+1 @Strawman, also an Age of Empires fan.

This is a big get. The title doesn't really get bigger when you consider the past decade, with GOT definitely one of the more popular TV series over that time. The general theme also fits well with strategy gaming in my view -- various noble families in conflict with one another in order to gain control of a mythical land. A previous game in their catalogue, Age of Darkness - also a strategy game - will no doubt have been very important in them landing this win, but will no doubt serve Playside well in development.

One could argue that real-time strategy games have fallen by the wayside somewhat in terms of popularity. This might be just what the genre needs to renew some interest in what was previously incredibly popular amongst gamers.

@Strawman and @Rocket6 [At the risk of turning this into a game geek thread] I was right into Dune 2 and Command and Conquer. Those were the days... summer school holidays, where you didn't know if it was hot or cold, day or night outside, all that mattered was building base defenses and mining spice or tiberium.

Back back on topic, I agree that GOT is perfectly setup for strategy gaming, although maybe a 4X Civilization-style game, or even a Total War style game might be a better fit. I could see Creative Assembly (the Total War guys) doing a great job of GOT, so I wonder how Playside got it.

Has anyone played Age of Darkness yet? I've got a toddler and so my gaming days are over for a little while. If so, some questions:

• Is it any good?
• Is it as addictive as the games in the good old days?
• Does it seem like there's scope for sequels and maybe expanding the franchise to other genres (eg. FPS, RPGs)?

ah Civilisation. Another one where I've "invested" a LOT of hours :)

I haven't tried age of Darkness yet. Too busy killing bugs in Helldivers 2. For democracy!!

All the time in the world for Command and Conquer! Was a big fan of Warcraft (strategy) too. Those were the days.

Age of Darkness is very polished but the story line / replayability isn't there in my view. Emphasis on polished though, very impressive and reflects well on Playside.

I doubt they would try a sequel due to player base not justifying it but you never know.

Looks like Playside have decided to swing for the fences here as GoT is a franchise that is as recognisable as they come.

The RTS genre is a logical step given the studios experience with Warcraft 3, AoD and the titles under the publishing arm.

What I do see as a risk with a title like this is, so far they still haven’t launched a significant title under their own banner.

World Boss fizzled

Age of Darkness has been in development since at least early 2021 and is still in early access, with a new roadmap now targeting release at the end of the year. They aren’t going to be able to sit on a GoT title working through bugs pre release like that.

If they can execute then this is a massive step forward for the company.

I don't begrudge them for a long time in early access. Some of the highest quality games spent a long time in early access. They get a better quality product because they are essentially outsourcing quality control to their biggest fans.

Two massively awarded games I can think of that spent years in early access were Supergiant's Hades and Larian's Baldur's gate 3. Small independent studios that blew AAA studios out of the water.

My big concern with PLY here is that maybe Game of thrones has lost relevance, it was huge before the last season fizzled out for everyone. Imagine releasing that in the midst of season 3 or 4 of the show. Not saying they can't make a great game out of the IP, but maybe the IP isn't as valuable here.

Apparently 'Tempest rising' is a spiritual successor to Command and conquer https://store.steampowered.com/app/1486920/Tempest_Rising/

I've played about 60 hours of Age of darkness.

Extremely early access was essentially one survival map that played like a version of 'They are billions,' it was entertaining and stressful at the same time at a high enough difficulty with a risk reward mechanic that pretty much was designed that if you didn't take enough risks early on you'd get destroyed later on by the masses of enemies. That's where I spent most of the 60 hours, youtube is full of people trying to smash the harder difficulties.

I since played the story mode, I didn't like it as much - the voice acting was wooden and the story wasn't super exciting. I'm hoping the general game loop will be more like the punishing earlier access map as I felt like I was just going through the motions.

I have to give it another go soon to see how I feel now since they have made some updates.

AOD is a game with a lot of potential, I just hope they follow through and don't spread their team too thin.

The new GOT spin off is due to start being filmed next week- it is due to be mich more aligned to the original than the most rrcent spin off- its called knight of the 7 kingdoms and will use similar sets to the original and popular series! Heres hoping its a raging success