Regicide is once again a topic at dinner, thanks to the release of Crusader Kings III. Your aunt passes you the gravy, and asks about council matters. Your mother comments on the rise in guillotine stocks. Your father, the king, chews his mutton with a rueful and distant glare, probably thinking about war. A cloaked advisor enters and hands you a note on parchment. “The ten worft kingf and queenf in gamef,” it reads. You cough politely, put it in your pocket for later, and continue pushing poisoned food around as if you are eating it.
]]>My body betrayed me last month, trapping me in my bed when it wasn’t sending me rushing to my poor, overworked loo. I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t work and so I turned to management games to take my mind off the virus squatting inside me. Juggling budgets, disasters and production chains might not sound particularly relaxing, but there’s also a swathe of low-pressure sims that serve as a brilliant panacea for stress.
]]>Monarchic decide 'em up Reigns was always close in spirit to Game Of Thrones. Thanks to a cross-promotion deal that I'm certain someone sold their soul for, they're now one and the same, and out today. Reigns: Game Of Thrones combines the Tinder-inspired UI of Nerial's series with the multiple perspectives and familiar world of HBO's wildly successful TV novel adaptation. The game lets players control multiple characters and bodge their way through their own custom timeline in a way that would sound like fan-fiction if it weren't an official game. Below, the launch trailer.
]]>"Game Of Thrones + Tinder = You Died," our Alec said in his Reigns review after swiping through cards to make binary decisions in the medieval monarch RPG. Well, that equation is about to get even simpler: "Reigns: Game Of Thrones = You Died."
An official Game Of Thrones version of Reigns is coming soon, developers Nerial and publishers Devolver Digital announced today. Swipers will be able to play as a number of different Game players, then discover that all their "Right, so they could come out on top if..." theories will likely end in terrible death.
]]>Nerial's Reigns is a simple (if strange-sounding) concept stretched to its absolute limits. Take the UI of dating-for-impatient-people app Tinder, and use it to steer the life of a monarch one meeting at a time, juggling political threats and multiple story-threads all through the simple, binary act of swiping left or right.
Today, you can get a second helping of this strange but compelling formula. The queenly sequel Reigns: Her Majesty is out now, promising an all-new story built around the now-familiar mechanics, plus a few new twists to the tale. Read on for details and the positively charming launch trailer.
]]>Nerial's Reigns was such a lovely surprise. An utterly unique take on role-playing that worked a little like King of Dragon Pass mashed up with Tinder. Slipping gracefully into your role as King, a procession of courtly visitors sidled up on your PC or mobile phone screen, and you swiped left or right to answer their queries and requests with either a positive or negative slant. Simple, but brilliant once it started layering in multiple advisory factions with their own unique goals, and distinct story-arcs began coalescing.
This time, it's the Queen's turn to rule, and rule you shall, if you can wait just a couple more weeks. Reigns: Her Majesty is set for release on December 7th. Look within for a peek at some gameplay.
]]>2016's Reigns crunched the complexities of running a kingdom down to yes/no decisions selected simply by swiping left and right, causing Alec's Reigns review to declare "Game Of Thrones + Tinder = You Died." Today developers Nerial announced a sequel, named Reigns: Her Majesty [official site], which jumps forwards in time a little as the focus shifts to queens. A renaissance is upon us but revolution is in the air, and we'll be swiping for our lives once more.
]]>Have You Played? is an endless stream of game retrospectives. One a day, every day of the year, perhaps for all time.
Swipe right to build homes for the poor. Swipe left to refuse to help the priests being charged protection money by the army. Swipe again and again to to make decision after decision until death befalls your king in Reigns [official site].
]]>"Game Of Thrones + Tinder = You Died," Alec declared when he told us Wot He Thought of left-right-swiping monarch simulator Reigns [official site]. He enjoyed it, y'see, though I don't know whether he engaged in intercourse with his PC or... I don't know how this all works. Whatever he does, he (and you) can now do more of it, as a free update has added over 100 new cards, including new deaths and not an elephant.
]]>Reigns [official site]. Game Of Thrones + Tinder = You Died.
]]>Reigns [official site] is a game of decision-making and courtly governance that was described by Adam as Crusader Kings meets Tinder. You get presented with card after card of choices and have to swipe left or right (or in our case, click) in order to say yes or no to your courtiers’ requests. It’s also out today. I’ve just played 20 minutes of it. One of my kings was abandoned to rule over a kingdom of pigeons, another was slaughtered and thrown to the dogs by the merchant class, and another went mad, kicked a dog and started hearing the Devil. It’s good to be the king.
]]>Reigns [official site] - described by Adam as Crusader Kings meets Tinder - will be swiping its way onto PC from 11 August.
I remember it being one of his favourite games at Rezzed when we went earlier in the year so let's have a look at what he said at the time and why he liked it so much. But first, some gameplay footage:
]]>Swipe left to appease the peasants, swipe right to buy new golden mitres for the clergy. Or perhaps it's left to repel a viking invasion using force or right to offer them half of your worldly goods in the hopes that they'll take pity and lay off the pillaging for a while.
Reigns [official site] is a new game from London-based Nerial, to be published this summer by Devolver, and it crams an entire kingdom-management and monarch life simulation into a series of binary choices. Swipe left to win the day, swipe left to lose your head.
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