On November 14, the MMO Game of Thrones Winter is Coming was released on Steam. This free-to-play strategy game uses the official licenses of the fantasy world, but heavily relies on real money in the end.
What kind of MMO is this? The MMO Game of Thrones Winter is Coming is a free-to-play strategy game where you are the owner of a castle, leading battles and exploring the surroundings from there.
The game offers various quests, PvE battles to expand your castle, a mission board, and combat against other players’ castles. All of this is adorned with a small story narrated by the character Melisandre.
What sounds not so bad at first glance gradually reveals itself mainly as a place to spend money. In its basic idea, Game of Thrones Winter is Coming resembles browser games like OGame or DieStämme, which is not surprising since it was released as such in March 2019.
However, the Pay2Win aspect seems to be even more pronounced here compared to the above examples.
Even with thousands of euros, not in 1st place
What is the problem with the game? The Game of Thrones MMO uses many characters and ideas from the fantasy world. Your troops are commanded by Robb Stark or other well-known characters, Varys scouts for you, and as a player, you want to support Daenerys in her plans for the Iron Throne.
But as sweet as the idea of the game is, it quickly becomes clear that it’s mainly about money. Expanding your castle and the associated buildings and units takes a lot of time or a lot of money. Everything can not only be accelerated with real money but also be completed immediately.
The game does not hide this fact, as it continually shows you pop-ups for purchasing diamonds and improving your castle with real money. Although at the beginning everything goes quickly and you can upgrade a lot for free, this noticeably changes the longer you play.
What do the Steam reviews say? On November 19 at 11:40 AM, the reviews were mixed. Out of 70 opinions, 36 are positive and 34 negative. However, the critiques of the negative reviews are very clear.
For instance, the user Gaettusk writes:
This pay-to-win cash grab was released months before this Steam version. You can either read the bland reviews of new players talking about how cool the Game of Thrones game is, or you could continue reading and get a detailed analysis of the game from someone who has spent time with it.
The first question one must ask is: “Do I want to spend 20,000 USD to still be a small fish in this game?” If you answered no, do yourself a favor and skip the game. [..]
The justification for the high expenditure of real money, according to Gaettusk, primarily lies in the need to buy loot boxes to obtain the best equipment, which is not guaranteed. As a free-to-play player, he argues that you have no chance of survival and will repeatedly lose your troops.
Other negative users also primarily discuss the pay-to-win aspect.
What do the positive voices say? Many positive voices, on the other hand, say that you don’t necessarily have to invest money to have fun. For instance, the user Trumpalot writes:
It is a mix of Stronghold Kingdoms and Total War Kingdoms in the GoT universe. It features RPG, base building, and strategy elements, but these are kept very simple.
Yes, it is a pay-to-win browser game, but you can easily make progress without spending money. Here are a few hysterical reviews about spending thousands of dollars, but if you really need that, you deserve the loss.
Other reviewers also report that they simply enjoy playing a browser game set in the world of Game of Thrones on the side.
Pretty browser game with its own client
What is the conclusion? If you are interested in a pretty browser game that even offers its own client on Steam, you can take a look at the Game of Thrones MMO. However, only the brand can really convince, not the game itself.
Based on initial impressions and the Steam reviews, you will not belong to the best players if you do not also invest some real money. Whether the game is worth it is something everyone must decide for themselves in the end.
If you’re not into that, we can recommend these 10 successful MMOs on Steam. Among them are successful games like Warframe or Rust. The latter is now also getting a console version:
