When Game of Thrones is a topic of discussion, video games usually aren’t in the mix, with the HBO series taking the spotlight. Although I’m not too familiar with the franchise, it’s clear that Game of Thrones is in a lull period of sorts in 2025 thus far. However, the release of Game of Thrones: Kingsroad shakes up the series in what I believe is a fun and promising action adventure RPG. The game is far from perfect, but it offers an experience that feels rare for free-to-play games.
Upon booting up the game, Game of Thrones: Kingsroad starts out with the player selecting one of three classes: Knight, Sellsword, or Assassin. Regardless of the class, you’ll start out as the illegitimate child from House Tyre, a small noble house in the North that is on the decline. It doesn’t take much time to understand how unforgiving the setting of Westeros can be, as the threat of the winter poses a major threat to all in its wake. After meeting with Jon Snow, and witnessing the death of the player character’s uncle to the army of the dead, the player ventures out to gather forces and aid across the realm. This task is much easier said than done, of course.
Game of Thrones: Kingsroad Offers A New But Very Familiar Experience
In terms of gameplay and presentation, Game of Thrones: Kingsroad feels an amalgamation of different elements from open-world action games, including The Witcher and Genshin Impact. Immediately after completely the first few missions, you’re thrown in the world of Westeros, or more specifically, the frosty lands of the Kingdom of the North. From here, you can advance the main quest line, which has full voice-overs for the protagonist and NPCs. You are given important choices along the way to shape your journey, making it feel like a unique game to you, despite being the heir of House Tyre.
What’s more, there’s a plethora of side quests to stumble across in major towns and the wilderness, respectively. There’s plenty of voice-overs to enjoy in these side quests as well, but expect some to not be entirely voiced. Game of Thrones: Kingsroad is also worth commending for its cinematics and cutscenes, which make the game feel like a high budget production at times. However, at the end of the day, this is a mobile game, even if it does have a native PC port. There are a lot of elements, both from a UI standpoint and gameplay, that feel like it could have been tweaked or fleshed out more if it were a console and PC game.
The overall structure of Game of Thrones: Kingsroad should feel familiar to mobile game players, but I do think the game’s rendition of Westeros is really interesting and captivating to an extent. I enjoy exploring the North, and without spoiling, the other regions afterward. There’s a lot of content here, ranging from the aforementioned main quest line and side quests to hunts and House Tyre-adjacent quests at Renan’s Rest, which offer some base-building elements.
Tried-and-True Combat System
You’ll be fighting plenty of wildlings, bandits, and monsters in Game of Thrones: Kingsroad, and you have plenty of skills, weapons, and abilities in your arsenal, regardless of class. As a Knight, I wield a massive greatsword that’s capable of dealing heavy strikes and breaking an enemy’s guard, but I also have a crossbow for hunting and stealthy takedowns. Overall, the combat system is really straight forward with combos that can be executed with light and heavy attacks with varying degrees of damage depending on complexity. Skills and passive abilities, known as Traits, can be upgraded with books and trait points gathered through exploration and leveling up, respectively.
There’s also equippable gear of varying rarity that raises defense and attack power, such as armor and Relics. In addition, there are earnable House Sigils that grant special effects, along with Set Research. By contributing to your character’s Set Research with gear and weapons for a certain vocation, such as Savant or Champion, you’ll be able to increase the Research Level and unlock stat bonuses and modifiers. All these upgrades increase the characters’ Momentum, which is a indicator of their overall stats and capabilities in the world. If you played games like Destiny 2, Solo Leveling: ARISE, Genshin Impact, and Honkai: Star Rail, you’ll be familiar with this chase of greater power.
Combat in Game of Thrones: Kingsroad feels visceral and satisfying, reflecting the brutality of this interpretation of George R.R. Martin’s masterwork. There are plenty of new skills, traits, abilities, and gear to obtain as you level up and progress the story, and there’s a very long road in the pursuit of mastery. Your mileage will vary, however, as Game of Thrones: Kingsroad has elements that leave something to be desired.
Game of Thrones: Kingsroad’s Lengthy List of Woes
Although I was thoroughly impressed by what Game of Thrones: Kingsroad offers in its early hours, the luster wears off as you play the main story and unlock more features. I had the opportunity to play Game of Thrones: Kingsroad in its early access state and its 1.0 version, and a lot of the criticism I have has stayed the same. For example, inventory space is extremely small for an open world game, and it feels like there are just too many systems to consider at once in the game.
That’s on top of the monetization, which is prevalent due to in-game events, the Battle Pass, and the in-game currency you have to use for shop items and bonuses, such as Golden Dragons and Iron Bank Marks. The Founder’s Pack definitely gives you a major boost, since you have access to recurring streams of in-game currency, items, and other useful bonuses, such as the premium reward track for the Battle Pass. However, this is an indicator that monetization offers a more rewarding and privileged path in this game, whereas the base free-to-play experience is not as lucky.
Eventually, Momentum becomes a critical factor of your experience in Game of Thrones: Kingsroad. There will be times where you might need to upgrade your character’s parameters and Momentum in order to continue the story, but then another wall in your progression comes and you’ll have to repeat the grind. You can try to tackle continue under those minimum requirements, but enemies are bound to one-shot you and take advantage of your weakness.
I’ve heard of issues affecting the mobile versions of Game of Thrones: Kingsroad, including progression-blocking bugs, but I’d like to delve into what I experienced on PC. For the most part, Game of Thrones: Kingsroad runs well with my RX 7800 XT, and there are a variety of features that are supported on PC. The connectivity issues were annoying before the full launch, and some still persist after, but it’s fewer and farther between. However, I’d like some more features, such as the ability to completely hide or close the game’s chat during gameplay.
Game of Thrones: Kingsroad Has Potential, But Its Untapped
The game may be rough around the edges, but Game of Thrones: Kingsroad does have potential that can be realized, if the monetization practices and Momentum-based systems are properly adjusted. Feedback from the community and the developers’ responses can turn Game of Thrones: Kingsroad into a big success story or another mobile game that wanes over time. The Game of Thrones franchise can greatly benefit from this game.
I’m hopeful for Game of Thrones: Kingsroad, as what I’ve played feels great and looks aesthetically pleasing. I’d also like to see console ports of Game of Thrones: Kingsroad, especially with consoles like Nintendo Switch 2 now being available. If Solo Leveling: ARISE OVERDRIVE is in the works for consoles, then maybe Game of Thrones: Kingsroad can get the improvements it needs as well.
Disclaimer: Netmarble provided a Steam key of Game of Thrones: Kingsroad with the Founder’s Pack for review purposes.
