Nordic Warriors | PC Review

A Call to Viking Warriors!

Freya and her troops must find their way against an enemy that has appeared out of nowhere. Nordic Warriors is a real-time tactics game from Mashmahu Studios that makes you the general of Norse troops as you navigate them through a wintry, Nordic landscape. There are some fun explosions throughout, but not all of them seem on target.

A Confused Shaman

Freya, a Norse Shaman, and her troops have been searching three days for a missing foraging team. They decide to head back to the village when they are ambushed by an unknown undead army on their way back. When they arrive, they find that the village has already been attacked. After taking care of the remaining undead, they find Freya’s father, the village chief, mortally wounded. He has just enough life left to tell Freya where she must go on a quest to find out how to vanquish the undead from the world. Freya is the key to everything happening, but she has no idea why. She must travel through the levels finding allies to her cause and answers to her questions. Freya must survive every battle in order to move on, and if she doesn’t you must start over. This is one of many reasons you will need to save frequently.

The story is pretty simple, as the game is more focused on the battles. Between each battle, you find out more about Freya and what she must do next to succeed. While the game has a chance to really dive into viking and Norse mythology, Freya is the only character that seems truly based on Norse mythology. Mashmashu Studios could have perhaps capitalized on the mythology if they included more characters based on Norse Gods and Goddesses. This would have engaged the player more in the story, while adding more to the gameplay itself. There could have been more depth to the story, but as mentioned, it seems the focus was mostly on the battles themselves.

To Battle

Nordic Warriors is presented using a top down view of the battlefield, to allow you the ability to easily command your troops. The game strictly sticks with the real-time tactics style as all you do is control the troops you are given without any building or resource gathering.You simply need to finish whatever task the maps present to you. There are different goals for each map such as: sometimes making it to a certain point, outlasting the enemy waves, or destroying a certain target. The varied goals were one of the game’s high points to keep the player entertained. 

The controls are WASD based using a mouse and keyboard. I highly recommend the tutorial to learn the controls before starting the game itself. Not understanding them will lead to more death. The mouse is primarily for controlling your troops. You can select an individual troop with a left click, a specific troop type like soldiers, archers or alchemists by double clicking, or whatever troops you want by dragging a selection box around them. When selected, right clicking on the maps tells your troops where to go. Be warned, however, if you select a spot passed enemies, you will attempt to walk by them without fighting, which will lead to your troops being attacked first. This led me to some early losses in maps and unneeded frustration.I also found using area attacks like grenades can cause the same result if you click the ground where the enemy leaves. 

The WASD controls navigate the map. E and Q rotate the map for a better view of the terrain. Either can be used to select different troop formations or different powers, like Freya’s exploding fire or the alchemist’s grenades. The mouse felt quicker than the shortcuts, and speed is key. You can slow down or speed up the gameplay, and slowing down is sometimes vital to getting around the map quickly. There is no way to pause and explore the map, which makes it more difficult to plan your attacks or defense. I had to replay some sections frequently to find out what would happen if I couldn’t adjust my strategy quickly enough. A skilled keyboard player may find the controls easier than I did, as I am much more used to using a controller. I struggled a lot early on until I started getting used to the mouse and keyboard style. 

Looking Good

As mentioned earlier, the varying levels, their layouts, and the wintry Nordic landscape were one of the highlights of the game. They do the best job at capturing the atmosphere of the game. You can easily see the low and high points of the terrain, and they plastered the scenes with trees and wildlife to make it feel like you were out in the middle of a forest or mountainside. The art style definitely gives Nordic Warriors a more realistic feel.

The music, on the other hand, just seemed like background noise. It is meant to be upbeat and create a feel of suspense and excitement, but it is easily missed while you are focusing on the battles themselves. The music is purely orchestral, which creates another area the game could have capitalized with viking culture. I took some time to listen to traditional viking music, and they could really have increased the excitement and blood pumping. Mashmashu Studios did hit some of the percussion sounds well, but missed out on the string instruments and viking singing that is synonymous with the culture. 

Eisi Fyrir Mir

While Nordic Warriors had solid level design and some fun times exploding groups of enemies, I felt they missed a chance to really dive into viking culture. The story could have benefitted from adding more elements of Norse mythology. Adding more traditional viking string instruments and vocals could have really transported you back to the viking era. If all you want is a chance to control some troops and blow some enemies up with explosions to paint the snow red, it may be for you. I would’ve preferred a deeper story and refined controls, so this one is eisi fyrir mir, which is Old Norse meaning not for me.

This review is based on a Steam copy of Nordic Warriors provided by Community Villa for coverage purposes.