After the press release with two new screen shots from A Game of Thrones: Genesis, we thought there’d be news for a little while ... but we were wrong. Factornews in France, who shared the first preview with screenshots of the game, have now posted a similarly extensive preview of the real-time-strategy game.
If you click “[Afficher/masquer ce message masqué]” next to Joule’s name in comments, you’ll see the English translation of the article. Here’s an excerpt:
Before we start describing the game, I’d like to point out that, even if the term RTS is used throughout this article, AGoT Genesis is quite different from what you’d expect from a classical RTS. It’s definitely no Starcraft, C&C or Supreme Commander. Indeed, military power is but one of the tools that will lead you to victory. In order to play the game of thrones and win, you’ll have to be cunning, treacherous and ready to make and break alliances as you go along without having second thoughts. As a wise woman once said : in the Game of Thrones you either win or die, there is no middle ground.
In this aspect, a Genesis could be compared to a board game like Risk or Diplomacy. In addition to the strategic and military forces deployed on the game map or board, there’s also the player’s alliances and discussions around the board that create a great experience. You can promise anything to your fellow players but in the end, your turn comes, you still have to protect your personal interests (i.e. scoring better than the others), and alliances can be broken. Cyanide really tried to integrate these features into Genesis’ gameplay. Missions are therefore played in two parts : during the first part, you prepare for war during a seemingly peaceful era and once war has been declared, you can’t annex new villages anymore and have to wage the war with the resources you managed to secure during the first phase.
Tip of the hat to Evrach of Le Garde de Nuit for the pointer.