Vikings - Wolves of Midgard

This game is like a collection of bad design choices. Seriously, go play Torchlight, Diablo, Path of Exile or Titan Quest for another 1000 hours and do not bother with this one. Some of the most annoying problems with the game are: - Very low quality UI, it reminds me webbrowser games. - To level up you need to visit special places. - Maps are like hubs you need to get through and fight with boss otherwise your progress will be lost. - You press space to roll, but you can also right-click to roll. And you cannot even reassign main mouse buttons. That's right you have basic attack with your left click and roll with right click and you can do nothing about it. - There's no skill tree you just upgrade health, damage or armor with levels. Welcome to the 1995. - Clearing monsters isn't fun at all, you just click through the whole screen trying to properly target them. - When fighting a boss camera is immobile it just rotates. - There are separate vendors for weapons, armor etc. and you cannot sell armor to weapon vendors. You also need to run a bit around the town to get to them. Now I wonder if devs were hibernated for 20 years and didn't notice hack'n'slash genre evolved quite well since the first Diablo?

I gave this game 5 stars after about 2 hours, sadly as time went on weird design choices made me lower the score. I play as an archer, so maybe some points ain't important. Pros 1. Looks good. Cons 1. Breakables get in a way of moving. You just start to shoot them instead. Most skill uses were to clear area before i can fight enemies in peace. 2. Skills and talisman share stamina with rolling. Meaning you can't use most powerful skills while dodging dangerous enemies. Is in when they are most useful. Same for talisman which requires full stamina bar for activation. 3. Enemy threats are very inconsistent. A pair of wolves can be a bigger threat than some bosses. (Haugbui) 4. Skills are mostly useless. I only used poison arrow and scatter shot. The rest are either too expensive (lightning) or too stupid (kick and rain). Also, you can't change skill hot button or check what skill does. Have to go to gift tab for later one. 5. Camera angle is crap. You can kill enemies on top without them ever fighting back, but enemies below you will pop right in your face. 6. Equipped items appear in sale trade window, so it's possible to sell them. And it cost's a lot to buy them back. 7. Shielded enemies are poorly designed. You just stand and shoot at them. This keeps them immobile. Once skill recharged - use it. Keep shooting to continue keeping them immobile. 8. That one time you get turned in to iron giant. 9. Hero is a viking 12 year YouTube commenter. Everybody, but her, is a soy boy beta cuck. I'm not sure she had a single kind word for anybody. This edginess gets annoying fast.

Vikings is a good game. It's not great, but it's fun and entertaining. The graphics are decent. There is very minimal character customization, and that's not a problem for some folks. Particularly in a game like this-you're not zoomed in on your character, so not as big of a deal, but I would like to see a little more. If nothing else, some different faces. The game does have some unique features, however. The exposure mechanic adds a certain tension that is lacking in most non-survival type games. I find it interesting that you are collecting blood in lieu of experience, however the flaw in this is the way you collect it. It comes along in bubbles that float, and you have to get near them to collect it. The problem is; it's easy to miss them-especially if you're using a ranged character, and even more of an issue is sometimes they land in unreachable areas, robbing you of that bundle of experience. That can be annoying, but it hasn't happened enough to make the game unplayable. While the game boasts a 'class-less' system, it really isn't. You can put the points anywhere you want, but the skills-passive or active-are weapon specific, and there is no way to 'unspend' points-even if you haven't left the 'upgrade' screen. In my opinion this negates the purpose of an open skill tree. The keyboard controls are....less than stellar, and there doesn't seem to be a way to personalize your 'quick-slots' , so you are basically stuck with your skills in the slots the game chooses. Seemingly in the order you unlock them. Not a fan. Here's the other problem I have: The combat works better with a controller, but inventory/vendor management is awkward with the controller. So I use the controller for combat, but the keyboard in the village, which to be honest, is a bit of a nuisance. I love the lore, and it kept me playing. It's a fun game, but I wouldn't recommend it at full price. Grim Dawn is a better find for your money, in this genre.

Unsatisfactory gameplay, with no rewarding progression. Unsatisfactory loot drops not worth grinding a map over again. Unsatisfactory character progression, especially on early levels. Unbalanced difficulty that can not be bypassed with moderate grinding do to the insignificant improvements at level-up. Clunky and inprecise movement paired with no satisfactory visual and audio feedback on hit: swinging and slamming with a twohanded hammer feels like bashing a wooden stick. Freeze and similar mechanics block flow of combat and are more a nuisance then a real challenge. Beautiful visuals cannot save this game.

+nice graph +mythologie -control can suck big time -boring dialogues -skills depend on weapon type, and you don't find many stuff so if you've chosen wrong.... -boss with spaming mobs is just a STUPID way to make it difficult (hint: first boss) -got rune quick, how can i use them? dunno. Great