Expeditions: Viking Review – Making Difficult Decisions

<p>When I play RPG’s&comma; I’m the type who will do everything I can to be the most upstanding character I can be&period; I don’t start fights&comma; I talk my way out of disagreements&comma; and I let bad guys escape if given the opportunity&period;<i> Expeditions&colon; Viking<&sol;i> discourages such clean cut behavior&period; Five minutes into the game&comma; I found myself challenged to a duel over my seat as thegn&period; My companions told me there was no way I’d beat my challenger in a fair fight&comma; so off I went&comma; tracking down a witch in the woods who could poison him before the duel&period; And right after that&quest; I found the best hunter in town and asked her to set a trap to immobilize my challenger&period; All of this was very much against my strict adherence to virtue&period; Needless to say&comma; I won that fight&comma; but it wasn’t a fair one&period; When given the opportunity to recruit my challenger and the witch who poisoned him&comma; I fell back into old habits&period; I let them both join my party&period; Everyone deserves a chance at honor&period; My challenger didn’t approve of the decision&comma; and even though he teamed up with me&comma; he suffered from poor morale&period; He wasn’t a big fan of the witch&comma; or anyone&comma; really&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><i>Expeditions&colon; Viking<&sol;i> is the sequel to <i>Expeditions&colon; Conquistadors&comma; <&sol;i>by the Denmark-based developer&comma; Logic Artists&period; Similar to <i>Conquistadors&comma; <&sol;i>it’s a historical-themed combat RPG&comma; but this time it takes place in the time of the Vikings&comma; 700 years earlier&period; As you start the game&comma; you find that your father has recently passed away in a rather controversial manner&comma; and you must fight to retain control as thegn&period; Most of his people did not agree with the way he ruled the land&comma; and you must prove to them that you are worthy of respect&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;124652" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-124652" style&equals;"width&colon; 960px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-124652" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;04&sol;24100715&sol;4&period;png" alt&equals;"Expeditions&colon; Viking&comma; Logic Artists" width&equals;"960" height&equals;"540" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-124652" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Expeditions&colon; Viking&comma; Logic Artists<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>After suppressing the first attempt to overthrow my rule&comma; I was given a handful of quests to pursue&period; One of them involved tracking down a family of farmers who had insulted my honor&period; Upon arrival at the farm&comma; I once again tried to play peacekeeper&comma; but my companions were having none of it&period; As I promised safety and forgiveness&comma; morale within my party fell&period; My most trusted advisor told me that if I let them go unpunished&comma; I would likely lose my seat as thegn&period; I tried my hardest to banish them&comma; but eventually&comma; I was pushed to attack&period; My party killed all of the men in the family while the women and children stood around the combat map and watched&period; The only thing bringing light to that darkness was the fact that my enemies often took cover behind their livestock&period; I had a heck of a time attacking the two who kept ducking behind their cows&period; However&comma; gameplay and camera controls are smooth&comma; and I found myself able to fully rotate the camera to peek behind obstacles&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In my opinion&comma; two game mechanics make <i>Expeditions&colon; Viking<&sol;i> stand out from other RPG’s and turn-based combat games&period; Instead of characters taking turns individually during combat&comma; one entire party uses all available actions before the next party proceeds&period; I found myself sending my archers in to weaken the enemy then moving them behind objects to take cover&period; When a fighter takes cover&comma; ranged attacks can only affect them if they are within close proximity of the enemy &period; Next&comma; I’d send my tanks to take out the weakened enemies and to set up a strong line of defense&period; Finally&comma; I’d move all of my fighters who could reach past the tanks to deliver kill shots with spears or pitchforks&period; These fighters may also throw area of effect weapons&comma; like poison spikes or torches&period; When I was done using all of my attack and movement actions&comma; my turn would be over&comma; and I’d cross my fingers for luck as the enemies took their turns advancing&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;124651" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-124651" style&equals;"width&colon; 960px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"wp-image-124651" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;04&sol;24100648&sol;3&period;png" alt&equals;"Expeditions&colon; Viking&comma; Logic Artists" width&equals;"960" height&equals;"540" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-124651" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">Expeditions&colon; Viking&comma; Logic Artists<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>If one of my fighters fell during combat&comma; they’d sustain a combat injury&period; Injuries could be healed while camping if at least one of my party members was trained in the healing arts&period; Camping in <i>Expeditions&colon; Viking <&sol;i>is the second mechanic that makes this game stand out from the rest&period; Upon arrival at a campsite&comma; you must designate party members to do specific actions over the course of four camping shifts&period; The actions include things like guarding the camp against attackers&comma; hunting for meat&comma; preserving the meat into rations&comma; healing the injured with medicine&comma; resting&comma; and making medicine from herbs&period; You use the same skill points to level these camping abilities as you do to level your fighting and defense skills&period; I found myself spending most of my available skill points in these areas because camping is almost the only time these actions could be taken&period; Once the camping mechanic is mastered&comma; it’s quite impressive&comma; but it takes some time to grasp how to camp efficiently&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>I found plenty of quests and side quests to keep me busy on my adventure as thegn&comma; but I was most disappointed in the similarity between new areas I’d visit&period; Towns appeared to look the same&comma; only changing in size and layout&period; Home interiors varied little from place to place&period; Travelling between quest objectives was quick&comma; due to a fast travel map&comma; so I’d expect more time to be put into making those destinations exciting&period; I feel this was a missed opportunity to make <i>Expeditions&colon; Viking<&sol;i> a more memorable experience&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Overall&comma; <i>Expeditions&colon; Viking <&sol;i>does a great job of creating a story-driven combat RPG&comma; and it adds a few new interesting mechanics of its own&period; This isn’t a game changer&comma; but fans of the genre will appreciate the challenge of decision-making that affects the morale of their people&period; As a Viking leader&comma; you are pushed to be fierce and relentless&comma; and doing any less could cost you your people&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><strong>A PC review copy of <em>Expeditions&colon; Viking<&sol;em> was provided by Logic Artists for the purpose of this review<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;