Northgard is by far one of the most engaging Viking games today. It deviates from games that employ the same game style by cutting back on micromanagement in a bid to capture contrast between bleakness and wonder of Norse mythology. It also features a modern design so you can be sure you are getting yourself into a game that is in all fairness, one of the best RTS games currently available.
Shiro Games, the guys behind Northgard did a phenomenal job as far as gameplay is concerned. The player takes control of a sizable Viking clan that arrives in an unknown area. The area is on an unknown shore where the clan must establish their village, grow their society and gather enough resources. That is not all though. They must also defeat their fierce opponents.
In your quest to conquer a new and mysterious world, you will have to face off with different clans. Each clan has strong warriors, dragons, giants and other dreadful creatures. Finish off these woes and a harsh environment waits for you.
The current Skirmish vs Al mode is a perfect example of how Shiro Games got it right with the gameplay. Your empire here starts with very few food producing villagers. They forage your home region automatically so as to add to your stockpile. They are your friends. Things begin to change as soon as your labor force becomes large. The population also grows. You therefore have to train other villagers into advanced and diversified jobs like woodcutting. Some will also become warriors and scouts.
Each village is within a map. The map is split up into visible regions with well-defined borders. A scout must explore each village. You will then get a chance to colonize the village for a lump sum of food. Each border has a fixed number of people it can accommodate and buildings that can fit within its borders. Villages also have resources like stone, iron, dense forests and find shorelines so that you can easily increase your woodcutting output and take control of each village. The best part of the game is where you must launch Viking raids to conquer new territories.
According to Shiro Games, players should expect in the near future a lot of more from Northgard. That’s because developments with extra features like a full dedicated multiplayer mode, two more playable clans and a campaign mode are in the offing. At this stage though, Northgard will still impress you with its indie strategy and as you may have already figured out, an impressive gameplay.
Northgard’s graphics are in the simplest way possible, perfect! The Vikings and everything around them look real. The sound is also perfect. Color contrasts ensure that the game boasts of vibrant and calming colors. It gets better with the interface which is both sleek and clean.
The game is not too heavy to slow down your computer. Your best bet therefore as far as graphics card requirements are concerned would any card that can is capable of handling OpenGL 2.1 or DX 9. A 256 MB GPU is also a must as well as a 1GB RAM. Anything below these requirements means that your game will stall before you get far. You may also have to deal with sound hitches all the time.
The game is in all fairness a game you can play for hours without getting tired or bored. It is all about adventures. Lovers of Norse mythology will certainly love the game for its clear graphics, amazing gameplay and easy to follow instructions. Like nearly all games though, Northgard features a few cons. Key ones include:
You will of course, notice that the above-mentioned cons and cons you can compromise on. As far as the theme music and few minor bugs are concerned, Shiro Games always improve the game. They promise better updates and more engaging features in subsequent updates as already hinted. This leaves the game with virtually no downsides. In other words, a dream come true to Norse mythology lovers and those who wish to find out more about Viking games with complex strategy system.
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