“The All-Father wove the skein of your life a long time ago. Go and hide in a hole if you wish, but you won’t live one instant longer.” – The 13th Warrior
Images and gameplay courtesy of Logic Artists.
Gameplay featuring Odiumar as a small band of Norse warriors.
Do you like Vikings? I love Vikings! I love stories and movies about them. Whenever I play an RPG, if Viking is an option, I’m in. So I was quite eager to get my hands on this game. Expeditions: Viking, is a turn based RPG/Strategy game developed and published by Logic Artists. Logic is an independent game development studio located in Copenhagen, Denmark, best known for delivering us Clandestine, and the first game in the Expeditions series, Expeditions: Conquistador. Expeditions: Viking is available now for PC.
Expeditions: Viking, starts on a sad note. Or does it? Your father, the Thegn of your clan, has gone to Valhalla. As his son, it falls to you to lead your people to a better future. The problem here is that at least three other family members feel that it’s their turn to lead the clan. Some will challenge you outright, in the old traditional ways. Others will seek to ambush you, or set your longhouse on fire. If you want to hold on to your power, you’re going to have to prove you deserve it over and over. Now, dearly departed dad was an excellent warrior, but not such a great planner and manager, so your little berg isn’t in such great shape. Now everyone is going to look to you to make the homestead defensible, provide food and lodging…and hold your family’s place amid the greater Viking hierarchy.
As in most RPGs, you get to create your own character.
Expeditions: Viking starts with a semi-limited character creation session. Don’t get too excited, the choices are limited. While you won’t be spending hours crafting a master avatar, the palette and options were diverse enough to satisfy. The vast majority of gameplay takes the form of a top down view, with your character and his warriors running around. You’re able to interact with family and villagers, including the blacksmith and the local witch…er…herbalist. Quests are tracked via the menus, and at first you’ll find yourself talking to just about every viking you see in order to move them along. Eventually you’ll realize that all dialogue trees lead back to where the developers want you to go, so not exactly a choose your own adventure. When you are finally faced with a real choice, supporting characters chime in enough to REALLY give you the idea about what the best choice is. Turn based battles on hex maps. Inventory management is fairly simple, with a drag and drop style for equipment, and clearly marked quest items, so you don’t accidentally sell them. During encounters, the ground is overlaid with a hex-grid that determines the number of spaces you can move and the range for your attacks. Characters can also be afflicted with conditions that hinder them, which are not necessarily easy to remove. The biggest drawback for gameplay, is that within a large area like your town, you cannot easily zoom in and out of the map. Long runs consist of a million clicks, or opening the large map, picking your destination and just waiting for your party to eventually show up.
Settle your differences according to Viking tradition!
Visually, Expeditions: Viking is a real treat. The graphics are all detailed, and animations are smooth with very little lag. I especially enjoyed the landscape during battles and wanted to scroll around the map just to check out all of the models. While this isn’t Logic Artists freshman project, their work was much better than their limited lineup would lead you to expect. The music and sound effects also added value to the experience. I don’t often play games with the sound up, but this one I enjoyed.
The achievements for this game are certainly not given out for just anything. You’re going to have to earn them. Of course, there appears to be more than enough content to keep you busy for some time. With a price-tag that is half of what many other games ask, Expeditions: Viking is definitely worth your time and investment. On top of that, you may just learn a thing or two about vikings.
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