Vikings: Wolves of Midgard
You’re Thor? I can hardly walk!
DEVELOPER GAMES FARM PUBLISHER KALYPSO MEDIA PRICE $ 39.99 USD AVAILABLE AT STEAM www.kalypsomedia.com
Although Vikings: Wolves of Midgard has all the hallmarks of fitting in nicely with the established style of action RPGs - there is a levelling mechanic, skill trees, dropped loot and the like - in play the game feels like a modern version of something much older. Rather than being an RPG, action or otherwise, Vikings instead feels like something older, less nuanced and more concerned with instant gratification. It feels a little something like Gauntlet mixed with an isometric brawler a-la Victor Vran. That’s not at all a bad thing.
What Viking lacks in narrative depth it makes up for in other places. Players take the role of a Viking warrior or Shieldmaiden of the Ulfung clan, a group of castoffs and outsiders. After the village is almost destroyed by giants (not out of malice, but because it was in the way), the player is elected to chieftain and it’s up to them to keep the town safe, pillage neighbouring villages and, of course, stop the fimbulwinter ( Of course! - Sub Ed.) and the end of Asgard and Midgard. All in a day’s work for a Viking, not that they seem to want to have any part in the struggle. The player character is one of the most hilariously and pointlessly ill-tempered protagonists around. There is barely a line of dialogue that isn’t an insult or complaint. Have to rescue someone; bitch about how weak they are and complain that you have better things to do. Talk to a seer; complain that you haven’t killed anything in hours. It grows a bit tiresome after a while, but we imagine keeping up a constant stream of disdain and complaints is pretty tiring as well.
extreme cold means you can’t be away from a fire for too long before taking damage from frostbite
Rather than having named classes to choose from, players instead choose a god to worship and receive certain boons as long as they are wielding a weapon that is approved by the god in question. Odin, for example, is associated with the staff. With a staff equipped players can access staff related active and passive skills. Loki is the god of dual wielding, Tyr is one handed and shield, Thor is two handed weapons (that aren’t staves) and Skathi has dominion over bows. While it is possible to spend the points accrued through levelling on more than one skill tree by equipping a secondary gear set, you’re better off specialising for the most part.
Levelling is an interesting affair in Vikings, as it combines both traditional levelling aspects with some rather new ones. Rather than levelling being an automatic thing, gaining a level can only be achieved by praying at a shrine, either back in Ulfung village or one found in a mission level. Experience is also gained differently. Experience comes in the form of blood, and each level gained requires the sacrifice of an ever growing amount of blood at a shrine. Blood is accumulated through combat but must be picked up. Killing multiple enemies at once, keeping up a kill streak without being hit, and other flashy moves makes monsters drop more blood, making levelling faster for those that fight harder. Each
dropped blood orb also heals 1% of the character’s life.
Combat is a fast and enjoyable and while keyboard and mouse control is possible and decent, the game is definitely best played with a controller as it feels more naturally at home and immediate. The left stick controls player movement and the right stick executes a dodge roll with a quick window of invulnerability. Mastering the roll is one of the keys to being successful in combat, as not only does the roll allow players to avoid damage, when fighting large creatures it allows players to roll behind them for automatic critical damage. The left bumper triggers a heal and the right the magic of an equipped amulet. The other buttons are taken up by attacks and special abilities, with more being slotted into the controller as they are accrued.
In addition to monsters, the environment is often the enemy in Vikings. The extreme cold means your warrior can’t be away from a fire for too long before they begin to take damage from frostbite, and in a swamp spending too much time near the poisonous gas that seeps from the mud can kill. It’s an interesting mechanic that ensures that players have to be constantly moving and cognisant of where they are so as to either quickly backtrack to the last fire or patch of clean air, or change forward to hopefully make it to the next before damage starts.
There isn’t a lot of depth to Vikings. Equip the best gear you can, head to the next linear mission and kill everything while looking around for things that can help complete side quests, make your way to the big boss at the end of the level and kill it, then do it again at a different location. But depth isn’t really the point or even needed. Viking: Wolves of Midgard is immediately enjoyable thanks to the fun and immediate combat, and it grows to be extremely satisfying by the end thanks to the difficulty curve. It might not have the most replayability thanks to the unchanging levels and missions, but that first playthrough or two will be a blast.