Reigns

Reigns (2016) is an adventure strategy game where you take charge of a kingdom, one decision at a time. Each choice is presented to you as a playing card with some advice or a question from one of the 38 different characters. Swipe left or right to make a decision that will impact the church, people, military and wealth of your domain. You have to make choices about complex issues without knowing all the consequences. You have to decide whether the people advising you are to be trusted. As you do, a string of intriguing story threads emerges that will influence your strategy.

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It’s a good first role-playing game because it boils things down to simple decisions while raising themes about the complexity of politics. There are a few games in the series, available on all the same platforms, that use this same mechanic but in a different setting or with a different monarch:

• Reigns: Her Majesty extends the game to a new kingdom with power in a woman’s hands. New characters and a fresh story are a chance to consider patriarchy itself with additional pressures to balance like "being criticised for having too many wrinkles" or “gossiping too much.”
• Reigns: Game of Thrones draws on the popular TV series and books for characters and plot. If you’re a fan of the series, this can be a good game to start with.
• Reigns: Beyond: Takes the decision making into space. You don't have an empire but must build one for your rock band.

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Our examiner, Andy Robertson, first checked Reigns 5 years ago. It was re-examined by Ollie Robertson and updated 5 weeks ago.