Early access, $20.
For now, there’s only skirmish against AI, but multiplayer is being worked on.
Looks nice, tempted to check it out, but I’ve got too many finished games to play right now.
RPS tool a look at it: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2017/02/27/northgard-review-early-access/
I was under the impression this was more Settlers than AoE. Was I wrong?
Reading the above RPS piece, it sounds like it’s got a lot more obstacles, combat, and disasters than I was hoping for. I’m not sure that anything’s ever topped Settlers 2 and 3 for me in that genre, and it seems like this probably won’t, either :(
Yeah 7 was fun but it’s almost like a different genre with it’s board game style approach. I really miss Settlers.
Doh, the graphics made me think this was Settlers 2 for 2017. It doesn’t look like a bad game by any means, just not exactly what I was hoping for.
Well balls, we have a power outage today, hopefully we are fully operational by stream time tonight, I’d hate to miss out watching my first request Wednesday winner and I really don’t want the sub-optimal experience of mobile streaming.
We good, power is back!
So just based on first impressions, this is a really neat little game. A little bit RTS, a little bit city builder, a little bit puzzly.
I’ve finally managed to not get my ass kicked after my fifth or sixth game, but boy is it a tough go at first.
The balance of the needs of your little Civ of Vikings and the buildings that require them…against the constraints of the buildings in territories adds some very interesting decision layers to the typical rts-builder game. For instance, I’m used to having it be that in most games you just NEVER want to tear down a building that’s producing resources. But in Northgard, a lot of times it only makes sense to do that.
An example of that from my last game, which I almost won until I over-expanded: you almost have to build a wood-cutter’s camp in your starting territory. But…a little later I come across a territory with thick forests that grant a 20% wood production bonus. Now it only makes sense for me to tear down the original logging camp (and get back some logs…and also free up a precious building space in my original territory) and build in the new one I’ve just colonized with the forest. It’s a really interesting and very cool game mechanic.
That does sound cool triggercut. Normally I wouldn’t even consider a RTS, but this sounds interesting.
Hmmmm, I may try this out!!! A couple of questions based on a few reviews if you dont mind:
- It seems each game is short. Are there larger map options that allow for longer games?
- Is the game going to be multiplayer focused or Single player? I don’t enjoy Multiplayer focused games.
- Some people compare it to settlers which I never liked (I was more of and AOE, Rise of Nations guy)
- How is the AI so far?
Thanks!!!
I don’t quite understand why some people keep thinking of this as something akin to Age of Empires.
Aside from The Settlers, Northgard reminds me more of Battle Realms, since you have to send villagers – that spawn automatically from your core building at regular intervals depending on overall happiness – to other buildings for them to train and become a different unit. For example, you can train your villagers to become warriors or healers or loremasters, and so forth. Want to retrain them? Just send them another building. (Unlike Battle Realms, training doesn’t “stack”, and it’s also virtually instantaneous.)
The use of territories that you have to conquer reminded me a bit of The Settlers 6, except unlike that game, where you had to move your knight to the territory and build an outpost, here you have to “buy” (colonize) the territory using food, after you’ve explored it with your scout.
As regards your questions, @andrewsk :
- Length of each game seems to be on the longish side; I think maybe an hour or so?
- There’s going to be a single player campaign (currently in the works).
- If you don’t like the Settlers, you’ll probably not like this? Like I said above, it also reminds me of Battle Realms.
- AI seems fine. But that’s perhaps also because I’m still getting a grip of the game.
It’s fun and fairly cheap; if it interests you, why not jump in, or at least check out some videos?
The length of a game in single player is an hour? Surely that’s not the case. Also, is the focus of the design SP or MP?
I think like stated above your post, there will be a campaign.
I think ill pass for now. I like long campaigns that can take weeks to complete. An hour seems just to fast and twitchy.
Thanks for the reply though JoshoB
I got the game a while ago and did a couple of runs. Really enjoyed it and curious to see how they are going to tweak and develop the balance / gameplay.
Game length is longer than an hour, reckon its more like 3 hrs, at least for me.
It flows pretty quickly and has that “just a few minutes more” type hook and its pretty easy to get a basic grasp of the mechanics.
Really recommend people giving it a go. If not now, then whenever the full version is released!
Yeah, game length is an hour…if you get beat really early. ;)
If you’ve got a chance to win, it’s going to take you closer to 3-4 hours, and maybe much longer depending on the kind of win you’re going for. And that’s on a medium map against normal AI.
Like Civ, you can set the kind of win you want – wisdom (tech win, basically), fame win (sort of like a Civ culture win), domination, etc. So far, Wisdom is the easiest it looks like and probably the shortest game.
It definitely doesn’t play like an AOE game. Instead, as your scout reveals new territories, I’ll usually pause and assess. What resources are in the new tile? Do I need them? What’s the building limit in this tile? Will I use all the buildings in the tile limit just to harvest the resources, or is there a free space for a building I need (like a house, a healing hut, a trading post, etc.) That’s the sort of puzzle-ish bit, and I don’t mean that pejoratively, because it’s not an actual puzzle mechanic. “Puzzle” mechanics in strategy games imply that there’s a perfect choice, and here I don’t think there is one, because so much depends on what you’ve already built, what kind of clan you are, and what kind of win you’re going for.
As I’ve played two more games today, I’m really coming to admire the way all of the different mechanics interact with one another. There’s this almost dance they do with one another that just feels like an incredibly elegant design that has a lot of thought behind it.
It doesn’t take an hour. Good lord. ;)
This game has an almost leisurely pace to it, especially at the beginning. Your guess that it is in any way “fast and twitchy” is pretty far off.
(You do have to manage a lot in the end game, but you need to manage a lot in the endgame of Civ, too…)
Yep, already researched enough to know there will be a campaign, I was just hoping to hear from anyone here more knowledgeable than myself about its development to figure out whether the folks making it are primarily aiming for an MP game or SP game (basically I want to hear it’s SP focused if I’m to remain interested in keeping tabs on it).
Here’s where I ask my stock question - can you issue orders while paused?