Summary
Game of Thrones: Kingsroadgot a lot of attentionat The Game Awards last year, and it’s easy to see why. A huge, gorgeous open-world RPG set in Westeros should be a perfect formula, given how many other fantasy games have been inspired by A Song of Ice and Fire. However, it doesn’t seem that Kingsroad is the game that fans are looking for.
Kingsroad is in early access onSteamright now, giving PC players the chance to try it out - if they pay anywhere between £21.99 and £77.99. Early reviews were mostly positive, with fans impressed by developer Netmarble’s recreation of iconic locations fromGame of Thrones. However, many were unhappy with the game’s monetisation, something that has now resulted in reviews dropping to “mixed”.
At the time of writing, there are 450 reviews in total, 146 of which are negative. As we covered yesterday,many of the negative reviews centre around the free-to-play economy of Kingsroad, despite early access having an upfront fee. The game will indeed be free-to-play at launch, but that doesn’t help those who want to play the game now and are having to put down a fair bit of money to get the most out of it.
One thing that players really don’t like paying for is revives. Another issue that you’re able to’t transfer premium items over to new characters that you make. Players have also noted how the game charges you to advance, otherwise making you wait, and some are even labeling it pay-to-win, since you can put money in to make your character stronger.
Some reviews say that the paywalls only kick in after the ten-hour mark, so that might explain why earlier scores were more positive.
Kingsroad is still in early access, so there’s time for the devs to make changes before its full release that could boost the reviews. However, since the full launch will bring the title to mobile - with no console port announced right now - it seems unlikely that the economy will receive the overhaul that some players are after.
