Vikings - Wolves of Midgard - Review

PC Review - 'Vikings: Wolves of Midgard'

Norse mythology has been a favorite topic of video games for quite some time now. Even without the recent Marvel movies, the games have gotten many players familiar with the ideas of Valhalla and Ragnarok as well as some of the major characters, like Odin and frost giants. Vikings: Wolves of Midgard is the latest game to take on the Norse theme, placing it in the framework of an isometric action RPG. It isn't perfect, but it's a solid game.

The plot concerns the constant battle between the Norse gods that leaves Asgard rather unstable. Sensing an opportunity, the Jotan awaken the frost giants and coax them into a war with the gods that will likely bring about Ragnarok. Caught in the middle of this is the new chieftain of the Ulfung tribe, who earned the position after an invasion left the previous chieftain dead. Ordained by prophecy, the new chieftain seeks revenge against the Jotan to hopefully stop Ragnarok from occurring.

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In the end, Vikings: Wolves of Midgard is good. It retains most of what makes the genre so appealing, and the other changes, like environmental dangers, amplify the formula instead of watering it down. It doesn't move the genre forward, though, and the lack of a custom preset combined with spotty performance on middle-of-the-road hardware will make some people see this as rather unpolished. For those who want something new in the genre, Vikings is worth a shot.

Score: 7.5/10

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Cacheperl said:

I've started playing this. It's not bad, will get some fun out of it.

But the environmental hazards are a bad idea. Just forces you to do more running back and forth in places (and else has little impact).
Another bad idea are the "challenges". E.g., "collect x of object y" or "kill x of monster a". They are not interesting, let alone challenging. If at some point you notice that you missed some monster (e.g., because it only pops up if you visit a certain spot on the map), you may have to go back all the way to find it. Very annoying. Better to skip those. Sucks if you have a tendency to obsessive compulsive behavior. But well… that's not the first game to do this. Still bad.

To elaborate on the good points:
I like the fighting mechanics and the setting.

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