Look, let us be honest, September 2 marked the grand opening of Season 2 for Game of Thrones: Kingsroad. Dubbed 'Reach Knight Selection: Roses and Thorns (hereinafter Roses and Thorns)', this fresh chapter asks you to pledge allegiance to a southern house and battle it out against other players. Netting a handful of new contents like the 'Jousting' mode, alongside shiny new relics and gear sets to widen your progression path, the update is quite a chunky affair.

In Roses and Thorns, you get to pick one of three houses: 'Florent, Tarly, or Rowan'. Just like back in Season 1, you will grind through seasonal content to compete for high scores against rival players. By the way, keep in mind that the seasonal tokens for Season 2 do not count towards your actual season score. Instead, you can hand them in to grab account-bound exclusive rewards based on the total quantity returned, so do not let them go to waste, mate.

The defining twist of Season 2 is 'Vitality Overload'. Down in the trenches of seasonal content, your skills will consume HP instead of fury, while taking down foes patches you back up. Every time you successfully land an attack, spend health, or recover it, a special gauge fills right up. Once that meter hits 60% or higher, you can miraculously cheat death from fatal blows, and pushing it all the way to 100% unlocks the season skill 'Vitality Charge'. This neat trick hands you a massive HP regen and a potent buff to turn the absolute tide of battle.

A brand new regional event called 'Jousting' has also rolled out. It is a tactical 1-on-1 duel against NPCs where charging head-on triggers various QTE sequences. The more QTEs you nail, the more devastating damage you deal to your opponent, and clearing out every single challenger on the tournament bracket rewards you with some lovely loot.

Naturally, new gear and relics have arrived to pad out your progression. First up is the brand new active relic, 'Crown of the Winter Rose'. It is a rather defensive piece that lets you recover health and snag a shield using its relic skill. Joining it is the 'Frenzied Warrior' gear set, which chucks you into a 'Fury' state upon using skills to boost your attack speed and active skill damage. Folks are already keeping a close eye on its perk, which gives you a cheeky chance to shave down remaining cooldowns for all active skills whenever you use an ability during Fury.

Quality of life has also received a bit of polish. Combat consumables now auto-refill when you retry 'Earthworm Way' or step into the next stage. On top of that, training ground restrictions have been lifted and achievement goals have been slightly dialed down. You can check out all the juicy details over on the official Game of Thrones: Kingsroad forum, savvy?