Vikings - Wolves of Midgard

Unfortunately, I found the game to be utterly boring after only a few hours. Gameplay is repetitive due to a lack of variation (don't expect to be able to customize your talent build or anything like that), the story drags you along needlessly for hours and gearing is not interesting at all. The only saving grace is the visuals, but they cannot carry the game.

Pretty, can play 2 players split-screen, Lots of game play on first play through Love the R-stick dodging. Not much point in a second play through as you can't share powers between gods :( If there was about 25% more upgrades or options I think all the level grinding and single god powers would pay off. Great buy, actual Diablo III killer.

I want to like this game more than I can. It's got a nice art style, it's voiced, it's clearly packed with content and charm. I like the setting, I like some of the systems. When you're slashing goblins it's visceral and fun. Exploration is fun: there's a surprising amount of places you can just stumble across. Can't find a way across a pit to get a chest? You need to find multiple hidden levers all over the level to find a way to it, and it makes searching and destroying things in the environment rewarding. BUT It's super slipshod. You jump from enemy to enemy erratically. Some enemies like flying crows are very difficult to kill so they just peck at your health without much to do against them. There's a potentially interesting exposure mechanic where you get colder without being next to a fireplace or source of heat which could have been atmospheric but comes across as annoying when it carries on into boss fights and makes you focus too much on the raising cold bar rather than anything going on in the screen. So it feels sluggish and slow at worst, and this makes boss fights a chore. You need to do pinpoint rolls and dodges to avoid telegraphed attacks, and you need to focus on TWO different bars at this point since rolling also exhausts a stamina bar. You are freezing, getting exhausted, and you're taking constant damage, but surely you can heal yourself with something, right? Yes you can...three times only. You can't purchase more health anywhere. I liked the concept of building up the burned down town again, buying upgrades with blood you gain from enemies, and as I said the aesthetics were nice. But I ultimately had to abandon this game because beating my head against a wall is not fun when it feels like the problem is primarily technical. I can't lower the graphics effectively to improve the speed, the boss fights are annoying, and overall it just feels a little too slippery to be a solid title.

If you want to take a break from Diablo 3 or Path to Exile, this game can actually be a good choice. The biggest issue the game has is the story - it's an epic and very confusing mess. However, the gameplay itself is decent and I had fun unlocking skills and talents, crafting new gear and figting different enemies is various environments. The second complaint is that game difficulty is a bit uneven - for example, the final boss fight was easier then some other boss fights during the game (heck, even some missions were harder then some boss fights). Music and artwork are also great. If only the story and narration were a bit better, this game could really be a ARPG gem - this way, I played it because I enjoyed the gameplay and it was fun to slay monsters.

The game is similar to Diablo 3 - you run (even more, straight forward running), you kill mobs, you loot the stuff. The looting system is what makes me sick: I've been playing for 3-4 hours and I still don't understand how item highlighting work (I found the bind in controls options). Another problem is blood pickup. I'm playing dual-wielding guy which as I understand you should just run non-stop: I kill mobs, blood shards drop on top of me but they are not picked up, I do some running then I have to get back to gather the shards. The controls are not so comfortable, console port. But the game is beautiful and well made overall. You probably should better use a controller for playing this game.