Game of Thrones-like legacy title King’s Dilemma gets a video game from Horrible Guild’s new studio
Beware the ayes of March.
Sharpen those daggers and check your ambition because The King’s Dilemma has announced a video game adaptation coming to PC later this year and developed by a brand new studio created by Horrible Guild’s CEO.
The legacy board game’s political intrigue and plotting will be adapted as The King’s Dilemma: Chronicles, a single player title that looks as if it hews fairly close to the board game’s experience. If you’ve never heard of the developing studio, the Milan-based Big Trouble, that’s because it’s the recent creation of Lorenzo Silva for what the press release calls “a new venture in the world of video games.”
Players in The King’s Dilemma: Chronicles will don the mantle of the monarch’s Head of the Council and attempt to corral the members of the inner circle for the ostensible good of the realm. Like in the board game, those members might be acting altruistically, or they could have self-serving motives that benefit their own families more than the crown. As Head, the choice to follow their advice or carve your own path will ultimately shape the resulting narrative.
The player’s loyalty to one of twelve noble houses will consistently complicate decisions on shaping law, allocating resources and how the kingdom conducts itself at war. The narrative will reportedly branch out across six main storylines, and every choice will further splinter that path. A single playthrough, which spans multiple generations, will last about three or four hours on average and play through the consequences of alliances and betrayals that ultimately lead to a final battle.
Before that ultimate point, though, the player will keep busy scouring the kingdom of Ankist for problems… excuse me, dilemmas, summoning their council to vote on a proposed solution. The Head’s own family resources and influence can be spent to influence the vote of more susceptible or corrupt members, but undermining the king too often will lead to abdication or violent deposition. But relying solely on the liege’s limited power puts the player at the whims of the noble families. Navigating these churning political waters is the backbone of the game.
Horrible Guild, who published the original board game and is handling upcoming sequel The Queen’s Dilemma, will manage Big Trouble beyond its development of the video game adaptation. This opens up the possibility of seeing other popular titles enjoy new life on a digital platform. Simpler games such as Similo and Railroad Ink already have digital versions, but Potion Explosion and the upcoming board game Evergreen would make for great entries on consoles and computers.
The King’s Dilemma: Chronicles is currently slated to arrive by the end of 2022, according to its Steam page. No price point has been listed, and Dicebreaker has reached out to Horrible Guild for more information.