For Game Dreaming, we look to our favorite comics, movies and television shows and imagine them as AAA video games. By using existing games as a starting point, and adding in a healthy dose of imagination, we examine how the game might play, what it might look like and what it would be about in order to create the licensed games of our dreams.
This week we are imagining what the perfect Game of Thrones game for Xbox One and PlayStation 4 might play like.
We've seen a number of Game of Thrones video games in recent years. First came a lackluster strategy title. Next came an RPG from Cyanide Studios that may have had its heart in the right place, but simply couldn't deliver.
Most recently we've seen Telltale's take on George R.R. Martin's fantasy universe. And while Telltale's Game of Thrones is an entertaining experience true to the HBO show, the nature of Telltale's brand of adventure gaming simply isn't realizing the full potential of the franchise.
That's where we come in. Taking inspiration from existing games and applying it to the dark fantasy world of politics and backstabbing that we all know and love, this is what our perfect Game of Thrones game would be like.
Gameplay
Game of Thrones is a sweeping tale of dark fantasy. It's about battles, betrayals, marriage alliances, sex, politics and more, all rooted in actual medieval European history. Only with dragons, direwolves and undead monsters occasionally making an appearance.
What critically acclaimed game featuring monsters, sword fights, medieval politics and plenty of nudity recently saw release and also just so happens to be based on a fantasy book series? The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.
Our dream Game of Thrones video game would draw heavy inspiration from CD Projekt Red's open-world epic. Players would be able to roam the Westerosi countryside, fighting bandits, dangerous wildlife and more as they explored the Seven Kingdoms accepting jobs from peasants, vagabonds and nobles alike as a sword-for-hire. Along the way players will acquire better equipment and improve their skills, both at combat and at navigating the cut-throat world of Westerosi politics. Battles would be brutal, bloody and challenging. Players would need to learn how to deal with various enemy types, like opponents wearing heavy plate armor and shields as well as quicker, more nimble opponents.
While the action-RPG elements of Witcher 3 make perfect sense for Game of Thrones, so too does the game's love of moral ambiguity when it comes to making choices. In Game of Thrones there are no heroes and villains, only people making hard choices and trying to get ahead in the world. Players would have to make some of these hard choices themselves, often times with far-reaching consequences. This is something the Telltale Game of Thrones game excels at, and would be a perfect fit for different style game set in the same universe.
Where we diverge from Witcher 3's formula is in character creation. In our ideal Game of Thrones video game, players would be able to craft a unique character. Depending on which region of the realm you choose, your character's various skills and appearance will change. A Dornishman, for example, may be more efficient at using a spear and light-armor, while a character hailing from the North may be sturdier and have more stamina to draw from. In this way the game would be more like Bethesda's Elder Scrolls series, giving players the ability to craft create a unique avatar to explore Martin's dangerous world.
Visuals
Westeros can be a beautiful place, when it isn't stained red in the blood of innocents, that is. From the desert sands of Dorne to the snow-touched pines of the North, Martin's vast world is a landscape of diverse geography and locales. It only makes sense to try and bring that world to life in the most breathtaking way possible.
It sounds simple, but it has proven to be a challenge for developers so far. The Cyanide Game of Thrones RPG looked like an original Xbox game. Telltale's adventure series is visually appealing, but adopts a unique, oil-painting art style that wouldn't make sense for an open-world RPG. Our ideal Game of Thrones game wouldn't be stylized; it would be as gritty and as visually striking as the world we've seen depicted on HBO and imagined based on Martin's words.
Story
In Witcher 3, players play as Geralt, a professional monster slayer for hire. It's the perfect set-up. It gives players a reason to roam the countryside looking for monsters and provides an explanation for why the player character excels at combat.
An open-world, story driven Game of Thrones game could benefit from a similar type of protagonist. Luckily, Martin has one readily available in the form of the various hedge knights that wander Westeros. These knights-for-hire travel the countryside from the service of one lord to another, looking for work in exchange for a roof over their heads and food in their bellies. Martin's written about the adventures of one famous hedge knight in various short stories, and it sounds like perfect game material. Even though players would be able to craft their own character, each would begin as a hedge knight looking for work, trying to make their way in the world.
Of course there would be a greater central narrative as well. Being Game of Thrones, the simple knight would soon find themselves swept up in a grand power struggle between noble lords and ladies, attempting to use the hedge knight as a pawn in their games. For the game, it might be best to take players back in time before the events of Martin's novels, so players will be a little more unfamiliar with the political situation and will have to make choices on their own, rather than relying on the book's narrative for clues as to what noble House will come out on top. Placing players in a familiar yet different version of Westeros allows for the developers to get more creative with the game's plot without stepping on the toes of the HBO show or Martin's novels.
The Witcher 3 has proven there is a huge demand for deep, vast open-world RPGs. Westeros is every bit as compelling as the world of the Witcher, and unlike the books upon which the Witcher game series is based, the world is already in love with Game of Thrones. The detailed world Martin has created deserves to be transformed into a beautifully rendered, living, breathing world for players to explore, sword in hand.
For more Game Dreaming, check out what our ideal Daredevil video game would be like.
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