These games, ranging from royal role-playing to battle simulators, will delight Westeros fans as the TV series comes to a close.
The Witcher 3
PC, PS4, Xbox One
The Witcher 3 is a genuinely excellent fantasy game as full of nudity, dirty tricksters, and political betrayal as any Thrones fan might hope for, with a more generous dose of fantasy monsters. You take on the role of Geralt, a monster-hunting outcast caught up in a rulers' war. Interestingly, rather than casting you as the underdog who marches in on a white horse, The Witcher allows you to see the effect that the egotistical nobles' hardships have on the masses struggling to suffer under them. Its characters and writing are outstanding, and the sociopolitical suspense will captivate anybody who enjoys Game of Thrones' tangled webs of houses and rivalries.
Reigns
PC/Mac, iPhone/iPad, Android, and Nintendo Switch
Put yourself in the shoes of a monarch (or, on Reigns: Her Majesty, a queen) to see how long you will go without being executed by enemies, assassinated by the clergy, or trampled to death by adoring subjects. Reigns is played in a similar manner to Tinder, with you swiping left and right to make decisions while advisors, bishops, and enigmatic people approach you with their different requests. You don't usually last long before having the wrong enemy. There's also a Game of Thrones-themed spinoff in which you can act out scenarios as various characters from the show, from Cersei to Jon Snow. It's far superior to any of the fully sanctioned Game of Thrones video games that have existed since the show's inception.
Dragon Age: Inquisition
PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Dragon Age successfully combines intimate emotional relationships between its characters with grand-scale world-in-peril narrative. It's more casual than Thrones, with a smaller core cast, but it's full of fascinating interracial politics and lore to delve through. Everyone is afraid of wizards, humans are cruel to orcs, and the Grey Wardens struggle to keep the civilisation-destroying Darkspawn at bay. Dragon Age shines in the dialogue – the pleasure of choosing the retorts and interruptions, directing conversation, and enjoying fruitful conversations with the people around you. It's a fantastical universe that makes you feel like you're a part of it.
Total War: Warhammer
PC/Mac
This is intimidatingly nerdy even for people who love a TV show about politics and dragons, but, if you want to stage something as overwhelming as the Battle of Winterfell, it’s the fantasy strategy game to go for. It’s got enough different types of factions and units to make battles and sieges a spectacle, and each campaign culminates in an invasion of demonic hordes from the north. There are dwarfs who keep constant track of every invasion or grievance and use their resentments to motivate their armies, and vampires that raise the dead in battle. And, hey, it might get you into Warhammer, a geeky obsession that could sustain you long after Game of Thrones has ended.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch
A role-playing adventure set in a snow-dusted northern land, Skyrim is a straightforward power fantasy where you start off as a nobody and slowly acquire swords, axes, spells and the ability to shout dragons to death with your magical powers. It lacks the complex character development and intriguing writing of Game of Thrones, but it’s got the dragons, the scenery and the spectacle – and the amount of control you have over what to do and where to go is comfortingly empowering.
Crusader Kings 2
PC/Mac
If it’s the dynastic intrigue you enjoy in Game of Thrones – all that jockeying for power between ancient families, and obsessions over heirs and birthrights – there is really only one game for you. Crusader Kings 2 is a vast strategy game set in medieval Europe where you must ascend to power and then keep it for as long as possible. But unlike, say, Age of Empires or Civilization, you’re not placing grain stores and commanding armies: you’re down there at court level, plotting and conniving, blackmailing important dignitaries, torturing enemies and manoeuvring your psychopathic sons into the palaces (and bed chambers) of powerful foreign rulers. The only way to win the game is to ensure your legacy lives on by establishing an heir, making this the greatest ever Tywin Lannister simulator.
Shadow of Mordor
PC/Mac, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One
This is an action game based on the Lord of the Rings universe that also frequently puts you at the centre of huge battles. (Its sequel, Middle-earth: Shadow of War, is almost as good.) But here’s the twist: the orcs that you stalk and defeat as a supernatural assassin come back stronger and more pissed off. The thorny, sometimes absurd rivalries that you develop with these recurring nemeses give each player a different set of stories to tell, like this hilarious account of one man’s desperate struggle with an unbeatable poison-disfigured orc.
Fire Emblem
Nintendo Switch, iPhone, Android, Nintendo 3DS and older Nintendo consoles
If “Game of Thrones, but animé” sounds appealing, give Fire Emblem a try. It’s a series of turn-based games in which you direct a small group of fighters, mages and knights around, trying to best each scenario with your brilliant strategic brain. In between battles, Fire Emblem is just as interesting: characters form bonds and loyalties with each other, becoming stronger when they fight together, and evolving from scrappy soldiers to lethal battlefield heroes. And, if someone dies, that’s it: you’re never getting them back. When you lose a member of your little cast, you lose their story as well as their usefulness in fights, making it just as gutting as any high-profile Westeros death.
For Honor
PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4
If it’s sword-fighting you’re into (or spears, or axes), For Honor is the greatest realisation of close-quarters fighting in video games. The deadly clash of steel, the weighty movement, the feinting and parrying: if you want to feel like Brienne of Tarth (or Sandor Clegane), this is your game. As you run through the battlefield seeking an enemy hero to face off against, lesser combatants skirmish around you. For Honor nails the feel and energy of sword combat, and over the years it’s amassed a huge roster of ancient weaponry and combatants to try out, from knights to samurai.
Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord
Not yet released
This isn’t actually out yet, but we can pray to the gods (old and/or new, whatever’s your bag) that it’s not too far away – it’s been in development for years. Mount & Blade 2 is a medieval behemoth of a game that will set you loose in a verdant European-style land and let you do what you want, whether that’s cutting down bandits from horseback, riding into full-scale war at the head of an army, siring a dynasty, or meddling in noble politics. There are no dragons or wights here, just regular human villainy. Meanwhile, you could always play its beloved medieval-battle predecessor, 2008’s Mount & Blade. It’s a bit rough and ready, but it also proffers a wish-fulfilling journey from nobody to knight (or knave), and several popular mods with a Game of Thrones flavour.
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