The best Game of Thrones game

 

Last time I wrote an article talking about the very worst of the worst of Game of Thrones games that languishes across our industry- and it wasn't all that hard of an article to write given the fact that pretty much none of them are good. That's kind of a lay-up when you think about it. Despite the wealth of potential clearly present in the source material, few have risen to the challenge of doing it justice and even in the places where they did for a time, no one could quite keep it up until those last few precious moments. But what if I told you that the only reason I brought up the worst was in order to sally forth my personal pick for what is actually an excellent Game of Thrones game for anyone why wants a bit of Westeros in their life and isn't exactly picky about where they get it. (Hmm. I sound like a back-alley drug dealer selling special cuts of K he labels 'Jon Snow'.)

But then, why did I not bring up such a game during my article on all the Game of Thrones games out there? Why was it not listed as a counterbalance against all the licenced Game of Thrones titles that litter this polluted earth? Well, that might be because the game in question is not, explicitly, a licenced title from the HBO series. In fact, I don't think HBO would ever have even considered a style of game like this one, despite it's aptness, because in the cold vacuum of a board members brain critical thinking and deduction is of no use. Theirs is a breed that see's big number and wants big number to work for them, which is how we get several dozen high budget AAA games dedicate themselves to the same genre year after year and then wonder why diminishing returns ensue. (The snake loves chomping down on it's own tail!)

Never in a thousand years would such a creature ever think that the perfect genre for Game of Thrones would be anything as niche as a tactical game. Even though when it comes to the machinations of large nations moving battlelines across the course of world changing geo politics, 4x Tactics games are kind of the go-to. Based heavily around the War of the Roses, Game of Thrones hardly ever shies away from the wars that wage up and down Westeros in the back and foreground of major series events, and although it seems the very ethos of the story was designed to undercut the significance of it all in that final act- which the show totally bugled to a legendary degree- there's still a large sector of people out there who would simply love to just push those big armies across a virtual board to their heart's content. 

Whilst I'm quite sure of any 4X style Game of Thrones experiences, although I'm sure one sits out there- for my money the best tactical offering is 'Realm of Thrones'- the total conversion mod for 'Mount and Blade: Warband' which brings every bit of the complex geopolitical machinations to the Mount and Blade engine for all your bizarre fan fiction desires. Do you want to rush the Frey's in order to prevent the Red Wedding? Go for it! Is the Stark domination of the north rubbing you the wrong way? Hunt them down like the rapid wolves they are! Does Dani's prolonged faffing about on the otherside of the world for the first 5 years rub on your last nerve? Become her vassal and stoke fires of war on her behalf- I'm sure the Dragon Queen won't mind!

Mount and Blade: Warband is already a fantastic tactical RPG medieval simulator with plenty of flexibility on your rags-to-riches journey through society. Starting a mercenary group, regularly sacrificing your mercenaries on a mad dash to acquire as much reputation as possible, and then breaking the game economy when you figure out how workshops work. The only problem with the game is that it's various factions feel a bit... samey. When you interact with nations mostly my invading them over and over in a never ending war, the only way they stand out is the way in which they fight and in a medieval game- there's not a lot of room for 'individual expression', so to speak. And the solution to that problem? Borrow all of George RR Martin's!

As a supplicant of the Lannister's I of course busied myself hopping about the lands of the south filling out that mental map of Westeros the series intro imbued in my head with all those inbetween locations that usually get brushed over- because now they were places of significance in my conquest! Of course, it was all in  preparation for the time when the Starks would become our enemy, and we'd battle in the frigid northern snows. It's that kind of arcade-style but true to heart franchise experience you get out of games like Star Wars Battlefront. A small hit of the essence of that world injected directly into the veins. Maybe it's not true to the book, or to the show, but does that really matter?

And who doesn't love carving their own path through the familiar? I went through hell and high water to lead a dangerous expedition into the north the moment I learned Arya Stark led her company out into the wilderness for a bit- and though I was being chased by armies literally twice my size all the way back- I returned with a captive Starkling- in doing so preventing the worst twist ending ever conceived by man! No ending the long night early this time around! Can't wait to see what happens when the leaders of the Lannister house start getting picked off, considering my character is currently married to Myrcella and thus has a convoluted path to the Iron throne if things bend the right direction! That's what I'm talking about- the headcannoning is the heart of experiences like these!

Now is it perfect? Not quite. Pretty sure Twin Lannister somehow survived past the events of Season 4 which is... slightly scuppering my marital plans. Kind of hoping he dies of old age at this point, Mount and Blade doesn't really feature any 'covert assassination' mechanics that I know of. I also haven't had the pleasure of encountering the dragons I know this mod has, which could either be very cool or a mistake. We'll see when they get here. But otherwise with the attention to detail in creating the land, the modelling of the various amours and units and dedication to creating a fully immersive Game of Thrones world to play within, unlike literally every other official game before it, Realm of Thrones rises head and shoulders above all other pretenders. Play it, seriously. 

Running a Warband

Into the ground.

I've been slowly whittling away at Watch Dogs Legion in order to get up my review on it which, if you've ever played Legion, you'll know means I need to have other games in order to keep me from growing bored with gaming altogether as a hobby. Without getting into that whole cake before it's cooked, let's just say 'diversity and excitement' runs out pretty quickly, requiring to me seek out much more dynamic and exciting video games such as, perhaps, the 2010 re-release of a 2008 sandbox MMO about Medieval combat. Yeah, there's definitely a lot more gameplay variety there! But seriously, Mount and Blade: Warband has been an actual treat to come back to and play with some degree of seriousness (as opposed to the fumbling I usually do) and though Bannerlord (the sequel) has just hit it's official big release, I think there's something special and worth coming back to even in that battered old version of this long running franchise.

As I've mentioned before, the start of Mount and Blade will pit your custom-built player as a mercenary in a fictional medieval land on the constant brink of total warfare between six very unhappy factions. Which is why the start of game is pretty much spent avoiding all the major conflicts, hiring up local mercenaries from villages and plundering bandits and looters. It is astonishing how many people in the Mount and Blade universe decided to take up a career in mugging the 'innocents 'of the world; so astonishing that I slightly wonder who it is exactly they're sticking up. Surely each other, at this point; they outnumber the villages 10 to 1 so... where else are they getting their supplies? Luckily the cycle of life dictates that their reigns of terror is always short lived by the blade of some upcoming so-and-so who's looking to cut his men's collective teeth on the bones of fodder enemies.

Being a free-agent makes it easy to shop around for opportunities worth profiting from, whether it be from accepting missions at Villages (In my recent playthrough I can't find any mission which isn't 'please bring us cattle we can't possibly pay you for'!) or from the various nobles that can't be bothered to so much as ride to the next castle over to deliver a letter, or, the most sure-fire source of employment, local guild leaders in big towns. And opportunity is the driving force of the slow rise which is this game's loop. You do jobs that get you enough money to keep running your warband and build up your 'renown' which in turn opens you up to more opportunity. The more renown you own the easier it is to prove you're someone of worth that should be taken seriously and given access to becoming a noble, or maybe even starting your own kingdom to define what 'noblehood' even is!

Of course, starting your own fledgling rebellion is pretty much 'endgame' stuff when it comes to Mount and Blade; which is why most players are stuck running errands back and forth for lazy nobles just to make ends meet. That was how I endured playing Mount and Blade for ages back when I was young, which is why it's so surprising to me to learn now that I could have completely subsidized the cost of paying my mercenaries and soldiers through the businesses system! The game did nothing to alert me to the fact that this system existed! Essentially, the player can roll up to a Guild leader that likes them just a little bit (as long as the lord of that town doesn't hate your guts for doing something crazy like eloping with his pre-betrothed daughter or something...) and pay for the land to build a business that is largely self perpetuating and will provide a consistent revenue stream that can offset troop costs pretty darn easily. Would have been nice to see that in the tutorial, and not find it randomly in a Youtube video!

Becoming more famous isn't the only means of progression in Mount and Blade, and in fact the game enjoys some decently robust RPG mechanisms within it's skin that blossoms the proficiency of the player during their playtime. (So that in the times when you make a raw judgement call and lose everything, you're never starting totally from square one.) There's plenty to level up from the bare basics stuff, like hitting harder to blocking more, to the inventory you can carry, the level of weaponry you can use, how fast you travel on the world map and how many people you can recruit to your Warband. Some skills are explained less clearly than others, however, and 'party' skills don't necessarily stack like one might expect.

Stick at it long enough and you may earn enough credentials to make it as a noble for one of the warring factions. And then it's slap bang into 'responsibilities-ville' for you because, lo and behold, now you have to manage fiefdoms, and castles, and worry about places you own being pillaged. And you'll get calls to war from the faction marshal. The more you move up in the Mount and Blade pecking order, the more plates you'll end up spinning. Personally I liked the prestige of the title but the freedom of being that 'free agent' just appealed to my style of play so-much more. Still, having friends in noble places can be helpful in the right circumstances, such as whenever you need to convince wars to be started to stopped to your benefit. Geopolitical manipulation has it's draws.

But for my money the most fun part of the Mount and Blade gameplay cycle is raiding, and what's more than that; raiding castles. Taleworlds did a great job creating the sense of blind chaos when raiding a fortification, even whilst shackled to a decently strapped engine. The AI will always bundle into the exact same kill box, and there's very little tactical options in the game to alleviate any of that mad AI dash, but being in the middle of that crush, swinging wildly whilst arrows cut down everyone around you, and bodies get thrown off the gang-planks into the courtyard, is exciting despite the hangups. Of course, Bannerlord made great strides to improve this system immensely, but even with the dated tools I've got, I can squeeze a great time out of it.

Mount and Blade is one of those games that fully realises exactly what it wants to be and hyperspecializes to fit the mould of the medieval war simulator. Is it a little crude and slapdash? In the fabric-threads perhaps, but the whole weave together is robust enough to springboard a campaign in the heart of the player, and that is the special sort of sauce that brings me back to sandbox RPGs and hungry for more. Mount and Blade is also a lot quicker to get into and start progressing in than, say, Kenshi; I genuinely would call this game largely friendly to the randomly uniformed sandbox RPG adopter or curious starter. So whilst this isn't a review, it is a recommendation to give Mount and Blade a look-in at some point, if for nothing more than to set up a custom battle in castle siege because that craziness is worth experiencing at least once.

Why do I keep coming back to Mount and Blade?

 On the saddle again.

It is the year of our lord 2022 and we're moving onto 2023; and here I am coming back, once again, to a game from 2010. Why? All it takes it a little push for me. Today that push was seeing that Mount and Blade Bannerlord has just released itself out of beta, so I might as well play through the original! It's like a chronic disease that flares up when I least suspect it; everytime that I, a man who loves story based narrative adventure RPG games with oodles of depth and character driven plotthreads and set-piece confrontations and challenging encounters; ends up rocking up to a game with no real story, paper thin characters, and a world you really are tasked with making your own way within. It's the prototypical simulator medieval game, but I can never get enough of the bugger. And to this day, I cannot rightly explain what hooks me so often.

Mount and Blade is a game where you take on the role of a mercenary captain operational in a smorgasbord of medieval kingdoms that are haphazardly stuck together. You'll find desert empires and snow-drenched kingdoms about two days ride from one another; and an ecosystem of lords and ladies all trading routes and starting wars and calling truces all around the player with no input from them whatsoever. This is something of a rare style of game, probably because it's difficult to really sell what the end goal is to developing a game with an ecosystem that runs independently of player interaction, and even more difficult to design the sort of ecosystem that reacts with an sort of coherent dynamism to the machinations of an unknowable player. The original Freeloader proposed a space world with a similar play style, and Kenshi presents an unendingly fascinating post apocalyptic alien world within this genre. And yet here I am, playing the medieval equivalent.

I suppose a part of that appeal for me comes from that innate fascination with medieval kings and kingdoms that all us Europeans are inflicted with, often causing us to romanticise an era where a simple infection could kill a man dead. There's a grit and grime associated with the medieval period, or perhaps more a layer of thick muck splattered over the gills; and more than any of the courtly dramas and period piece BBC romances; that is the side of European history I like to see represented. That's the reason I love The Witcher, because it's fantasy setting is grounded by it's grimy European cynicism. And I suppose that's why I love the struggle to become someone of note which is the core gameplay loop of the Mount and Blade franchise. That and fighting tactically in a system that seems to really hold tactical gameplay in low regard.

Seriously; I'm no tactical expert myself to any stretch of the imagination, but I've always found it grimly laughable that tactical combat is the key to Mount and Blade's progression, and yet all those tactics have to be pulled off within a battle and whilst leading that same battle. I do what I can, put my forces at the top of a hill, position the infantry infront of the archers, lead the Calvary around for a pincer once my forces are engaged; but it always feels like your struggling against a game that doesn't want to listen to you, rather than a game with tactical cohesion at it's soul. Perhaps I'm just used to full blown tactics games and 4x's, such that the more realistic, in the moment, tactical decisions irks me to no end. But still I play it. In fact, maybe I play it even more because the frustration seems fitting for the period?

A certain allure of the underdog tale certainly starts with the prospect of 'starting from the bottom' as it were. Being that lowly nobody who rises to become a huge figure of the land, slaying armies and commanding hundreds; whilst once being nothing more than a spit-on peasant. Who doesn't love the rise of the belittled? Of course, Mount and Blade is very particular with how lowly you can start. You can't quite be a mercenary for someone else, you always are the merc captain, but the idea of rising in skill, fame and competence persists through the handy RPG systems and the growing rooster of companions you can slowly facilitate and the fiefdoms you'll end up earning to the armies you'll end up raising and overthrowing. That's a commonality in all of these styles of open world sandbox RPG games; you are a self made hero or villain my the merits of hardwork. Typically that means a crap ton of grinding too; and a scaling element of risk the further you go on because the more you gain the more you have to lose. And all that heightens the elation of being the one who conquers in the end.

There is an undeniable lack of variety in what you can do in Mount and Blade in order to improve, which is where I think this particular sandbox RPG wavers a bit. In most of it's kind, every skill you choose to divest in is deep with a progression element to it; but in Mount and Blade there's only really trading and fighting. And you trade in order to afford better tools for fighting. Renown is the currency of value across the medieval Mount and Blade land and being really good at flogging stuff to strangers is not the best way to earn a name for yourself. But maybe that is also a drawing element for a brutalist like me. At the end of the day succession is earned in blood; what could be more fitting for a medieval simulator game than that?

The one thing that Mount and Blade doesn't have, is any sort of overaching story or narrative to contextualise the world you're living in; which is both liberating and limiting. Liberating in that you can craft the story you want in a world just flexible enough to allow for that, and limiting in that it's really hard to find a reason to care about this world. I usually spend my time as a factionless mercenary jumping from nation to nation, because none of the nations have enough of a personality or grounding contextual narrative to make me care about them. It's a shame because I could really see a very special little medieval universe brewing in this game, but when it comes to the gameplay I'm just seeing names I can't be bothered to remember constantly being captured and released and wars being started and ending and none of it meaning much of anything. At least the game is fun regardless.

Mount and Blade is as much a platform as a game. A platform for living your very own medieval fantasy story in a fictionalised world that glorifies all the storybook aspects of the age, 'fighting in huge battles', 'finagling royal dynasties', 'turning over villages for cattle to sell to other villages' and sidelines a lot of the other stuff. (Dying of a scrapped need, poverty, starvation, etc.) It's rough, rudimentary in a lot of places, and ugly in a manner that is, strangely, typically the case for this style of game. But it's also functional, robust and malleable to the fancies of an active imagination.