Sons of Valhalla launched for PC on April 5th with mixed reviews. It’s heavily inspired by Kingdom with side scrolling strategy and base building. It features charming pixel art based in the Viking Age.
You play as a Thorald Olavson, a Viking who’s seeking revenge on the one who burned down his home and kidnapped his beloved. You’ll need to establish a base, build an army and lead your troops to victory.
If you’ve played the Kingdom series of games you’ll know the basic premise. It’s a side scrolling, resource management combat simulator in a beautiful pixel art world. You’ll need to collect resources in order to construct and upgrade buildings, giving you access to more capabilities and equipment.
After gathering your forces you’ll send them out to push further into enemy territory, ultimately defeating the boss at the end of each level.
Resources are limited so you’ll need to think carefully about each expansion or upgrade and making sure you have enough troops at home to fend off the enemies.
There are a range of units you can hire to fight by your side, swordsman, archers, shieldmaidens, Shamans, etc. Each of them have their own unique strengths and weaknesses. So you’ll need to make the most of their abilities as you issue commands and make your way towards the enemy fortress.
Once you reach the fortress you’ll need some kind of siege engine, catapults or battering rams, to take it down. Once the walls fall you’ll be able to rush in to take out the enemy trebuchets and capture the fortress.
During battle you’ll issue orders to your troops such as Shield Wall, sending the shield bearers to the front while the archers remain behind. Each stage will build on the last with more units and abilities unlocked. There are dozens of enemy types and a unique boss to fight at the end of every stage.
The story is not that interesting and is more to provide a framework for the game. Having said that most people play for the resource management and combat aspects of the game.
Sons of Valhalla is fairly short and you can probably get through it in a few hours. It does have a Horde Mode where you can face wave after wave of enemies, or you can increase the difficulty and dive back in if you want to play the game again.
On the negative side some of the maps can get repetitive with the same mechanics required for each stage. If you liked the Kingdom series than I think Sons of Valhalla is definitely worth a look. Perhaps you can wait for a discount if not sure about this one.
Tagged with: action • hooded horse • pixel chest • rpg • simulation • strategy
Filed under: Action • city building • Strategy
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