2016 strategy game
2016 video game
Reigns
is a 2016
strategy video game
developed by Nerial and published by
Devolver Digital
. In the game, players control a medieval king who they must help rule for as long as possible. The monarch receives
petitions
and questions from advisers, which are represented by cards. The player can choose between two responses to the adviser, which has an effect on one of the kingdom's four aspects. If one of the aspects becomes too unbalanced, the game ends and the player starts another reign with a new monarch. To win the game, the player must break a curse created by the Devil, who visits the king across several reigns.
Nerial was inspired by the dating app
Tinder
while creating
Reigns
. Developer Francois Alliot managed the writing, which was influenced by the
Oulipo
French literary movement. The game was first released on 11 August 2018 for
Android
,
iOS
,
Linux
,
macOS
, and
Windows
. It received positive reviews from critics for its gameplay and presentation, though some said that it became repetitive over time. By August 2019, the game had sold two million copies.
Reigns
inspired a video game franchise, beginning with a standalone sequel titled
Reigns: Her Majesty
, which was released in 2017. A game based on the
Game of Thrones
television series called
Reigns: Game of Thrones
was launched in 2018. A fourth game based in a
science-fiction
setting, titled
Reigns: Beyond
, was added in 2020. A fifth entry in the franchise called
Reigns: Three Kingdoms
was released for
Netflix
subscribers in 2022.
Gameplay
[
edit
]
Screenshot showing the player accepting a suggestion by moving the card to the right.
Reigns
is a
strategy video game
.
[1]
[2]
Players control a medieval king and must make decisions to make their tenure as monarch last as long as possible.
[3]
Various advisers, represented by cards, approach the player with
petitions
and questions. The player chooses between two responses to the supplicant by moving their card to the left or right. For example, a player could accept a request by moving the card to a right, or reject it by moving it to the left.
[1]
Each decision has an effect on the power of one of the kingdom's four aspects: the army, the people, the church, and the king's wealth.
[1]
These facets are represented by meters that are filled and emptied based upon the player's decisions.
[2]
For example, the player can provide assistance to a witch to fill the meter representing the people, at the cost of the church's power.
[3]
If any of the four meters becomes completely filled or empty, the player's reign ends and they experience a
game over
.
[2]
After death, the player starts again as a new king and begins another reign.
[2]
Completing tasks in each reign allows the player to unlock new cards,
[4]
and some of these cards have effects that last over time, such as a
crusade
that is continued across multiple reigns.
[3]
To win the game, the player must find a way to break a curse created by the Devil, who visits the monarch over several centuries; if the player does not find a way to break the curse before the Devil stops his visits, the game resets.
[3]
Plot
[
edit
]
The player character, an unnamed King appearing to be suffering from
memory loss
, meets a ghost called the Spirit of the Fallen. The spirit tells the King to be a wise and pragmatic ruler and to reign for as long as possible. After the King dies, he is
reincarnated
as a new ruler and encounters the spirit again, who tells him that they are both cursed to be reborn after death. After several reigns, the King is visited by the Devil in the year
666
; the demon taunts the King, revealing that the monarch traded his soul centuries beforehand in exchange for eternal power, though the Devil was able to manipulate this wish by trapped him in a cycle of death and resurrection. The Devil reappears in 1332, telling the King that there is no end to this cycle, and that he will visit the King a final time in the year 1998. Before that date arrives, the King meets a noblewoman called the Senator who knows of the bargain he made with Devil. She tells him the only way to annul the deal is to force the Devil to perform a task that he cannot fulfill.
The Devil arrives in 1998 and casts an enchantment on the King as a "parting gift" before disappearing forever, causing the next person to whom he says "Yes" to suffer a gruesome death. The ending depends on the character that the player uses the curse on. If the player uses the curse on the Spirit of the Fallen, the Devil reveals that the ghost is a reflection of the King's own soul and memories, and condemns the monarch to spiritual death by sending him to Hell. If the player uses the curse on any other mortal character, the spirit remarks that the cycle will never end and the King becomes trapped forever. However, if the player performs several optional tasks, the King can use the curse on an
undead
skeleton; the Devil discovers that it is impossible to kill the already-deceased monster, and is forced to release the King into the afterlife.
Development
[
edit
]
Reigns
was developed by the London-based games studio Nerial. Developer Francois Alliot was considering leaving the games industry after several failed projects, and pitched the game's concept to publisher
Devolver Digital
.
[5]
The company's associate Nigel Lowrie enjoyed the game's
demo
, presented it to the rest of the staff,
[6]
and Devolver Digital arranged a publishing deal with Nerial.
[7]
The developers were especially influenced by the dating app
Tinder
, which influenced the swiping gameplay.
[6]
Alliot wanted to make a game that would "mock the way our societies tend to deal with complexity" and drew comparisons between the game and the
Brexit referendum
, opining that the Brexit decision was as simple as swiping of a card but had lasting political consequences.
[6]
[8]
The earliest version of the game placed the characters inside portraits, but the developers quickly subsituted these paintings for cards, as they felt that players would be used to moving cards around, and removing the need for a formal
tutorial
.
[7]
The writing was designed to be quick and simple, which was in contrast to Alliot's usual style of writing with complex sentence structures. He introduced several subplots that ran parallel with the main narrative, and said that the writing of the cards was formatted to be a "short direct question, quick snappy answer, dire consequences".
[6]
Alliot was particularly inspired by the
Oulipo
, a group of French writers who experimented with
constrained writing
.
[6]
The plot centered on the Devil was introduced near the end, as Alliot needed a reason to explain why the characters repeated their dialogue, and to justify why the player would continue as a new king.
[7]
The soundtrack was composed by the
chiptune
composer
Disasterpeace
,
[9]
and the art was created by Mieko Murakami.
[6]
Reigns
was featured at the AdventureX convention in December 2015.
[10]
The game was released on 16 August 2016 for
Android
,
iOS
,
Linux
,
macOS
, and
Windows
.
[11]
It was delayed from its planned release a week earlier due to problems with its translations.
[12]
A
port
for
Nintendo Switch
was launched on 20 September 2018.
[13]
Reigns
had sold two million copies by August 2019.
[6]
Reception
[
edit
]
According to the
review aggregator
website
Metacritic
,
Reigns
received "generally favorable" reviews for its iOS and PC versions. Reviewers generally considered
Reigns
a fun and unique strategy game.
[1]
[3]
TouchArcade
found its gameplay to be interesting and inventive,
[3]
and
Pocket Gamer
said that it was "a clever subversion of strategy and casual mobile play that makes you laugh, cry, and think".
[1]
In contrast,
The Guardian
felt that
Reigns
was more of a whimsical experience than a serious strategy game.
[2]
Critics debated the game's presentation.
Rock Paper Shotgun
said that it forced the player to alter their approach to rulership, as it changed him from being an
idealist
who wanted to make moral decisions, to a pragmatic monarch who would work to stay in power.
[16]
Other reviewers opined that the game was about finding ways to balance the four aspects.
[1]
[4]
TouchArcade
said that the game was humorous and weird, adding that it embraced these elements through its premise and presentation.
[3]
The gameplay was positively received.
TouchArcade
praised the cards as a way to make the player feel like they were working to a larger goal through simple decisions.
[3]
Gamezebo
said that the game gave an interesting amount of weight behind each choice and would lead to overthinking.
[4]
The Guardian
felt that the simple controls with the cards was well-suited for mobile gameplay, but added that the binary style of the decisions limited the game's depth.
[2]
Some reviewers said that the gameplay felt repetitive.
Gamezebo
said that that the game would become shallow despite its large number of scenarios.
[1]
The Guardian
found some of the cards to be poorly designed and confusing, and said that the repeating nature of some cards hurt the game's story-based main objective.
[2]
In contrast,
Rock Paper Shotgun
said that
Reigns
did not feel repetitive despite its simple controls, as there were enough new cards being added that made the game fun.
[16]
The game won the international competition at the 2017
Ludicious
convention.
[17]
It was nominated for "Best Mobile Game" of Unity Awards 2016, and "Use of Narrative" of Develop Awards 2016.
[18]
[19]
In 2017,
Reigns
was nominated for "
Mobile Game of the Year
" at the
20th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards
.
[20]
Legacy
[
edit
]
Nerial released a standalone sequel to
Reigns
titled
Reigns: Her Majesty
in December 2017. The game sees players take control of a
queen consort
instead of a king.
[21]
Her Majesty received "generally favorable reviews" according to Metacritic.
[22]
A third installment in the franchise called
Reigns: Game of Thrones
was launched in October 2018.
[23]
The game is based upon the
Game of Thrones
television series, and was created as part of a licensing deal between Devolver Digital and
HBO
.
[24]
It received "generally favorable reviews".
[25]
A fourth installment called
Reigns: Beyond
was added in 2020.
Beyond
centers around a group of aliens in a rock band as they travel the galaxy to look for venues to play at.
[26]
It received "mixed or average reviews".
[27]
A fifth game titled
Reigns: Three Kingdoms
, was released for
Netflix
subscribers in November 2022.
[28]
Three Kingdoms
was primarily influenced by the
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
, and includes a combat and multiplayer system.
[29]
It received "mixed or average reviews".
[30]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Slater, Harry (11 August 2016).
"
Reigns
Review - A Strategy Game Mixed with Tinder"
.
Pocket Gamer
.
Archived
from the original on 23 January 2024
. Retrieved
23 January
2024
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Hern, Alex (7 September 2016).
"
Reigns
Review: The Medieval Strategy Game Based on Tinder"
.
The Guardian
.
ISSN
0261-3077
.
Archived
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. Retrieved
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2024
.
- ^
a
b
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d
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Dotson, Carter (10 August 2016).
"
Reigns
Review ? Reign in Blood"
.
TouchArcade
.
Archived
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. Retrieved
23 January
2024
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
Allen, Jennifer (12 August 2016).
"
Reigns
Review: Decisions, Decisions"
.
Gamezebo
.
Archived
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. Retrieved
1 February
2024
.
- ^
Calvin, Alex (5 December 2017).
"How Tinder-meets-
Game of Thrones
Title
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Sold 1.8m copies"
.
pcgamesinsider.biz
.
Archived
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1 March
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.
- ^
a
b
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McMahon, James (29 August 2019).
"How
Reigns
Convinced Two Million People To Swipe Right to Rule Their Kingdom - and Captured The Game of Thrones License"
.
GamesRadar
.
Archived
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. Retrieved
1 March
2024
.
- ^
a
b
c
Macgregor, Jody (30 November 2017).
"How
Reigns
and its Sequel Make Their 'Tinderocracy' Work"
.
PC Gamer
.
Archived
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. Retrieved
1 March
2024
.
- ^
Alliot, Francois (15 September 2016).
"How We Mixed Tinder and Politics to Make a Premium Hit on Mobile"
.
Polygon
.
Archived
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. Retrieved
6 May
2024
.
- ^
Moser, AJ (11 October 2016).
"
Reigns
Offers Grand Strategy By Way of Tinder"
.
Paste
.
Archived
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. Retrieved
13 May
2024
.
- ^
Brown, Steve (29 December 2015).
"AdventureX 2015: Part 1 - The Games - page 2"
.
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.
Archived
from the original on 22 November 2021
. Retrieved
21 June
2024
.
- ^
"
Reigns
"
.
Gry-Online
(in Polish).
Archived
from the original on 7 May 2024
. Retrieved
6 May
2024
.
- ^
MCV Editors (11 October 2016).
"
Reigns
Developer Wasn't Sure He Could Make a Good Free-To-Play Game"
.
MCV/Develop
.
ISSN
1469-4832
.
Archived
from the original on 22 June 2024
. Retrieved
21 June
2024
.
- ^
Ronaghan, Neal (17 September 2018).
"
Reigns
: Kings and Queens Review - Review"
.
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.
Archived
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. Retrieved
7 May
2024
.
- ^
"
Reigns
for iPhone/iPad Reviews"
.
Metacritic
.
Archived
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. Retrieved
21 December
2016
.
- ^
"
Reigns
for PC Reviews"
.
Metacritic
.
Archived
from the original on 22 June 2024
. Retrieved
21 December
2016
.
- ^
a
b
Meer, Alec (8 September 2016).
"Wot I Think:
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"
.
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.
Archived
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. Retrieved
16 June
2022
.
- ^
Bradley, Dave (28 January 2017).
"
Reigns
Wins the International Competition at the Zurich Game Festival"
.
Pocket Gamer
.
Archived
from the original on 31 January 2017
. Retrieved
28 January
2017
.
- ^
"Unity Awards 2016 ? Winners"
.
Unity
.
Archived
from the original on 10 November 2016
. Retrieved
21 December
2016
.
- ^
Batchelor, James (4 May 2016).
"Develop Awards 2016: And the finalists are..."
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. Retrieved
21 December
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.
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"2017 Awards Category Details Mobile Game of the Year"
.
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.
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. Retrieved
30 November
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.
- ^
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"
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Review ? This Queen Reigns Supreme"
.
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.
Archived
from the original on 23 June 2018
. Retrieved
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.
- ^
"
Reigns: Her Majesty
"
.
Metacritic
.
Archived
from the original on 3 March 2024
. Retrieved
21 June
2024
.
- ^
Ronaghan, Neal (11 April 2019).
"
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.
Nintendo World Report
.
Archived
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. Retrieved
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.
- ^
Batchelor, James (23 August 2018).
"Nerial founder "couldn't be happier" as
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.
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Archived
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.
- ^
"
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"
.
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.
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from the original on 2 March 2024
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2024
.
- ^
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"
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Is the Newest
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.
TouchArcade
.
Archived
from the original on 26 April 2024
. Retrieved
13 May
2024
.
- ^
"
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"
.
Metacritic
.
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22 June
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.
- ^
Alexander, Maria (23 August 2018).
"
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launching October 18th"
.
Gamezebo
. Archived from
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11 September
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.
- ^
Madnani, Mikhail (23 November 2022).
"
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.
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.
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.
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"
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"
.
Metacritic
.
Archived
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. Retrieved
22 June
2024
.
External links
[
edit
]