Viking: Wolves of Midgard – First Look & Gameplay

I love these types of games, might be thinking what type, well games like Diablo, Top-Down hack-n-slash genre games, and I have played many of them from the likes of Diablo 1, 2 & 3, Grim Dawn, Guardians of Ember, Sacred 2, Krater, Titan Quest and so on and I totally love them, I can spend hours and hours in them, without looking back and wondering why.

Now I get to dive into a new game Viking: Wolves of Midgard, a very early build, which currently does not support Keyboard and Mouse, so I am guessing this is a port from console to PC, not the other way around.

Instead of me waffling on loads I have done a video instead that shows off everything including the first raid

WHAT I THINK COULD BE IMPROVED

Straight from the get-go, Keyboard and Mouse Controls have to be added with the option to assign our own keys if we wish. Graphic Options in the game and a good amount so we PC Gamers can tweak around as we see fit, we love options.

Then we have character creation, let’s have more Variety a shed load more, as currently there just don’t seem to be much available, more facial designs, hair designs, tattoos etc and of course banners, more… please.

Then there is the core gameplay elements, the era this game has been based on, was a time of brutal warfare, and brutal deaths, what I would love to see added is Blood, there is blood already in game, but it disappears, let have it stay and have it drag around when your character walks through it, lets see blood puddles, decapitations, like heads rolling over the battlefield, limbs being chopped off, blood galore, even on the characters, as he/she goes around battling whatever comes at them. To see a slowdown, as my Viking Warrior slams their sword deep into an enemy and his sword dripping with blood as it comes out of the enemy and blood dripping on the floor. What I am basically saying, we have an 18 rating on it, why not use it, to really express what it was like being a Viking warrior using primitive weapons.

Now there is some gore in the game already, like the wolf’s bein dismembered, but like the blood, everything disappears, bring on more gore…. come bring it.There is also the issue

There is also the issue with the blood? why. well blood is the way you level up, you collect blood across the battlefield then exchange that for experience and gain a new level, however sometimes over the battlefield when you think you are collecting blood after the kill, you some down, as the blood of the kill should follow you to a degree and allow you to collect, it seem to just stay on the battlefield and you end up re-tracking yourself picking them up.

There is also something I feel is not required, Speech boxes during battles, just remove them, unless the characters are communicating some another AI character there is simply no need for them, or have it as an option in the menus to turn on or off.

Let also add more animation to enchantments to weapons, I love some sort of crazy magical effect on my weapon, just so it looks wicked on the field of battle, yes it’s not exactly correct, but it does add something unique. I would, and others would be able to take screenshots of what different enchantment’s look like on different weapons.This would give you some play, so same enchantment might look different of different weapons and so on, let that creative mind flow devs.

As you progress through the game, gain better weapons and gear, you will see enchantments on weapons, you will also gain news skills and abilities that you can assign to your character, which really enhances the gameplay elements. To me, even with these enhancements it just seems to be lacking the brutal aspect and impact that I think this game could really use.

Issue, that I must mention, you can roll around the screen like you are doing some crazy martial arts, but how do you block with a shield?

Environments are designed to a good standard and story elements are interesting and drag you into the world the developers have created, you want to know why what is happening. Even some of the effects in the game are truly impressive, like walking through thick snow animation, which reminded me to Tomb Raider and their graphics animation used at the start of the game.

There is also the inclusion of environmental damage, say for example you are in a very cold place, your character will get colder and colder and will need warming up, if not warmed up, your characters will start taking environmental damage and this can kill you pretty fast if you not careful. This was a great feature and I reckon even more games should have this feature in them, as it is what would happen in real life to a degree, get cold, you get ill and could die.

In its current form, I feel a lot is still needed to make this game what it can be and I hope, my advice is taken on board, even if they delay the game or add a free DLC in the future for gore as I think gore is required for this game and its historical setting. Even saying that I have played a number of hours in the game and I am enjoying myself, I just feel more can be done to make this game truly inspiring.