The gameplay shows that it is clearly the work of a fan. Note that Jon can attack using his white direwolf Ghost, Daenerys has her main dragon Drogon perched on her shoulder — and is that a crossbow in Tyrion's hands? (It may just be an axe. Frankly, it's a bit hard to tell with the low-def quality.)

But don't expect everything to be exactly true to the story, Alves explained. "I preferred the fun, not the fidelity, so you will see things that are not exactly as you can see in the books, or the TV show," he explained. And if you survive far enough, the creator wrote that he is particularly fond of his third stage, 'The Battle of Blackwater.' Watch out for wildfire.

It's certainly no official sanctioned video game production, but those haven't had much success this far for Thrones. Both the online A Game of Thrones: Genesis and the action role-playing Game of Thrones have come out to mild reviews and have not caught on like the other adaptations of the A Song of Ice and Fire series. This game may have the best chance yet, and The Week's Scott Meslow is certainly a fan of this new version: "It's hard to argue, however, with the home-brewed charm of this 8-bit sidescroller version."

If you enjoy, just know that there could be more on the way, Alves wrote. "Who knows, maybe I could make a sequel, in the near future..." If we're lucky, those sequels will come out a bit faster than those from Martin himself.

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.