Winter is Coming (to PC, Xbox 360 And PS3 in Europe)

While George R R Martin’s Seminal “A Song of Ice and Fire” continues to captivate readers and watchers, but so far, excluding a decidedly average political RTS, gamers have been left out in the quickly approaching cold. Focus Home Interactive seeks to remedy this by bringing a Westeros set RPG to the PC, Xbox 360, and PS3 in early 2012.

Players will find themselves in control of two characters, “Mors”, a brother of the night’s watch, and “Alester”, an exiled red priest returned to seek redemption. Through a touted 30 hours of gameplay players will travel through numerous well known locations, from the kingdoms to the wall, though whether well get to piss of the end of the world is a question left unanswered so far. Familar faces will also show themselves to the player with the likes of Queen Cersei, Varys the Spider and Jeor Mormont.

Set characters does not mean set gameplay however, as players will be free to choose their classes, fight how they wish and upgrade the skills they use, or learn new abilities such as the power to slow down time. And what would a Song of Ice and Fire game be without political intrigue and lots of dialogue, being able to talk the talk will be just as useful as being able to fight your way out.

Game of Thrones will be the most ambitious of Focus Home Interactives titles so far, using CryEngine3 and being written under the supervision of Martin himself. The storyline will run concurrent to that of the books/series, although which it should follow if and when the two diverge as has been rumoured is still unknown. Cedric Lagarrigue, CEO of Focus has stated that the “game is faithful to the unique ambiance found in George R.R. Martin’s novels. The narration, the artistic direction, the pace of the game and its realization make it one of the most exciting role-playing games to come in 2012″.

The art direction appears to borrow heavily from the HBO series, but considering how well they captured the feel of the books this is no problem. Lands appear as they did and likenesses have been licensed to help keep the overall tone consistent throughout the franchise.

I find myself agreeing heavily with Lagarrigue, this really is shaping up to be one of the most exciting role-playing games of 2012, a year that also has Mass Effect 3 so take that as you will.