Tribes Of Midgard
Bjorn to be (and survive in the) wild
There’s no ideal place to find yourself alone, stranded, and naked as the day you were born. But surely anywhere is better than Ragnarök? Sadly, that’s precisely where your Viking warrior finds themself at the start of each run in this Norse-themed action RPG with strong survival elements. Sent from Valhalla to defend the surface world, Midgard, from some of Norse mythology’s greatest monsters, only by exploring, building, and levelling up will you accomplish this lofty goal.
Survival games in this vein are designed to keep you on the back foot, with vital resources placed as far away as possible to encourage you to use your wits and experiment. Tribes Of Midgard has that, but it’s also constructed to make you feel instantly empowered, giving you the necessary tools early on and asking you to be creative with them. All that matters ultimately is protecting the Seed of Yggdrasil that sits at the centre of your village. How you go about doing so is largely up to you.
Will you opt to invest in upgrading your NPC villagers? Maybe you want to focus on building reinforcements in the surrounding area? Alternatively, you may wish to splash out on yourself first and foremost, gathering the ingredients required to craft the best weapons and armour. Such freedom can be intimidating at first, yet by making your ultimate objective clear from the very start, Tribes Of Midgard makes all avenues worthwhile. The most successful warriors are those able to achieve the perfect balance between them. This becomes increasingly tough, however, the further you stray away from your village and the more days roll on.
FOR VALHALLA
Tribes Of Midgard works well enough as a solo venture, but the combination of survival and Diablo-style action comes properly to life when teamwork is thrown into the mix. Runs simply have a much faster pace when you’ve got a full party of ten, especially since you’re able to fill out the procedural map quicker and pool all your resources to keep the Yggdrasil Seed alive. Difficulty is raised according to the number of players, but failing (which you’ll do frequently early on) is always a lesson in how to survive for longer next time.
There’s a definite sense that six months from now Tribes Of Midgard could be a very different game to the one at launch. The chief Saga mode’s current season might culminate in a wolf boss, for instance, but
By making your ultimate objective clear, Tribes Of Midgard makes all avenues worthwhile.
limited-time world events and a Battle Pass-style progression system all pave the way for further bosses, weapon types, and areas to be added. Luckily, none of this feels predatory and the gameplay loop is addictive and moreish enough to support such future endeavours.