When I was younger, at school “History” was synonymous for “nap time”. Perhaps it was the teacher, immaturity or the constant dragging up of World War Two as though that was the only thing the UK ever got involved in, but I just wasn’t sold on it. Now older, dulled and marred, I’ve been having a fantastic time diving into the past through a Youtube history documentary series (i.e. ExtraHistory) and tucking into various historical video games. Is this what adulthood is?
…Anyway, so during my binging ohistorically-based titles, I came across the game Expeditions: Conquistador. “Oh, what’s this?” I asked myself, lured in instantly by an unusual historical period to cover in games. Especially one that combined two things that always draws my eye to a historical game: Confronting pretty terrible things those before us did and, oddly specific, gunpowder weaponry.
In the end, I did have a good time despite ending early. It always struck me as odd how there were witch-doctors actually able to cast magic in a game that was otherwise seemingly grounded and straight-faced. Still, when I heard Expeditions: Viking was on the horizon, I felt conflicted. On one hand it was a developer that I had seen their previous work and enjoyed, complete with respect to the subject matter, but on the other hand I couldn’t shake the bad times I’ve had with prior games that attempted to do Scandinavian history and instead did pop-culture “Vikings”.
So I was happy when I managed to get an interview with Alex Mintsioulis, PR and Marketing Manager at Logic Artists, as it would help me find out what kind of game Expeditions: Vikings would be.