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With Reigns: Game of Thrones coming tomorrow, we look at the first two Reigns games

Reign down some change

With Reigns: Game of Thrones coming tomorrow, we look at the first two Reigns games
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Click here to read our Reigns: Game of Thrones review

One thing that videogames do very well is power fantasies. You're not really a hulking, all-neck, cyber warrior, or the ruler of some great fictional empire that stretches across the entire globe. But for all that, games have never really understood how power actually works.

There are a few franchises that get it, and one of them is definitely Reigns. With just two games, and a third on the way tomorrow, Nerial has proven that when it comes to understanding how to rule, it rules.

With Reigns: Game of Thrones set to hit iPhone, iPad, and Android tomorrow, we thought it was the perfect to look back at the first two games in the series. So that's exactly what we're going to do.

Want to get more info about Reigns: Game of Thrones? Then have a look at our guide to everything you need to know about the game. Ever wondered what other franchises the Pocket Gamer team thinks should be turned into Reigns games? Then you'll want to check out our round robin this week.

Inventing the wheel

There aren't that many games on the App Store that created a genre, but Reigns is among them. It took controls that anyone who's used a phone will intuitively understand, wrapped an intriguing narrative around them, and asked what you would do if you were perpetually in charge.

The game took ideas from choose-your-own-adventure books, dating apps, fantasy novels, and much more. When the reign of one monarch came to an end, you played as the next, sort of like Infinity Blade, or any roguelike you care to mention.

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It's rare that a game manages to be unique and familiar at the same time, but the meshing together of ideas here does just that. Playing Reigns is easy - succeeding at Reigns is anything but.

That's another thing the series has always got spot on. Even when one of your reigns ends in bloody defeat, you're going to have found out some new information, or a new trick, that you'll want to try out the next time round.

The original Reigns did this pretty well, but with Reigns: Her Majesty, things kicked up into another gear entirely.

Her royal highness

In the second game of the series, Reigns: Her Majesty, you're playing as a queen. Or, more accurately, an entire dynasty of queens. Things you discover in one playthrough become intrinsically important in the next, and other secrets reveal themselves the deeper you get into the experience.

Her Majesty deals with some incredibly important themes, from the place of women in the world to the inheritance of tragedy. It's a game that asks you to deal with things from a perspective you'll almost certainly never have, and that's the sort of thing that digital entertainment should be doing.

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Thematically, there are plenty of ties to Game of Thrones in Her Majesty. It's a game that asks you to try and understand what it means to be tied to your heritage, while still tackling the problems that face the modern world.

What is it to be a woman in power, and how can we ensure that more women get there? Those are questions that both the TV show and the game aren't afraid to ask.

A familiar chair

Which brings us to Reigns: Game of Thrones. It's set to come out tomorrow on the App Store and the Google Play Store. Click here and you'll be able to find links that'll let you get your pre-order in.

Our featured review of the game will go live tomorrow, so you don't have long to wait to discover whether the game keeps up the excellent tradition set down by its forebears.

And make sure you come back to Pocket Gamer on Friday, where we're going to be finding out what you think of the game.

Harry Slater
Harry Slater
Harry used to be really good at Snake on the Nokia 5110. Apparently though, digital snake wrangling isn't a proper job, so now he writes words about games instead.