Bad North
$15 | PC | BADNORTH.COM A cute strategy game with dire consequences.
It’s a simple strategy game, almost closer to being a puzzler. You have to defend a little island, or more specifically the cottages dotted around it. You have up to four units to hold off waves of Viking invaders. Bad North is about shuffling units around to make sure someone is on the beach ready to greet approaching enemies. Complications arise with more frequent waves and various enemy types requiring different units to counter. The key to each battle is teasing out the choke points on the islands – placing your troops where they can make the most difference without wasting time marching them from one end of the island to the other.
Your units are groups of eight or so little dudes and with each fight they diminish. You need to send them to a house to replenish or risk losing them forever, but while they’re recovering their numbers they’re unable to respond to any attackers. Making the call at the wrong time will cost you gravely. Lose all your units and it’s game over, sending you back to square one. It’s an extremely harsh punishment for a game with such gentle presentation. Moving troops feels like playing with a small box of toys. The soft wind and waves make each island feel like a lovely little haven, the cottages dotting the islands adding to the wholesomeness. It’s all so simple and evocative. You respond to oncoming attackers carefully, but easily. A nice alternative to more demanding strategy games. Yet that all turns on a dime with one single mistake. The consequence of failure feels at odds with the leisurely pace of combat.
If you can stomach the harsh consequences for failure then Bad North is a delightful little strategy game. I keep restarting in spite of my mistakes, so that speaks volumes for how compelling it is. There’s just something about watching those little sprites batter each other that keeps me coming back. At least until I burn my house down. Sam Greer