#1 Game of Thrones by Telltale Games (2014)

No surprises here, Telltale Game’s 2014 Game of Thrones is arguably the best GoT game released to-date. The game features a heavily narrative-driven point and click adventure, where players play as an original character. The setting takes place within the show’s timeline, and begins by following a minor house who’s allegiance likes with House Stark. There are six episodes in total, each are fantastic as they offer deep back story and more plot about what’s happening in the timeline. Episode 1 notoriously deals with The Red Wedding, and the cast also features famous characters from the show. Unfortunately, Season 2 was cancelled when Telltale Games laid off its staff and dismissed projects like GoT in 2018.

#2 Reigns: Game of Thrones

At second spot is a fairly new entry, and a nominee for 2018 Mobile Game of the Year. Reigns: Game of Thrones is a strategy game available on Android, iOS and Windows. Unlike other games on this list, R:GoT does things differently in terms of aesthetics and gameplay. For starters, the graphics are really cartoony but does feature majority of the series’s main characters. The gameplay involves making decisions for the Realm by “swiping” your screen, and outcomes depend on your choices. It’s a rather addictive and simple game that anyone can get into, so don’t let that strategy tag scare you. Ultimately, it offers some fun on the go for Game of Thrones fans who want a quick and easy fix.

#3 Game of Thrones: Winter Is Coming (2019)

Made by Yoozoo Games in partnership with HBO, GoT:WiS is the latest officially licensed game of the IP, and boy does it kinda suck, but not for reasons that other games on this list suffers. See, this is a browser/mobile and PC strategy game, where you build your empire, train armies, gather resources, team up with other players on your server and dominate the world map, capturing all the iconic locations in GoT from King’s Landing to Winterfell. It’s nothing we haven’t seen before in strategy gaming, but the level of pay to win in this one is ridiculous.

#3 Game of Thrones Ascent (2013)

In the middle of the list is an “Ok” game that won’t blow you away, but thankfully it doesn’t suck either. Ascent was a strategy web game that was also playable on mobile devices. The game features empire building with RPG mechanics in terms of growing your kingdom, character and resource pools. The game follows the HBO TV series very closely, often updating the game with Houses, units and more the very next day after a new episode aired. The game was fun for bits, but is definitely a time sink and a cash cow, as you can spend money to quicken the progress of building, recruitment and more. The game also expanded regions, and had a really cool Alliances system with quests and other content that actually felt solid as it added more to the overall narrative of the game world. Unfortunately, Ascent was shut down in January 3 2019 without a proper explanation, leaving fans wondering if they’ll ever see a good Game of Thrones video game in the future.

#4 A Game of Thrones: Genesis (2011)

When Genesis by Cyanide Studios was first announced, many were excited. This was an official video game that’s steeped with strategy elements, and since all we’ve had up to this point were Westeros Total War mods, this was supposed to be the king of the hill. Sadly, that was not the case. The game takes place over 1,000 years in the past, beginning with the arrival of the Rhoynar, through the perspective of Warrior-queen Nymeria. That did remove plenty of Game of Thrones fans who wanted a casual strategy game and not a history lesson. The gameplay however, makes it even worst. Players recruit units, capture nodes, castles, towns and gold-mines and must juggle resource management and combat. You control a major house throughout the developing timeline, but unlike other war strategy games, combat doesn’t place emphasis on brute strength of units. Each house has their own unique units and abilities that players must leverage base on situation. The game received mostly negative reviews due to the sub par gameplay despite being the first ever strategy game in the franchise.

#5 Game of Thrones (2012)

“But where’s the RPG?” I hear you ask. Here it is, bottom of the list where it truly belongs. 2012’s Game of Thrones by Cyanide Studios again, is an interesting concept that ultimately felt rushed, too ambitious for its budget, and as a result the execution suffered. Unfortunately for all Game of Thrones fans, this is the only AAA like RPG Game of Thrones ever made and it’s a pity that it sucks. The game takes place concurrently with the first season of the TV show, and players play as two characters – Alester and Mors. The former a priest from a house serving the Lannisters on a journey of discovery, while the latter a brother of the Night’s Watch. Both of the tales you play through gives some delightful plot, but delivered poorly. Cut-scenes that over 5 minutes to explain anything significant, and the voice actors sound like they’d rather do something else. The good news is, the actual actors who play these characters on the show, like Varys for example, does appear in-game. Elsewhere, the combat system is a total mess. It tries to mimic Dragon Age but comes no where close, which makes you endure level after level of clunky and stiff animations, alongside a gear and progression system that feels really unrewarding. If there’s a reason why we won’t see another RPG game based on this franchise, we can all blame this game for killing any future in the genre.

The post The Best and the Worst Game of Thrones Video Games Ranked appeared first on Mmos World.

The second faction is a Russian transnational corporation called EDEN, which contracts mercenaries to do its’ bidding. The “story”, doesn’t have an actual ending as you would expect from an MMOFPS and just serves as an unneeded, but a nice backdrop to explain why all these guys are running around shooting each other. But that’s not why you’re here. You’re here because you want to shoot people. Is Iron Sight a good game to satisfy your multiplayer FPS itch?

The Gameplay

Iron Sight has 4 PVE and PVP game modes respectively although only one PVE game mode is of any real importance. The first PVE game mode is a tutorial, which was likely thrown in as a formality more than out of necessity. All four PVP Game Modes are what you’d expect from a modern FPS. You’ve Team Deathmatch, Search and Destroy, Resource Takeover, and Secure Point; the last of which is used in the game’s ranked matches.

The game has over a dozen of maps at the moment, and they’re pretty standard for a futuristic FPS. An airport, a dam, an enclosed city-based area etc. Most of the maps are pretty well-laid out, with no choke points where players can cheese through matches. Some of the maps though are too spaced out and as a result, there may be lulls in the action but nothing too bad. I would’ve liked to have seen a bit more creativity on the maps though.

The Graphics

As far as visuals go, Iron Sight is rock-solid. Or iron solid is perhaps more appropriate. At first glance, the game could easily be mistaken for a last-gen console shooter in the mold of notable FPS franchises such as Call of Duty, Tom Clancy or Medal of Honor. The graphics are good in general, but particularly for an F2P MMO. F2P MMOs are always a mixed bag in the graphics department, and you never know what you’re going to get, but the devs put in a lot of work here. The game runs on its’ own proprietary Iron Engine and the devs should be proud of the job they’ve done.

Is It Pay To Win?

Most of the microtransactions in Iron Sight are purely for cosmetics. And that’s how it should be. You do need to repair your weapons after matches, which takes up gold (the game’s earnable currency), but the repair costs are never steep. You earn gold through a number of ways, the easiest being by simply playing matches. You also get gold from leveling up, completing challenges, and from logging in via the daily login rewards.

Iron Sight also has the expected loot crates, in the forms of supply and superior supply chests. These can be bought with either earnable or premium currency. I tried a few out, and they seem fair. You can get anything from these things, gloves, scopes, sights or even new guns. And again, you don’t need to buy anything in this game with your own hard-earned money, and playing as an F2P player is more than possible

Worth Playing?

Make no mistake. There is nothing on offer in Iron Sight that is groundbreaking or in any way reinvents the wheel. The game draws inevitable comparisons to Call of Duty, and for good reason; it looks and plays like a yesteryear Call of Duty. And that’s not a bad thing.

Iron Sight is fun. It’s simple and fast-paced. It’s a game you can play for a few minutes or a few hours. Despite the F2P MMO label, it doesn’t suffer from problems that plague a number of F2P MMOs, and it doesn’t employ an obnoxious microtransactions game model that pushes people away. It’s a great game and well worth playing.

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What Is ArcheAge

At face value, ArcheAge feels and looks like any other themepark MMO. But digging deeper, you’ll experience a good mix of sandbox elements too. You will choose one of the game’s six races, split between two factions, select one of ten skillsets, such as Battlerage or Occultism, and then get leveling. The first thing that you’ll likely realize is just how good ArcheAge looks, even for a game going on four-years-old. The CryEngine is put to work here, and the result is quite fantastic, assuming you possess a computer powerful enough to run it.

The Basics and Gameplay

After a bit of leveling, you’ll be able to unlock a second skillset, and then a third, and then you’ll have created a class. ArcheAge features 120 different classes, each one a combination of three of the ten different skillsets. There’s a lot of potential here to mix, match, and conjure up some unexpected synergies, like a warrior who crafts songs and loves the occult.

But no matter what class you choose, expect to engage in some Labor, one of ArcheAge’s mechanics that has a lot in common with stamina found in other games, although not nearly as restricting. Labor is necessary for a lot of what happens in ArcheAge, from crafting to farming (on an actual farm, not grinding). You have a limited amount of labor points, and gain more over time, but only while logged on.

This is also where ArcheAge’s subscription model really comes into play. Patrons, as they’re called, gain many increased benefits, including a boost to their labor pool and its regeneration. Not only that, but patrons can also gain labor while offline. Other patron benefits include a queue priority, an experience gain bonus, access to the auction house, the ability to buy land, and loyalty tokens which are used to buy special items at the Loyalty Store.

Player Housing

ArcheAge’s housing system is a bit more involved. You’re free to build yourself a house. First you’ll need a blueprint, though, and the materials to craft it. Of course, all of this is quite laborious, so you’ll need plenty of labor, too. Then once it’s built, you must pay taxes on it, or risk losing it, and if you’ve built it in the hostile northern continent, it can be destroyed by enemy players. Taxes are dependent upon where you settle, as well. In the South, the tax rate is set by the developers, but whoever holds the north gets to set the taxes.

The PvP Experience

PvP in ArcheAge entails either dueling other players, flat out murdering them, or conducting some good, old-fashioned cross-faction battling. Dueling is the simplest form of PvP. Nobody dies. Everyone’s happy – the winner more so. But when duels escalate, someone dies, and when that happens, it’s murder. Murder – as defined by ArcheAge – is when one player kills another – which coincidentally is also the definition under normal circumstances.

Of course there are rules and regulations for such activities. Firstly, a player must declare themselves hostile by going into Bloodlust mode. Anyone they attack will be able to attack them back without repercussion, but if the player that Bloodlusted kills a player of the same faction, they will gain crime and infamy points. You can work off your crime points by doing quests, but if you’re too much of a scoundrel, you’ll be sent to jail after a trial by your peers.

Final Thoughts

Though you could argue that the current live game is pay-to-win (you could certainly pay to bypass a lot of hurdles) you could also become wealthy all on your own and not have to worry about paying for anything. But it’s debatable whether or not ArcheAge’s sub-thousand player count has the long-term economy to support such lofty goals. The game will also drastically need to improve its reputation to once again compete on the level of Black Desert Online. And that’s why, Unchained’s release at the end of this month could be a game changer.

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Crusader Kings 2:  A Game of Thrones Mod (CK2: AGOT)

For large scale strategy fans, Crusader Kings 2 will be familiar to you, but did you know there is a Game of Thrones conversion mod? Yup, the mod actually includes playable houses, characters and more from the series into the game.  Set in the world of George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire(ASoIaF) fantasy saga where lords great and small vie for control over the lands of Ice and Fire, from Westeros and the Seven Kingdoms in the west, to Qarth in the east. The mod takes its name from the first book in the series, as well as the “game” of plots and politics the ambitious and hopeful are said to be playing in their struggles for supremacy. Currently players are able to choose to play from any start date in the 300 years from before the Aegon’s Conquest to the beginning of the fourth book (A Feast for Crows).

Game of Thrones by Telltale Games (2014)

Telltale Game’s 2014 Game of Thrones is arguably the best GoT game released to-date. The game features a heavily narrative-driven point and click adventure, where players play as an original character. The setting takes place within the show’s timeline, and begins by following a minor house who’s allegiance likes with House Stark. There are six episodes in total, each are fantastic as they offer deep back story and more plot about what’s happening in the timeline. Episode 1 notoriously deals with The Red Wedding, and the cast also features famous characters from the show. Unfortunately, Season 2 was cancelled when Telltale Games laid off its staff and dismissed projects like GoT in 2018.

Reigns: Game of Thrones

Nominee for 2018 Mobile Game of the Year, Reigns: Game of Thrones is a strategy game available on Android, iOS and Windows. Unlike other games on this list, R:GoT does things differently in terms of aesthetics and gameplay. For starters, the graphics are really cartoony but does feature majority of the series’s main characters. The gameplay involves making decisions for the Realm by “swiping” your screen, and outcomes depend on your choices. It’s a rather addictive and simple game that anyone can get into, so don’t let that strategy tag scare you. Ultimately, it offers some fun on the go for Game of Thrones fans who want a quick and easy fix.

Game of Thrones Ascent (2013)

This is an “Ok” game that won’t blow you away, but thankfully it doesn’t suck either. Ascent was a strategy web game that was also playable on mobile devices. The game features empire building with RPG mechanics in terms of growing your kingdom, character and resource pools. The game follows the HBO TV series very closely, often updating the game with Houses, units and more the very next day after a new episode aired. The game was fun for bits, but is definitely a time sink and a cash cow, as you can spend money to quicken the progress of building, recruitment and more. The game also expanded regions, and had a really cool Alliances system with quests and other content that actually felt solid as it added more to the overall narrative of the game world. Unfortunately, Ascent was shut down in January 3 2019 without a proper explanation, leaving fans wondering if they’ll ever see a good Game of Thrones video game in the future.

A Game of Thrones: Genesis (2011)

When Genesis by Cyanide Studios was first announced, many were excited. This was an official video game that’s steeped with strategy elements, and since all we’ve had up to this point were Westeros Total War mods, this was supposed to be the king of the hill. Sadly, that was not the case. The game takes place over 1,000 years in the past, beginning with the arrival of the Rhoynar, through the perspective of Warrior-queen Nymeria. That did remove plenty of Game of Thrones fans who wanted a casual strategy game and not a history lesson. The gameplay however, makes it even worst. Players recruit units, capture nodes, castles, towns and gold-mines and must juggle resource management and combat. You control a major house throughout the developing timeline, but unlike other war strategy games, combat doesn’t place emphasis on brute strength of units. Each house has their own unique units and abilities that players must leverage base on situation. The game received mostly negative reviews due to the sub par gameplay despite being the first ever strategy game in the franchise.

Game of Thrones (2012)

“But where’s the RPG?” I hear you ask. Here it is, bottom of the list where it truly belongs. 2012’s Game of Thrones by Cyanide Studios again, is an interesting concept that ultimately felt rushed, too ambitious for its budget, and as a result the execution suffered. Unfortunately for all Game of Thrones fans, this is the only AAA like RPG Game of Thrones ever made and it’s a pity that it sucks. The game takes place concurrently with the first season of the TV show, and players play as two characters – Alester and Mors. The former a priest from a house serving the Lannisters on a journey of discovery, while the latter a brother of the Night’s Watch. Both of the tales you play through gives some delightful plot, but delivered poorly. Cut-scenes that over 5 minutes to explain anything significant, and the voice actors sound like they’d rather do something else. The good news is, the actual actors who play these characters on the show, like Varys for example, does appear in-game. Elsewhere, the combat system is a total mess. It tries to mimic Dragon Age but comes no where close, which makes you endure level after level of clunky and stiff animations, alongside a gear and progression system that feels really unrewarding. If there’s a reason why we won’t see another RPG game based on this franchise, we can all blame this game for killing any future in the genre.

The post Games To Fill That Game of Thrones Void Now That The TV Show Is Over appeared first on Mmos World.

What Are The Rewards?

The Invasion Cache pool consists of three outfits inspired by the factions roaming Washington, D.C. , one mask, four emotes and nine weapon skins. These are things you’ve probably seen on enemies before, but they are definitely cooler looking on you.

On top of that, players can earn the following exciting rewards:

• One extra mask, earned for completing the three Invasion outfits.
• A unique Black Tusk inspired uniform, earned for collecting all 30 items in the pool of the Invasion Cache. Note that this reward is only obtainable during the event.
• Incredible new weapon skins that looks awesome all round.

Free Keys And How To Earn Them

To kick Invasion off, The Division 2 are giving all players who log into The Division 2 during the first week of Invasion one free key! All Year One Pass holders will earn an additional three keys as a bonus, available until Invasion ends! The game wants everyone to celebrate by wearing their new apparel items, so enjoy your first cache openings and good luck with the RNG. It’s safe to say you’ll take numerous keys before you get the skins and outfits that you want.

From there, keys can be earned from the following sources:

• Weekly Apparel Projects: three keys each
• Chance to drop when reaching Field Proficiency upon each level after 30
• Chance to drop when reaching Dark Zone Proficiency
• Direct purchase with Premium Credits

Division 2 Apparel Event Phases

Here is a detailed breakdown and availability for Invasion:

• Event Live—April 5th to April 25th. During this period, Event keys can be earned from the sources listed above.
• Event Closing—April 25th to May 2nd. If you have leftover keys available, be sure to use them now! You can use your unspent keys, as well as purchase additional ones to complete apparel sets.
• Post Event—May 2nd onward. All items from the Event Cache are moved into the standard Apparel Caches to earn through gameplay, as well as put on the Apparel Store for direct purchase, with an exception for the Black Tusk uniform.

Remember, Event Caches do not contain duplicates and all items yet to be collected can be viewed in the Apparel section in-game. For more information on Apparel Caches and Event Caches, visit The Division 2 Year One Update blog.

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What You Need To Know

The game is buy to play. Purchase for it once on the website or on Steam, and you’re good to go forever. Additional DLCs can be bought as standalone or you can get the monthly optional subscription to get them free. There are expansions called Chapters like Morrowind and Summerset, and this summer will see the release of its best one yet, Elsweyr – which features a year long story about dragons in Tamriel in addition to the new Necromancer class. These Chapters require a purchase regardless if you’re a subscriber or not.

The game world is huge at this point, with many questing zones and activities to do. PvE offers open world questing and stories that are fully voice acted with dialogues. This is for every single quest in the game which is impressive and of high quality. The combat system uses an action style, and is easy to grasp for the PC. You can also enjoy it on the PS4 and Xbox One.

Play How You Want

One of the best things about ESO is that it’s adaptable. What does that mean? It means the game reacts to how you play it. If you want to play it solo, go ahead! If you’d rather prefer running around with friends or with your guild, that’s fine too! ESO does not punish you for being casual or hardcore, and on top of that, rewards you either way. For the casual player with only a certain amount of time to play each week, the pace of the game is set by you. You can explore solo dungeons in the form of Delves, and whenever you feel like doing a dungeon or two, simply use the group finder and you’re set. For hardcore players, Veteran dungeons, Trials (raids) and the PvP Battlegrounds and Alliance War map will offer you good fun and long term progression.

The new content additions over the past couple of years greatly enhances what you can do on your own in the world. The Thieves Guild for example, allows you to be a master thief and pick-pocket NPCs in town, break into homes to steal loot and more. You’re then able to fence it off – sell it for Gold – and create another way for you to make money in-game. It’s also a form of horizontal progression. The more you break into homes with the lock-pick system and the more you sell your stolen goods, the higher your Legerdemain skill tree progresses. This allows you to put more Skill Points in it to get better at sneaking, for example. That form of character progression is unique to the Elder Scrolls Online, and one that no other MMORPG out there has managed to pamper me with.

Frequent Content Releases

Most MMOs enters into a lull period after a major content release, and that’s usually normal. We see it more often in Free to Play games where the content takes longer to arrive and in smaller bite-sizes, not to mention that quality can be a hit or miss. As ESO is between the two models of F2P and subscription only, you can expect at least multiple updates and DLCs per year, and of which, the quality is usually on-point. Players have already gotten a taste of the first few DLC updates for 2018, from Dragon Bones to Summerset, and now Wolfhunter to Murkmire. The game is just growing at a steady pace in terms of content.

New content alone isn’t all the game will be offering. There’s more quality of life improvements as well. Remember we talked about player housing that was introduced last year? Well it got better. Housing storage is available, and adds 360 slots in total for players to store items in their homes. This adds a tangible and much needed feature that will help players both new and old very much. That’s because prior to the announcement, inventory spaces on the player and from the bank always involved heavy micro-management due to limited upgrade slots.  A new outfit system is also introduced which further addressees the feedback of the playerbase. Battlegrounds have been made free for all and no longer requires the Morrowind Chapter. All in all, these changes benefit you.

What Are The Cons?

MMORPGs are always improving with time. New content is usually the priority alongside squashing old bugs. At this point, the biggest cons that we would warn you about is latency and lag, which is really dependent on where you’re playing from in the world. On some days, you’ll get decent ping ratings in populated zones and in PvP, while on other days, it can be unplayable. Again, not many players may experience this, but it is a thorn in the game’s side, and they can definitely improve their servers.

Another area out-of game that should be looked at is customer support. Zenimax has done wonders to turn their reputation for ESO around from their terrible launch to the game it was supposed to be today. But that all counts for little if your customer support is rubbish. We’ve experienced first hand a few players getting locked out of their account, or having trouble linking their accounts to Steam, and Zenimax customer support offers no help whatsoever. And finally, if you’re 100% against RNG lootboxes, be aware that they do exist in the game’s cash shop. They contain mostly cosmetic “fluff”.

Value For Money

Most importantly for us, is the value for money proposition. What makes the Elder Scrolls Online so attractive is its Buy to Play model. If you’re planning to play the game on the PC, all you need is a one-time purchase and you’re good to go. You’ll be able to play the vanilla game for free without any restrictions. When it comes to purchasing the additional DLCs, you can either opt for the monthly subscription which unlocks it all, or buy them à la carte using Crown Points. Options is always a good thing.

But what is the value proposition you speak of? Firstly, the game goes on sale multiple times a year, especially on Steam. You can get it at ridiculous prices, sometimes even 50% off during Thanksgiving and other seasonal sales. For that sort of price, the amount of content you get is crazy. Elsewhere, playing the game now is so much better than playing it at release. As we’ve mentioned, the improvements over the years makes ESO one of the best MMOs out there today for all play styles. The One Tamriel Update for instance, allowed players the freedom to cross over zones and do whatever they wanted with level and zone scaling. Who’s to say there won’t be other game-changing updates in the near future? For what I’ve invested in it, the amount of time I am sinking into the game is totally worth the purchase, because I am having fun.

The post Should You Start Playing Elder Scrolls Online In 2019? appeared first on Mmos World.

Mix of Old and New Characters

For veteran players the prologue brings back a character that’s been seen throughout ESO’s base game. The Imperial battle wizard Abnur Tharn returns with a purpose. It turns out, he’s the one who hired Tharayya to seek the two halves of the Wrathstone Tablet for a reason. Tharn wants to end the Three Banners War and bring peace to Tamriel. The tablet he thinks holds a weapon that will give him bargaining leverage. It’s nice to see Tharn return, and the cool thing is new players won’t be confused about who he is as the narrative positions him in a way that works out for newcomers. On the other hand, we also get to interact with new characters like the Khajiit Khamira. As an agent of Elsweyr, she wants to stop both Abnur and Euraxia Tharn from getting their hands on the weapon. This conflict plays out in the prologue and it’s rather nice to watch it all unfold.

A Brief History Lesson On The Khajit

We already know we’re heading into Elsweyr this June, so the prologue does quite a good job at setting the scene. To understand the Wrathstone tablet, we seek out various Khajiti moonsingers and lore masters who provide interesting back story about their history and how it involves this weapon. The quest will take you far and wide with a little help from Abnur Tharn, to uncover mysteries surrounding the lore. It’s not boring or dragged out with dialogue which is always a plus. But it’s beefy enough to give lore-hunters and Elder Scrolls enthusiast something to pour over.

Taste of Elsweyr Adventure

What the prologue does very well is the in-between story exposition sequences. You’ll do many Indiana Jones style things, so expect combat in Delves and the best part is definitely the new puzzles involved. The Khajiti moonsingers each tell a tale of an ancient warrior who overcame this weapon, and all clues lead to ruins. These need to be explore to unearth Triangulate Tiles – necessary for combining the two halves of the Wrathstone Tablet. Each of the final rooms have puzzles that need to be solved. These are based on the Khajit moons which are fun and challenging. All in all, it’s a throwback to good Elder Scrolls adventures and for a prologue to include the best of both bits is impressive.

That Scene With The Dragons

The prologue’s climax is an instance within the Halls of Colossus on the south coast of Elsweyr. Both Abnur Tharn and Khamira join you in the hunt for the weapon, for Tharn’s evil half sister and her Imperial army are already there. Wanting the weapon for themselves, you must now quickly end their schemes. Combat sections and puzzle sections both return in this instance, but the true climax happens when everyone figures out the weapon is in fact, dragons. While the Imperials are defeated, we ultimately fail in stopping the dragons from getting free, and thus a magnificent cut-scene takes place, where these fiery beasts of legend are unleashed upon Elsweyr. As far as prologues go, this is The Elder Scrolls Online’s best one yet.

The post ESO 2019: Why The Elsweyr Prologue Quest Is Awesome appeared first on Mmos World.

#1 Game of Thrones by Telltale Games (2014)

No surprises here, Telltale Game’s 2014 Game of Thrones is arguably the best GoT game released to-date. The game features a heavily narrative-driven point and click adventure, where players play as an original character. The setting takes place within the show’s timeline, and begins by following a minor house who’s allegiance likes with House Stark. There are six episodes in total, each are fantastic as they offer deep back story and more plot about what’s happening in the timeline. Episode 1 notoriously deals with The Red Wedding, and the cast also features famous characters from the show. Unfortunately, Season 2 was cancelled when Telltale Games laid off its staff and dismissed projects like GoT in 2018.

#2 Reigns: Game of Thrones

At second spot is a fairly new entry, and a nominee for 2018 Mobile Game of the Year. Reigns: Game of Thrones is a strategy game available on Android, iOS and Windows. Unlike other games on this list, R:GoT does things differently in terms of aesthetics and gameplay. For starters, the graphics are really cartoony but does feature majority of the series’s main characters. The gameplay involves making decisions for the Realm by “swiping” your screen, and outcomes depend on your choices. It’s a rather addictive and simple game that anyone can get into, so don’t let that strategy tag scare you. Ultimately, it offers some fun on the go for Game of Thrones fans who want a quick and easy fix.

#3 Game of Thrones Ascent (2013)

In the middle of the list is an “Ok” game that won’t blow you away, but thankfully it doesn’t suck either. Ascent was a strategy web game that was also playable on mobile devices. The game features empire building with RPG mechanics in terms of growing your kingdom, character and resource pools. The game follows the HBO TV series very closely, often updating the game with Houses, units and more the very next day after a new episode aired. The game was fun for bits, but is definitely a time sink and a cash cow, as you can spend money to quicken the progress of building, recruitment and more. The game also expanded regions, and had a really cool Alliances system with quests and other content that actually felt solid as it added more to the overall narrative of the game world. Unfortunately, Ascent was shut down in January 3 2019 without a proper explanation, leaving fans wondering if they’ll ever see a good Game of Thrones video game in the future.

#4 A Game of Thrones: Genesis (2011)

When Genesis by Cyanide Studios was first announced, many were excited. This was an official video game that’s steeped with strategy elements, and since all we’ve had up to this point were Westeros Total War mods, this was supposed to be the king of the hill. Sadly, that was not the case. The game takes place over 1,000 years in the past, beginning with the arrival of the Rhoynar, through the perspective of Warrior-queen Nymeria. That did remove plenty of Game of Thrones fans who wanted a casual strategy game and not a history lesson. The gameplay however, makes it even worst. Players recruit units, capture nodes, castles, towns and gold-mines and must juggle resource management and combat. You control a major house throughout the developing timeline, but unlike other war strategy games, combat doesn’t place emphasis on brute strength of units. Each house has their own unique units and abilities that players must leverage base on situation. The game received mostly negative reviews due to the sub par gameplay despite being the first ever strategy game in the franchise.

#5 Game of Thrones (2012)

“But where’s the RPG?” I hear you ask. Here it is, bottom of the list where it truly belongs. 2012’s Game of Thrones by Cyanide Studios again, is an interesting concept that ultimately felt rushed, too ambitious for its budget, and as a result the execution suffered. Unfortunately for all Game of Thrones fans, this is the only AAA like RPG Game of Thrones ever made and it’s a pity that it sucks. The game takes place concurrently with the first season of the TV show, and players play as two characters – Alester and Mors. The former a priest from a house serving the Lannisters on a journey of discovery, while the latter a brother of the Night’s Watch. Both of the tales you play through gives some delightful plot, but delivered poorly. Cut-scenes that over 5 minutes to explain anything significant, and the voice actors sound like they’d rather do something else. The good news is, the actual actors who play these characters on the show, like Varys for example, does appear in-game. Elsewhere, the combat system is a total mess. It tries to mimic Dragon Age but comes no where close, which makes you endure level after level of clunky and stiff animations, alongside a gear and progression system that feels really unrewarding. If there’s a reason why we won’t see another RPG game based on this franchise, we can all blame this game for killing any future in the genre.

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Vampire: The Masquerade—Bloodlines 2

This week, gothic RPG fans world wide screamed in joy as Bloodlines 2 has been announced. Paradox has confirmed it will be publishing the RPG, and the game will be a direct sequel to 2004’s Vampire: The Masquerade. Simply put, the first game is a cult classic RPG for good reasons. The writing and story, the atmosphere and the gameplay. In Bloodlines 2, players will again take on the role of a new vampire. You’ll have to deal with the various vampire factions, politics and more to fight for control over the city. Gameplay utilizes first person combat with vampire powers plus stealth mechanics. The catch is, we probably won’t see it until 2020.

HALO: The Master Chief Collection

Another one for the nostalgia books, Halo players can now look forward to playing all the Halo games on the PC. The Master Chief Collection is a compilation for both the Xbox One and PC. It includes Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 3 and Halo 4, which were all Xbox exclusives. Well not anymore! We can only hope a lot of the bugs and matchmaking issues on the Xbox version will be fixed, tweaked and improved for the PC version coming soon.

Cyberpunk 2077

Studio CD Projekt Red’s next massive RPG game shows us an exciting future in the world of Cyberpunk – a cynical future where capitalism and technology has changed the world for the worst. Players play in the shoes of protagonist V, who must traverse this huge open world with no loading times. Primarily an FPS game, it is definitely a departure from The Witcher, but it remains true to its RPG storytelling roots. The game has level up progression, skill-checks and definitely loot such as getting high-tech weapons and more.

Phoenix Point

From the original creator of the X-Com series comes another X-Com type game, Phoenix Point. An unusual virus discovered in melting permafrost excites the scientific community. It has a massive genome, and only 1% of its genes match anything in existing databases. This of course, spawns aliens in a futuristic earth and yes, you get a squad and you take em out. What Phoenix Point does differently is to add a lot more options, flexibility and customization than the new generation of XCOM games have done. While we’re exciting for this new turn-based strategy game RPG, unfortunately it will be an Epic Store exclusive. And that’s unfortunate.

The Outer Worlds

The Outer Worlds is a new single-player first-person sci-fi RPG from Obsidian Entertainment and Private Division. Lost in transit while on a colonist ship bound for the furthest edge of the galaxy, you awake decades later only to find yourself in the midst of a deep conspiracy threatening to destroy the Halcyon colony. As you explore the furthest reaches of space and encounter various factions, all vying for power, the character you decide to become will determine how this player-driven story unfolds. In the corporate equation for the colony, you are the unplanned variable and all hell breaks loose. This sounds like the perfect RPG game for those felt wanting after Fallout 76.

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World of Warcraft

No question, World of Warcraft has the highest viewership, content creator count and presence on Twitch today. Blizzard has done well to adopt itself to modern times by engaging players, fans and others via the streaming platform to great success. The developer Q&A sessions alone brings in more viewers that any ordinary stream from the other games on this list combined can. Additionally, WoW’s content on offer from streamers – from Mythic+ runs to World First raid kills – are incredibly popular and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Elder Scrolls Online

The Elder Scrolls Online and Zenimax Online Studios must like hearing this a lot: they’ve done a great job turning the game from mediocre to great. One of the ways ESO has improved is by bringing players closer to the what goes on with the game via Twitch. ESO regularly hosts developer streams highlighting new content and updates, with some fun stuff thrown in like lore videos and community events. The best part? Out of all the MMORPGs on this list, ESO is the only one that has Twitch Drops enabled. This rewards players and viewers with a chance of free Crown Crates in-game. The viewership for player streams is also decent, as there are some big names out there that plays ESO regularly.

Final Fantasy XIV

FFXIV is perhaps the most popular JARPG and Asian MMORPG on the list, and it has a massive Twitch presence obviously. Square Enix does do a lot of promotion and update drops on Twitch, in addition to its other social media channels. However, expect to see plenty of content from players. Story is a big driver for the MMORPG thanks to its epic main story quests, and that becomes a great series of streams. Additionally, dungeons and raids are also popular, unlike PvP streams.

Guild Wars 2

ArenaNet’s Guild Wars 2 has a decent amount of presence on Twitch. With a weekly stream schedule featuring devevelopment and art showcases, the partnership with content creators and streamers also benefits the game. While the MMORPG may no longer be involved with e-sports, the recent release of a new raid wing brought in a lot of eyeballs on launch day. That’s a great sign that there’s still an audience to see some of the game’s harder content live on stream.

Black Desert Online

And lastly, let’s not forget about Asia’s most successful MMORPG export, BDO. Black Desert Online does indeed have a big presence on Twitch like the rest on the list. They have also adopted a partnership model with streamers, and have taken well to promoting content on their Twitch. And remember, their Black Desert: Remastered keynote was livestreamed in Korea to the world via Twitch. There are a good number of players and streamers on Twitch that streams BDO all hours of the day, and while their numbers don’t hit the heights some of the others do, the content are usually good entertainment – expect guides, farms and PvP.

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