don’t think Genesis pulled it off. Fans of the source material may find themselves disappointed while fans of the genre will find themselves in a similar boat. The gameplay mechanics are unique and interesting but poorly supported by the presentation, graphics and story.

A Game of Thrones – Genesis is available for the PC via Steam for $39.99.

Written by Scott Grill  (179 Posts)

Scott is one of those “weird” over 30 gamers who’s been around since before the days of the Atari 2600 and has been pounding on controllers and keyboards ever since. Sharing his passion of gaming with his two kids and friends put him on a writing kick that he hasn’t been able to shake off.