Reigns: Game of Thrones review: Worth paying the iron price

Reigns: Game of Thrones sounds like a project born from someone spying the “most ambitious crossover” meme that did the rounds earlier this year and treating it as a challenge.

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Mashing up the Tinder-meets-monarchy genius of the Reigns series with medieval fantasy mega-franchise Game of Thrones is such a conceptual stroke of genius you have to wonder why it didn’t happen sooner.

Now that the dream is finally a reality, is Reigns: Game of Thrones worthy of the Iron Throne, or should it be thrown out The Eyrie’s Moon Door? Let’s find out!

Reigns, Westeros style

For the uninitiated, Reigns is an award winning series of games developed by U.K. studio Nerial. Both the original Reigns and its sequel, Reigns: Her Majesty, crown the player as the king or queen of a kingdom full of soldiers, priests, peasants, charlatans, each with their own agendas and desires.

Interactions with your increasingly large pool of not-so-loyal subjects plays out as a series of endless binary choices where you swipe left or right on the character’s card to make a decision.

Each choice positively or negatively impacts your standing with one or more of four factions — army, church, people, treasury. Increase your standing with any of these groups to the max or have it hit rock bottom and you’ll be swiftly deposed in a fatal and often hilarious fashion.

Reigns has always been a perfect series for short bursts of play on-the-go.

In-game years pass by in minutes and, depending on how diligent you are with your choices, a single reign can last several decades or be violently cut short in the prime of your noble avatar’s youth.

Reigns is a perfect game for short bursts of play on the go (online or offline), but it’s also engrossing enough to lose yourself to for hours on end. You can try to outlast your record reign or unlock achievements that carry over to each new ruler and, in the case of Reigns: Her Majesty, progress an overall story that plays out on a much grander, cosmic scale.

Thankfully, while there could have been a temptation to tweak the formula to accommodate the Game of Thrones universe, Reigns: Game of Thrones retains the core gameplay and structure of its predecessors. This should come as a huge relief, as Reigns is one of the most unique games available on the Play Store, built to do as much as possible with just a handful of simple gestures.

In fact, one of the most impressive things about Reigns: Game of Thrones is how the Westerosi-flavored influence simultaneously feels like a basic reskin of the Reigns experience that supplants original characters with memorable faces from the books and TV show, but also a natural, sometimes bold extension of the series’ main mechanics.

The four factions are fundamentally the same, now based on established parts of the Game of Thrones canon. The church is now represented by priests of the Faith of the Seven, while the Master of Coin and representatives from the Iron Bank of Braavos stand in for the treasury.

More: 15 best offline Android games

While many changes are obvious and simple — you’ll be sitting on the Iron Throne instead of a regular throne and listening to the Game of Thrones theme a lot  — Reigns: Game of Thrones goes a step further. It’s an authentic adaptation that perfectly recreates many of the HBO series’ most popular characters without losing Reigns’ wry, darkly comic edge.

You’ll meet characters like Lord Varys, Samwell Tarly, and Tyrion Lannister as you rule, and each are immediately recognizable not only through their charmingly designed sprites, but also the dialogue.

The game manages to convey all of the traits and machinations of each character in just a few short sentences. New players unfamiliar with Game of Thrones lore won’t be too lost, and fans will be able to savor every nod and wink to the wider story. Just don’t go in expecting any of the salacious sex and gratuitous violence of an average episode of the HBO series. This is still a Reigns game after all.

A Swipe of Ice and Fire

Reigns: Game of Thrones’ biggest twist, on both series, centers on how it handles the main protagonist of each playthrough.

Set in a hypothetical “what if” scenario where the tyrannical Cersei Lannister has been toppled and cast out of King’s Landing, you first take on the role of everyone’s favorite Queen of Dragons and new ruler of the Seven Kingdoms, Daenerys Targaryen.

You’ll soon realize that you actually know nothing (Jon Snow).

Once Dany inevitably bites the dust you’ll be greeted by the mystical red priestess Melisandre who ponders your fate, questioning whether Daenerys was truly the reborn legendary hero the world has been searching for.

This meta-narrative allows Reigns: Game of Thrones to present nine playable characters, including Jon Snow and other fan favorites, each of whom could be the next “Azor Ahai.” This represents a huge step forward for Reigns, which previously only toyed with the idea of multiple characters by giving new rulers throwaway names and titles.

Reigns: Game of Thrones is an authentic adaptation that perfectly recreates many of the HBO series’ most popular characters without losing Reigns’ wry, darkly comic edge.

While this can make the whole thing feel a bit daunting — each leader has their own allies, enemies, and objectives — the game cleverly spaces out the introduction of new player characters as the broader story steadily unfolds.

Game of Thrones fans can also have a little fun with each new character by either roleplaying the decisions you think they’d make based on their popular persona, or essentially play out your own fan fiction. Want to turn the heroic Jon Snow into a bloodthirsty, war-hungry autocrat? Reigns: Game of Thrones lets you do just that.

No matter who you choose, however, winter is always coming, and the threat of the White Walkers is never too far away. Figuring out how to survive the cold with each character takes patience, strategy, and a bit of luck.

Reigns: Game of Thrones also introduces branching decisions. These are usually fairly inconsequential, like during small council meetings where you choose one of four people to speak to. Occasionally you’ll see a knock on effect if you choose to go to war or begin or end an allegiance.

During one playthrough as Jon, I opted to off Varys (yes, you can sometimes kill people with a single swipe now) and replaced him with a representative from House Greyjoy to quash a military standoff between King’s Landing and the Iron Islands.

Unfortunately my new Master of Whisperers wasn’t all that loyal and I eventually had to up sticks and move back to Winterfell through another new gameplay addition, travel between locations. Many of these moves are represented by simple background transitions, but others will see you traveling along a segmented path with decisions to make along the way.

The night is dark and full of errors

For all the ingenuity behind Reigns and its adaptation of the Game of Thrones license, a few niggles still carry over from previous entries in the series.

The most infuriating is the seemingly random results of some of your choices. Every now and again you’ll swipe left or right thinking you’ll be appeasing the church or saving money only to infuriate a priest or end up destitute. Sudden deaths and fleeting reigns are all part of the overall design, but some of the more vague, cryptic writing can occasionally lead to an early demise that feels unfair.

More: 15 best RPGs for Android

The usable items of Reigns: Her Majesty have also been jettisoned, which feels like a step back considering how drastically each item could change your fate. Likewise, the story doesn’t get anywhere as weird and wonderful as Her Majesty’s bonkers, fourth wall-breaking plot — out of servitude to the Game of Thrones license no doubt.

An essential for Game of Thrones fans

Put simply, if you’re a Game of Thrones fan, this is an essential purchase. It’s easily the best game set in George R. R. Martin’s fantasy world, pinching the mantle from 2014’s episodic adventure series by the now-defunct Telltale Games.

For Reigns addicts, there’s enough new here to keep things fresh, but it also stays true to the DNA of the previous games. Personally, I still prefer Reigns: Her Majesty’s offbeat weirdness, although you could (and should) pick up both games for less than $7 on the Play Store.

Love both? Stop reading this review immediately, hit the button below, and queue that download. When you play Reigns: Game of Thrones, you win or you die, and you’ll love every minute of it.

Google Play: Download Reigns: Game of Thrones

Source: Android Zone

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Learn how to capture Slimer and others in Ghostbusters World with these tips and tricks

In the new mobile AR game, Ghostbusters World, you can take your phone into the real world to find and capture all sorts of ghosts and apparitions in order to avoid a disaster of biblical proportions. Before you heat up your proton packs and begin the hunt for something strange in your neighborhood, you might need some help to level up your ghostbusting skills in order to catch as many ghosts as you can.

Thankfully, there are lots of tips and tricks you can learn before venturing outside to play Ghostbusters World. Here are just a few of them to know before you power up your (virtual) unlicensed nuclear accelerator on your phone.

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• You can gain extra XP in the game whenever you capture a ghost for the first time and register it to your Tobin’s Spirit Guide, which can be accessed from the map screen. Check in on Tobin’s Guide throughout your adventure to see which ghosts you’ve captured so far and learn about each ghost’s individual history and lore.
• Dimensional Doors are based on Google Points of Interest, but if there’s no Dimensional Door near you in the game, you can put down your own personal “Remote Gate” on the map. This means that no matter where you are based, you can regularly collect rewards and items. Keep in mind that you won’t be able to move the gate freely once it’s installed, so you might want to put it near a location in the real world where you know you will be often, such as your home, school or workplace.
• When playing in the “AR Off” mode, you can also change the way you control the beam by going into the “Settings” menu. If you select “Virtual Pad,” you can use your thumb like a joystick for directing the beam during battles rather than the standard “Tilt” aiming controls.

• You can also switch between right-handed and left-handed controls for whichever is more comfortable for your play style, located in the “Settings” menu under the “Battle” tab.
• If you’re eager to hunt down some more ghosts, you can access the “Ghost Tracker” from the right sidebar on the map screen to see a list of which ghosts are trackable (visible on the map) in the area. It also shows other ghosts that may appear near your location.
• On a ghost’s details page within the Ghost Collection, there’s a handy “Stats Comparison” button located at the bottom of the screen. You can use this feature to compare one ghost’s stats against another’s in your collection, and even view how their stats would compare at maximum level. This can help you choose which ghost to level up and which to destabilize!
• Each ghost is associated with a certain element in the game, and each element has its strengths and weaknesses. If you’re having trouble defeating enemies in a ghost team battle, you can try substituting different ghosts on your team that have a better elemental match-up. For example, if you’re facing a difficult team of Fire-type ghosts, putting some Water-type ghosts on your team may help even the odds.

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Each ghost is associated with a certain element in the game

• Ghosts of Light and Dark-type elements are normally very rare to find on the map, but you can activate your Ecto-Goggles in the game to significantly increase your chances of encountering (and capturing) them. You can find the Ecto-Goggles on the right sidebar on your map screen.
• Make sure you research equipment upgrades regularly in your game in the “Character & Equipment” menu. If you have better in-game weapons, it can make a big difference in successfully busting ghosts, especially when facing stronger ghosts and bosses.
• When the “Counter” button displays in a Capture battle, be sure to tap on it quickly to stop the ghost’s attack and deal it extra damage.
• You can’t Counter bosses’ attacks in the same way as a normal ghost’s. However, bosses spend time readying their attacks, and this is when you can attack the highlighted target spot. If you deal enough damage to the target, you can even cancel the boss’ attack and expose a weak point. If you’re having trouble dealing enough damage to disrupt a boss’ attacks, consider upgrading your weapons further, using weapons that feature limited (but more powerful) ammo, and — for Multiplayer bosses — recruiting up to three teammates.

• While restraining a ghost with the capture stream, the “Slam” button will appear in the game, allowing you to daze the ghost for a couple of seconds. While a ghost is dazed from a slam, it’s much easier to hold over a trap to capture it.
• Your ghosts will level up gradually from participating in ghost team battles, but you can also speed up the process by manually leveling-up your ghosts with PKE Crystals. These crystals can be earned by defeating ghosts in capture battles and by completing various missions and challenges.
• All ghosts in Ghostbusters World have a level, rank, and letter grade that affects their overall stats. You can upgrade a ghost’s level and rank over time, but its letter grade (S > A > B > C > D) is determined when you first add the ghost to your collection and can’t be changed. Ghosts with a higher letter grade have a higher maximum level so it may be worth upgrading your S grade ghosts first. To consistently find ghosts at higher letter grades, you’ll need to keep busting them in the game!

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It’s worth upgrading your S-grade ghosts first

• Even if you run out of traps, you can still patrol your neighborhood for ghosts in Ghostbusters World. Weapons like the Boson Caster, Meson Collider, and Shock Blast Emitter can destabilize ghosts. So as long as you still have ammo for those weapons, you can destabilize ghosts for different rewards than you’d receive for capturing them.
• Make sure you regularly check your “Missions” for Daily Missions, Weekly Missions, and milestone Challenges. Completing these will get you useful rewards but if you don’t receive your reward immediately, check your Mail! It may have been sent there instead.
• Ghostbusters World has a Story Mode, which you can set to “Easy.” However, once you complete it, the adventure doesn’t have to end there. You can challenge it again by setting Story Mode to “Normal” or even “Hard” difficulties. You will get better rewards when you complete the mode on those two higher settings.

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Again, these are just some of the tips and tricks you can use while playing Ghostbusters World. Good luck in ridding the world of evil spirits, apparitions and other similar entities. You will definitely not be afraid of no ghosts in the game when equipped with these tips.

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Source: Android Zone

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When is it Worth It to Buy Premium WordPress Plugins? (Explained)

We are often asked by users when is it worth investing in premium WordPress plugins? One of main reasons why WordPress is the popular website builder in the world is because it gives you access to thousands of free and paid plugins (also known as premium WordPress plugins). In this article, we will explain when is it worth buying premium or paid WordPress plugins.

What are Premium WordPress Plugins?

Premium plugins are paid version of WordPress plugins that come with additional features, priority support, documentation, and regular updates.

You can learn more about WordPress plugins by reading our beginner’s guide on what are WordPress plugins and how do they work.

WordPress has become the most popular blogging platform in the world because it has a healthy ecosystem of both free and paid plugins. At the time of writing this article, there are more than 55,000 free plugins available in WordPress.org directory. You can use these free plugins to access various features without paying anyone.

Often beginners wonder how does WordPress make money if the plugins are free. Well, WordPress does not own all these plugins.

Since WordPress is open-source, majority of these free plugins are written by third-party developers who want to give back to the WordPress community and build a brand for themselves, so they can get more client-work.

But the issue is that like any other software, WordPress plugins also need to be properly maintained and updated. Although the individual developer is not required to offer support, most of them go above and beyond to help users and even add new features as requested.

As you can imagine, all these things take a lot of time and resources. Plugin authors are often unable to give free plugins proper attention as they grow and get a larger user base.

For some plugin developers, it becomes difficult to take time out of their work and personal life to maintain a free product over a long period.

This is where premium WordPress plugins come in.

For a small licensing fee, you get access to dedicated support, guaranteed updates, and premium features. The license fee provides plugin authors steady income, so they can improve the product and dedicate more time to growing their WordPress plugin business.

On the other hand, it gives you, the customer, a more refined product with reliable support and updates.

That being said, let’s talk about when you should consider buying premium WordPress plugins.

Are Premium WordPress Plugins Worth the Money?

If you have read our guide on controlling the cost of a WordPress website, then you would know that we are not a fan of unnecessary spending.

We believe that most beginners can control their costs by using free WordPress plugins whenever they can. There are free versions for many of the the best WordPress plugins on the market. Following are just a few examples of great premium WordPress plugins offering free or lite versions.

• WPForms Lite is the best free contact form plugin.
• MonsterInsights Lite – The free version helps you easy install Google Analytics in WordPress.
• Yoast SEO – The best free WordPress SEO plugin.
• WooCommerce – WordPress ecommerce plugin to start an online store.
• SeedProd – The best a coming soon page and maintenance mode plugin.

However as your website or business grow, you will want access to more features, priority support, and reliable plugins that you can count on for regular updates.

To help you decide, we have added the top reasons that justify investing in a premium WordPress plugin.

1. Solutions Specific WordPress Plugins

There are some WordPress plugin categories that cater to very specific solutions. For example, building a membership website or selling online courses are hard work.

Free plugins alone cannot do justice to these complex solutions. Even if you find a free plugin for the job, you will likely have to purchase paid addons to support their business.

If you are building a website that requires a very specific / advanced functionality, then you will be better off with a premium WordPress plugin.

2. Advanced Features

While there are free plugins for most basic tasks, you will only find advanced features in paid plugins. That’s mainly because building and maintaining advanced features take a lot of resources.

For example, while WPForms Lite is the most beginner-friendly WordPress contact form plugin, the pro version of WPForms comes with advanced features like user registration form, surveys and polls, payment forms, etc.

3. Dedicated Support from Plugin Developers

Support is not guaranteed with free WordPress plugins because free plugin authors are not required to offer support. If you are new to WordPress with no programming skills, then support becomes crucial for you. Premium WordPress plugins give you faster email responses for your support questions.

4. Extensive Documentation and Tutorials

Premium and paid WordPress plugins provide extensive documentation to help you get started without even contacting support. Many premium WordPress plugins have docs or resources sections where you can find guides, tutorials, and video instructions. These resources help you use the plugin without waiting for someone to help you out.

5. Regular and Frequent Updates

Free WordPress plugins are sometimes abandoned by their developers. This leaves your website open to security vulnerabilities and bugs. Sometimes you might not even realize that a plugin has been abandoned until you see your site behaving strangely after updating WordPress.

Premium WordPress plugins give you regular updates to address bugs, glitches, and most importantly any security issues. You don’t have to do anything as those updates would automatically appear in your WordPress dashboard, and you can install them with just a few clicks. See our guide on how to properly update WordPress plugins for detailed instructions.

6. New Features and Enhancements

Free WordPress plugins usually don’t have an incentive to enhance and improve something that is already working for many websites.

On the other hand, paid WordPress plugins are businesses with competition. In order to stay on top, they continuously work on their products by adding new features and improving existing features. Depending on your license terms, you will get access to those features right away.

7. Supporting The WordPress Ecosystem

Premium WordPress plugin companies are small businesses. By purchasing a license, you help them build a sustainable business that provides for their families and even creates new jobs all over the world.

Your small payment helps those developers create killer products for other small businesses like yours and improve the WordPress ecosystem (See: Most influential companies in WordPress).

Frequently Asked Questions about Premium Plugins

We have answered a lot of questions about premium WordPress plugins via email. To help you find the answer quickly, we have compiled the list of the most frequently asked questions.

1. Should I only use all premium plugins on my website?

No, there is no need to only use paid WordPress plugins on your website. You should only buy premium plugins when you actually need them. There are a lot of great free plugins that have no premium alternative or are much better than their paid alternatives.

2. How do I find premium WordPress plugins?

Premium WordPress plugins are not sold on the official WordPress.org website. You can buy them from their own websites. Now the problem is that all those websites are scattered, so how do you know which plugin is good?

This is where WPBeginner can help. We are the largest WordPress resource site on the internet. We regularly write how-to’s about different free and premium WordPress plugins. We do the research for you by actually testing the plugin and breaking down their features with pros and cons.

Following are just a few plugin showcases that you’ll find on WPBeginner (they contain both free and paid WordPress plugins).

• Best contact form plugins for WordPress
• Best WordPress SEO plugins and tools
• Best WordPress security plugins
• Best WordPress backup plugins
• Best free WooCommerce plugins
• Best WordPress caching plugins
• Best WordPress membership plugins
• Best WordPress LMS plugins
• Best WordPress drag & drop page builder plugins
• Best WordPress plugins for small business

Need more recommendations? Just type in your keyword in Google and add wpbeginner.com at the end of your search term.

Another way to find great premium WordPress plugins is by upgrading to the paid plans of a free plugin that you already love and use.

3. Are all premium WordPress plugins good?

No, not all of them are great. In fact, some paid plugins can be quite terrible. That’s why you need to carefully evaluate them before making the purchase. Find out who are the people behind the plugin, what kind of reputation they have, what other people are saying about the plugin on the internet.

Whatever you do, DO NOT buy a paid plugin from an unofficial source like Fiverr. Always buy the plugins from the official author website to make sure that you’re buying the secure version of the plugin.

4. Do I need to keep paying premium WordPress plugins every year?

Once you purchase a WordPress plugin, you can keep using it for as long as you want. Premium WordPress plugins come with different licensing terms. The most common licensing term is for 1 year of updates and support. If you are on a yearly license plan, then your plugin will continue to work, but you will not get updates and support after your license is expired.

If you like the plugin you are using, then you should definitely renew your license when it expires.

We hope this article helped you learn when you should buy premium WordPress plugins. You may also want to see our guide on free vs premium WordPress themes for a similar discussion regarding WordPress themes.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post When is it Worth It to Buy Premium WordPress Plugins? (Explained) appeared first on WPBeginner.

Source: Wordpres

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