Gav played: Bad North
The game: Bad North: Jotunn Edition by Plausible Concept
Score: I love it.
Itâs about Vikings! You love to see it. Technically the Vikings are the enemies in this game, but it doesnât disappoint the part of me that goes âheehee, tiny Vikings!â Because they are tiny, and so damn cute:
{Screenshot of a small island with multiple levels of elevation. There are three squads of defenders with different weapons, dressed in blue. A pack of Vikings in black are being pushed back by pikers, while another pack rounds a corner. Several empty boats are on the shore, which has become bloodstained.}
You do not explicitly play as a character, but command the leaders of your squads to different positions on procedurally-generated islands. Each one is different, and the battles feature varying times of day and weather conditions.
The gameplay has a bit in common with tower defense games--you look for chokepoints and put archers overlooking lines of approach--but you can change their positions at any time, deploy special moves, and hole up in houses to refresh the troops.
Itâs a simple game, executed wonderfully. The difficulty slope feels natural. The challenge is quietly sophisticated, forcing the player to choose priorities (try to save all the houses, or all your troops?) without guilt trips. I love the graphics, which remind me of toy wooden villages. Itâs great fun to see each new island and identify its particular strengths and weaknesses, and the variety of squad specializations is interesting but not overwhelming.
Is there, by any chance, a video demonstrating the gameplay presented by a Viking Bob Ross? There sure is, funny you should ask!
Wow, look at all those islands! Actually, do I recognize that art? Plausible Concept is a small Scandinavian team including Oskar StĂĽlberg, who independently made the recently-released Townscaper. Iâd seen and fallen in love with charming gifs from it before Iâd heard about Bad North. If the island generation is your favorite part of Bad North, take a look at Townscaper!
Try Bad North if you like: Jotun: Valhalla Edition, Townscaper, Assassinâs Creed Valhalla and/or God of War but you wish it felt little, tower defense but you donât have to watch through your fingers if you didnât realize the Vikings can get uphill through that cavern opening, clothespins painted to look like people.
