Big GoT fan? Game of Thrones: Kingsroad is out and free, and you might love or detest the game

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In the video game world, the wait for a good Game of Thrones adaption continues - or does it? Well, maybe, or maybe not, because the new Kingsroad game has just emerged on PC and mobile, and it appears to be divisive to say the least.

Game of Thrones: Kingsroad arrived a couple of days ago on Steam and the Epic Games Store for PC gamers, and Android plus iOS too, with the game being free to play. However, despite the lack of any entrance fee, the opinions of the game in its full launch state remain seriously polarized (as were the critiques of Kingsroad while it was still in early access on Steam).

The pitch is an action-adventure RPG with a proper Game of Thrones story (set between seasons four and five of the TV series) the brings "Westeros to life with remarkable detail and never-before seen scale" and Unreal Engine 5 graphics. However, the reception is more mixed than a compilation of 80s hits on a C90 cassette. Steam denizens either like it, or really, really hate it.

On the negative side of the equation are the gamers who call Kingsroad a sloppy port of a mobile game and who have serious beef with the amount of microtransactions involved. One prominent recent review calls it "perhaps the most aggressively unethically monetized game I have ever seen," no less. The combat is also called out for being subpar.

Now, even some of the more favorable reviews concede that Kingsroad does go heavy on the microtransactions, but as other Steam reviewers note, you don't have to pay if you don't want to.

Okay, so you might have to fork out if you're vying to become a major force on the server, but as long as that isn't your aim, and you're a more casual player, some folks argue it's perfectly viable to play Game of Thrones: Kingsroad while spending nothing. And some players are fine with the combat, too, even if they admit it isn't the strongest point of the game - which is the atmosphere and world building, and the quests are seemingly good quality, too.

Of course, take the positive feedback with some seasoning, as with the negative stuff. The good thing is Kingsroad is free to try out and make your own mind up about, and for big Game of Thrones fans - which includes us - it sounds worth a whirl. In fact, we're planning on doing just that at some point this year.

We also came across some potentially useful tips in terms of keeping progression ticking over while sticking strictly to F2P means, so if you don't want to spend at all in Kingsroad, it may be worth bearing these in mind.

Hat tip to Steam gamer MortarNMetal for these tips, but they are as follows: To avoid needing the messenger raven, you can park a second character in town and switch to that alternate when required. Also, fast travel isn't a problem as you can still do this via a signpost, and there are lots of those signposts around, we're told.