By Adam Smith on September 22nd, 2011 at 12:21 pm.
From what I can gather, people waited decades for the most recent book in the Song of Ice and Fire series. In comparison, Cyanide Studios’ RTS take on Mr R R Martin’s world, A Game of Thrones: Genesis, has burst into existence with stunning alacrity. Screenshots have emerged, showing glowering men in armour and maps with recognisable landmarks on them, such as The Wall, which isn’t a prog rock album but an actual wall that’s covered with ice. I know that because I’ve read the first book. Now, just one week before release, there’s a trailer for the game. Watch it below.
I really hope there’s a rhythm action blacksmithing minigame as the video strongly implies. I don’t actually feel like I know much more than I did when I looked at the screenshots: armies will move around on maps and presumably fight one another. Quite honestly, I didn’t expect quite so much rousing forge-work but that’s fine.
If this didn’t have the license attached it would look like a budget RTS with nothing to differentiate it from the crowd. However, the license isn’t just window dressing, it’s a complex world with all manner of political manoeuvring and wickedry. That’s not at all evident from the trailer, which doesn’t even trade on the Game of Thrones name very effectively.
But the press releases have spoken about diplomacy, plotting and, most intriguingly, family mismanagement. That’s my polite way of referring to the concealment of bastards, which Cyanide claim will be essential for rulers wanting to keep hold of their precious prestige. It should also be the name of the next book. Although he’s an indefinite article man, Mr R R, so it would be A Concealment of Bastards. Still works for me.
Remember, this one is the RTS, not the RPG. The RPG is also being made by Cyanide, though at a different studio, and it’s not out for ages. Hopefully not as far off as the next book though.
22/09/2011 at 12:28 GCU Speak Softly says:
Will this be Peter Gabriel:Genesis or Phil Collins:Genesis?
22/09/2011 at 12:34 KillahMate says:
If there’s a rhythm action minigame I think we can safely assume Phil Collins.
(Not that there is, but… if there is.)
22/09/2011 at 12:39 Anthile says:
There is no Phil Collins Genesis.
22/09/2011 at 12:43 SimianJim says:
Looks like Ray Wilson Genesis to me
22/09/2011 at 20:32 Unaco says:
Anthile… I beg to differ
22/09/2011 at 21:38 Waltorious says:
Those guys can feel the dragons coming in the air tonight.
(And yes I know that was Phil Collins solo)
23/09/2011 at 00:19 DigitalSignalX says:
Eww. Hope they have umbrellas.
23/09/2011 at 02:05 VFRHawk says:
As it’s a Game of Thrones, shouldn’t the dragons be coming in their sisters rather than in the air?
I’ll get me coat.
22/09/2011 at 12:38 Solcry says:
You know, I didn’t even realise this post wasn’t from one of the original writers of RPS until the third glance – so, yeah, props to you Adam Smith for seamlessly sliding into the RPS vernacular.
22/09/2011 at 12:47 mrjackspade says:
Ditto, made me do a double take there! Welcome + fantastically written Adam :).
22/09/2011 at 20:28 yiqifeifei says:
China-made from high quality low price, to protect the credibility of the online mall, I believe you will not miss it!
http://bit.ly/mKuTNF
22/09/2011 at 12:41 The Colonel says:
About halfway through the TV series now – it’s not feeling particularly inspired. Are the books worth a look? Fantasy isn’t traditionally my bag.
22/09/2011 at 12:48 ShedMonkey says:
The first three books are excellent and revolve mostly around the power intrigues of various noble houses so you don’t have to be a big fantasy fan to enjoy them. The fourth and fifth books are distinctly meh though.
22/09/2011 at 12:49 tigershuffle says:
Fantasy aint mine either…..but loved the series. Was hooked by about the last 4 episodes.
Very clever how they saved a fortune not actually showing any battles.
cant wait for 2nd series……and will check the game out :)
22/09/2011 at 12:57 Unaco says:
All of the books are fantastic… and they keep getting better.
The lack of battles in the series is actually quite close to the book itself. The only real battle that’s seen in the first book is the Battle of the Green Fork, from Tyrion’s perspective. There are saving money though… but that’s to do the Blackwater justice.
22/09/2011 at 13:27 fionny says:
The series was a bit slow because of the sheer volume that needed to be introduced… the books are SUPERB and series 2 will be alot more lively.
22/09/2011 at 16:13 brecherbernd says:
i really enjoy it. started the 4th book now after it took me only two weeks the finish the first three (1000p+ each). you need time though, lots of time, as due to its many many different plots it progresses very slowly.
Edit:
ah ya.. äh and: Winter is coming!
22/09/2011 at 17:08 Nihil says:
I realise I may be in the minority here, but in the interests of balance:
I thought the books were poor. I read the first three then gave up. I felt that the books were just trying much too hard to be ‘mature’ and tumbled into parody as a result. Endless needlessly graphic sex scenes, over the top forshadowing that prompted me to guess that a very major character was going to meet his end several chapters before he did early on, and that wheel-of-timeless problem in fantasy series’: Many books means you get page upon page of filler before everything interesting happens in the final five chapters.
I don’t think they are for everyone, but give them a go by all means, your mileage may vary from mine.
22/09/2011 at 17:14 Unaco says:
Endless, needlessly graphic sex scenes? I don’t think you’ve been reading the same books. The sex scenes are not Endless… there are actually very few of them. They aren’t needlessly graphic either… there’s very little graphic description in them.
23/09/2011 at 08:25 bill says:
The TV series crammed in some sex scenes… i don’t remember many in the books at all.
I enjoyed the books a lot – the first three were awesome. But I ran into the problem where, in the end, I didn’t want ANYONE to win as they were all assholes. Anya was maybe the only character left that i was rooting for…
23/09/2011 at 18:40 Carra says:
The books are brilliant and some of the very best I ever read. Endless sex scenes, really? You must have been reading a different book.
25/09/2011 at 21:43 The Colonel says:
Well I just finished the series and it definitely got more interesting. However, I just sneakily read the first part of the book on t’internet and found the style pretty unpalatable. I really can’t stomach fantasy fiction sadly (except LOTR for some reason). Am quite looking forward to a game though because it’s a fairly complex and relatable world.
22/09/2011 at 12:44 atticus says:
I like the proposed title for the next book in the series. It could also be “Game of Thrones: A copulation of siblings” or “Game of Thrones: A rape and murder of protagonists”.
As for the game… Doubtfull.
22/09/2011 at 12:46 utharda says:
Lets go with A Game Of Thrones: SVU: Incest, Rape, Incestuous Rape and crimes ending in cide.
Maybe thats a jeopardy category though
22/09/2011 at 12:46 Syra says:
Oh man I lold so hard at a clot of colons.
So cruel.
22/09/2011 at 20:34 Kittim says:
Colon clots are no laughing matter ;)
Remember to eat plenty of fibre folks!
22/09/2011 at 12:47 Unaco says:
It hasn’t really sprung out of nowhere, quite so much as is implied. Cyanide first approached GRRMartin about using the licence for video games in 2004. Somewhere between 2004 and 2009 they were able to convince him to let them have the rights, and began work on the game. It was announced they were working on an RTS and an RPG in 2009.
22/09/2011 at 12:48 PoulWrist says:
Actually the wall isn’t a wall covered in ice, it’s made of ice.
And I waited so long that I stopped caring and I haven’t bought it yet.
22/09/2011 at 16:15 Koozer says:
But to be made of ice it is also covered in ice. Flawless victory.
22/09/2011 at 12:53 pakoito says:
What, one week?
22/09/2011 at 13:11 Colthor says:
“A concealment of bastards” sounds like the perfect collective noun.
22/09/2011 at 13:16 Jazz42 says:
but what about the dice rolls?
22/09/2011 at 13:24 sbs says:
dragons
22/09/2011 at 13:32 danimalkingdom says:
Cyanide Studios have a rubbish logo. Looks like they made it in word. i mean, if you want to avoid looking budget…
22/09/2011 at 14:05 Hatsworth says:
Sadly it looks pretty bad. Uses Tages DRM too.
22/09/2011 at 15:08 Khemm says:
Isn’t it a Steamworks game? The Steam page implies it is, additional DRM aside. Steam achievements and all that nonsense is there.
http://store.steampowered.com/app/58550/?snr=1_4_4__100
Frankly, I’ll take Tages over Steam any day but if the retail release uses both, that’ll be just stupid.
Agree it doesn’t look that good which is a shame, I think everyone wants it to be something special…
22/09/2011 at 15:43 Hatsworth says:
I think it is; Green Man Gaming sells it as such at least.
22/09/2011 at 14:44 GCU Speak Softly says:
The map looks tiny, isn’t Westeros supposed to be the size of South America? Ditto The Wall, much too small.
22/09/2011 at 16:54 Drinking with Skeletons says:
The only interesting thing I’ve been able to pull out of the (worryingly limited) preview information is that Westeros will seemingly be one big map as opposed to a risk-style map with disconnected battle maps (as seen in Rise of Nations, Dawn of War: Dark Crusade, Battle for Middle-Earth, etc.). A nice, underused decision, but one good idea does not a good game make.
Can we all just agree that Creative Assembly and Paradox should have engaged in ritual combat to decide the fate of the license?
22/09/2011 at 17:10 Creeping Death says:
The size of Westeros is fine, it’s how quickly units can move across it that annoys me.
Also, there were more than 3 dragons in that trailer. This is not A Song of Ice and Fire as I know it, I’m out -.-
22/09/2011 at 17:26 Icarus says:
It’s a prequel set hundreds of years before the books, when Aegon Targaryen invaded with his many, many dragons. So that’s that justified.
22/09/2011 at 18:49 Unaco says:
Actually, Aegon and his 2 sisters invaded with only 3 Dragons. Also, the Targaryens ONLY ever fielded 1 Dragon at a time for battle, never more than one. One was really enough. The only time multiple Dragons took the field was during a Civil war type spat between Targaryens.
22/09/2011 at 19:26 Werthead says:
Aegon had 3 dragons during his invasion, but those dragons bred and had many hatchlings over the following years. During the Dance of Dragons they had about 30 dragons going around at once, so that’s fine.
22/09/2011 at 19:40 Jimbo says:
^^ All three of Aegon’s dragons fought at The Field of Fire. They burned the shit out of everything, hence the name.
22/09/2011 at 20:35 Unaco says:
You’re right Jimbo. I think. Though I am fairly sure It says in DwD that they only ever fielded 1 Dragon at a time, in the later battles and conflicts. Except for the Dance of Dragons.
22/09/2011 at 17:19 Davie says:
Welp, the trailer makes it look rather shite. The complete Westeros map is an interesting idea, but the tradeoff is that everything is horribly out of scale, which has been a constant issue with RTS games since the 90s. You’d think we’d have moved past that by now.
And perhaps I’m being shallow and nitpicky, but I see some exceedingly low-poly models and rather crap animations, which is especially jarring along with those Witcher 2-esque super detailed cutscenes.
Hopefully there will be a demo, and my doubts will be proved wrong gameplay-wise. I still think giving the ASOIAF license to Cyanide was a terrible idea. Why not, say, THQ who could then assign certain games in the franchise to their studios based on what those devs were good at? Cyanide haven’t proved themselves at all, and it’d be a shame to see this game reveal their incompetence.
BUT MAYBE IT WILL BE EXCELLENT! I’ll shut up now.
23/09/2011 at 08:31 bill says:
it’s not supposed to be in scale.
23/09/2011 at 01:42 Shooop says:
I like your writing style sir.
It drips with snark.
23/09/2011 at 08:36 bill says:
How can this be an RTS if it works on one single world map? Wouldn’t it be way too many things to worry about at one time?
Unlike some others, I think this looks great. I like the scale – one big world, but also semi-realistic armies to move around. Seems like a good mid-point between starcraft and civ.
But I cant see it being an RTS.