Choice of the Viking
By Declan Taggart
“Well, think of this Hrapp. Right now, you’re the villain in your own saga, and probably not even the main one. What story have you ever heard of where a draugr was more than a brief stop on a hero’s journey?”
Really happy to see that Vikings are expanding their horizon outside of Minnesota. Really warms the heart, doncha know.
General Story:
You met a draugr once? Well, I took on two in the first five minutes of stepping onto Iceland. In the pouring ash rain, five miles… both ways!
You take control of a chieftain’s child who inherits the mantle of leadership and leads their hamlet to prosperity or ruin. Pitted against nature and schemers, you have to maneuver your way through political turmoil, usurpers and magical haunts all while building your homestead into a shining beacon of… well… that’s up to you.
Reminded of Mugatu’s ‘so hot right now’ each time I consume a new Viking story. I say, ‘new’, because many of them are retreads of the same exile to exalt story. This is somewhat understandable because it is central to the Viking epic, but it does make every story feel familiar. You end up spending as much time trying to suss out what is different from the last interpretation instead of focusing on the story itself. In that vein, the introduction of magic and the religious choices and interactions were the showcase here alongside the obvious effort in including some of the actual culture and history viewed through a less present lens.
Forgive the bit of ignorance here, but there are also some vignettes that seem almost Ubisoft-esque. If you don’t know what I mean, there are moments when the game seems to ‘jump the shark’ from a semi-grounded experience into the altered-state worlds of Heaven, Hel and Hallucinations. This is pretty common in Ubisoft titles like Far Cry, and in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.
One final issue I had was that there are relatively few ‘main supporting characters’ which are mostly of your romantic options. This isn’t too different than your normal experience with CoG and HG titles, but two of them are basically diametrically opposed from their introduction. Their relationship bar could have basically been an opposed pair. When this happens, especially with romantic options, it generally feels like you are required to be a specific character with a specific personality to fit together in that specific puzzle.
Format and Typos:
Story was exceptionally readable, especially with the options to anglicize names. Only a few typos noticed, and reported.
Game Mechanics and Stats:
Standard accumulating stats that focus on physical combat and agility, crafting, or even your own spirit magic. Opposed pairs for personality, and relationship trackers that cover your relationship with the Pagans or the Christians and how much King Harald likes you. A few hidden stats track your farm’s prosperity and who comes to help you in the hour of your greatest need.
Replayability:
Replayability here is fairly solid, but is not found in your relationship options. You have three complete choices for relationships, one male, one female, and one non-binary. Each of these characters are fairly unique, but it’s obvious this is not the focus of the title. Focus is on the specialty of your homestead. Do you stay traditional viking and go raid? Set up a learning center focusing on shamanistic magic? Build a craftworker’s dream? This goes on to change your epilogue as well. Do you focus on putting King Harald on the Icelandic throne early? Try to take it for yourself? Implement equality as soon as possible? Do you lean on the strength of your parent, the power of a god, or the foul potence of a demon? There is a lot that can change your outcome based on the actions you take, and the political sway you accumulate.
Dislikes:
- This is a very familiar story, in concept and recency.
- Endstates feel a little arcane and convoluted. How exactly do you put Harald on the throne?So often, it feels like I’ve focused entirely on accomplishing some goal only to have either a different successful endstate, or to fail entirely. Some transparency would be nice.
- When all the main supporting characters are at odds with one another, it makes each playthrough feel restricted.
Likes:
- Always nice to experience a story and history actually shaded by real culture.
- The epilogue is varied enough to justify multiple times through the title. So many different oaths to uphold, paths to try, and ways to rub Snorri’s nose in it.
- Flies is a great temptation and character, and a very subtle corruptant.