| Northgard | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Shiro Games |
| Publisher(s) | Shiro Games |
| Engine |
|
| Platform(s) | |
| Release | 7 March 2018 |
| Genre(s) | Real-time strategy |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Northgard is a 2018 real-time strategy video game developed and published by Shiro Games for Windows PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The game received generally positive reviews upon release.
Inspired by Nordic mythology, Northgard is a real-time strategy game where a Viking clan tries to take control over a wild continent. The game contains both single-player and multi-player modes, as well as a story-based campaign, with missions of increasing difficulty and complexity. Each map is divided into different regions, with each containing special resources such as iron and stone. Each region, however, can only supports a fixed number of buildings. [1] The game features dynamic seasons. For instance, farms will stop producer food during winter, while the consumption of wood will significantly increase during the same period. [2] In the story, the player plays as Rig, a prince who seeks to avenge the death of his father the High King at the hands of Hagen, the ruthless leader of Clan of the Raven. The young prince will sail to the island of Northgard to fulfill its mission, and in the process it will meet other clans and creatures. At launch, the game features eleven missions. There are four victory conditions for the game's standard play mode, which allows players to combat other clans, controlled either by artificial intelligence or other human players. [3]
The game was first announced by developer Shiro Games in August 2016. [4] Northgard was released via Steam's early access program on February 22, 2017. [5] It was released in full for Windows PC on 7 March 2018. [6] Console versions followed with releases on the Xbox One on 24 September 2019, Nintendo Switch on 26 September 2019, and PlayStation 4 on 3 October 2019. Mobile versions were released for iOS devices on 13 April 2021, and Android devices on 23 August. Following the game's release, Shiro supported the game by releasing several downloadable content packs, including one based on Ragnarok in October 2018. [7]
The game received generally positive reviews upon release, according to review aggregator Metacritic. [8] Fraser Brown from PC Gamer compared the game favourably to the Age of Empires series and The Settlers series. He liked the unique gameplay systems, though he found the story to be uncompelling. He concluded his review by saying that "Northgard is a surprising, elegant RTS that's laden with a very dull story." [9] Writing for Rock, Paper, Shotgun , Max Cox wrote that Northgard was "easy to pick up but difficult to master", and one of the best real-time strategy games he had played. [10]
The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated Northgard for "Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year" at the 22nd Annual D.I.C.E. Awards. [11]
Rune is an action-adventure video game developed by Human Head Studios which was released in 2000. The game is based on Ragnarok, showing the conflict between the Gods Odin and Loki and the buildup to Ragnarok. Built on the Unreal Engine, the game casts the player as Ragnar, a young Viking warrior whose mettle is tested when Loki and his evil allies plot to destroy the world and bring about Ragnarok.
Blood Bowl is a 2009 fantasy sports video game developed by Cyanide, loosely based on gridiron football, and adapted from the board game of the same name, which is produced by Games Workshop, using the CRP ruleset. It was released for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable, iOS, and Android.
Prison Architect is a private prison construction and management simulation video game developed and published by Introversion Software. It was made available as a crowdfunded paid alpha pre-order on September 25, 2012 with updates that were scheduled every three to four weeks until 2023. With over 2,000,000 copies sold, Prison Architect made over US$10.7 million in pre-order sales for the alpha version. Prison Architect was an entrant in the 2012 Independent Games Festival. The game was available on Steam's Early Access program, and was officially released on October 6, 2015.
Armello is a 2015 digital role-playing strategy board game developed by League of Geeks. Announced as an iPad title in September 2012, the game has been in development since mid-2011, with music by composers Lisa Gerrard and Michael Allen. Between April and May 2014, a successful Kickstarter campaign was started to help fund a port to Microsoft Windows as well as stretch goals to bring the game to Android and Windows tablets. The game was chosen to receive additional support from governmental funding agencies Screen Australia and Film Victoria.
Cities: Skylines is a 2015 city-building game developed by Colossal Order and published by Paradox Interactive. The game is a single-player open-ended city-building simulation. Players engage in urban planning by controlling zoning, road placement, taxation, public services, and public transportation of an area. They also work to manage various elements of the city, including its budget, health, employment, traffic, and pollution levels. It is also possible to maintain a city in a sandbox mode, which provides more creative freedom for the player.
The Escapists is a strategy game played from a top-down perspective. The game was developed by Mouldy Toof Studios and following a Steam Early Access release in 2014, was released in 2015 for Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, Xbox 360, Xbox One and PlayStation 4. It was released on iOS and Android in 2017. A Nintendo Switch version of the game containing all downloadable content was released in 2018. The game was launched on the Epic Games Store on 23 September 2021, with the weekly free game campaign of Epic Games. Players assume the role of an inmate and must escape from prisons of increasing difficulty.
Shiro Games is a video game development company based in Bordeaux, France. The company was founded in 2012 by Sebastien Vidal and Nicolas Cannasse, and developed the Evoland series and Dune: Spice Wars.
Stellaris is a 4X grand strategy video game developed by Paradox Development Studio and published by Paradox Interactive. In Stellaris, players take control of an interstellar civilization on the galactic stage and are tasked with exploring, colonizing, and managing their region of the galaxy, encountering other civilizations that they can then engage in diplomacy, trade, or warfare with. A large part of the game involves dealing with both scripted and emergent events, through which new empires alter the balance of power, powerful crises threaten the galaxy, or event chains tell the story of forgotten empires. It was released worldwide for Windows, macOS, and Linux on May 9, 2016 and for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One as Stellaris: Console Edition on February 26, 2019.
Monaco: What's Yours Is Mine is a 2013 stealth video game developed by Pocketwatch Games in which players, alone or cooperatively, perform heists and robberies. Players choose from eight characters, each of whom has a unique and beneficial skill, such as the ability to change appearance or tunnel through walls. Monaco's single-player story is told in four acts from perspectives of different characters. The cooperative mode lets up to four players play together in different locations.
In the video game industry during 2019, both Sony and Microsoft announced their intent to reveal their next-generation consoles in 2020, while Nintendo introduced a smaller Nintendo Switch Lite, and Google announced its streaming game platform Stadia. The controversy over loot boxes as a potential gambling route continued into 2019, with some governments like Belgium and the Netherlands banning games with them under their gambling laws, while the United Kingdom acknowledging their current laws prevent enforcing these as if they were games of chance. The first video cards to support real-time ray tracing were put onto the consumer market, including the first set of games that would take advantage of the new technology. The Epic Games Store continued its growth in challenging the largest digital PC game distribution service Steam, leading to concern and debate about Epic Games' methods to seek games for its service. Dota Auto Chess, a community-created mod for Dota 2, introduced a new subgenre of strategy games called auto battlers, which saw several games in the genre released throughout the year. Blizzard Entertainment faced criticism due to their involvement in the Blitzchung controversy, which began after they had banned a Hearthstone player for making comments during a tournament regarding the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests.
Re-Logic is an American independent game developer and publisher based in Indiana in the USA. It was founded by Andrew Spinks in 2011. The company is best known for developing and publishing Terraria, a 2D action-adventure sandbox video game. Re-Logic published Pixel Piracy and Pixel Privateers, both being developed by Quadro Delta.
Trials Rising is a 2.5D racing game developed by Ubisoft RedLynx and Ubisoft Kyiv and published by Ubisoft. It was released for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One in February 2019, for Stadia in November 2019, and for Amazon Luna in December 2020. It is the first mainline entry in the Trials series since 2014's Trials Fusion, and the first in the series to be released on a Nintendo console.
Bad North is a real-time strategy video game developed by Plausible Concept and published by Raw Fury. The game was released on August 20, 2018, for the Nintendo Switch, then for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on August 28. A Microsoft Windows version was released on October 16, 2018. Versions for Android and iOS followed on October 16, 2019.
A roguelike deck-building game is a hybrid genre of video games that combines the nature of deck-building card games with procedural-generated randomness from roguelike games.
Blood Bowl 3 is a turn-based fantasy sports video game developed by Cyanide Studios and published by Nacon. It is a sequel to the 2015 video game Blood Bowl 2, based on the Blood Bowl board game by Games Workshop and is the third Blood Bowl game created by Cyanide. The game was released on 23 February 2023 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S, with a Nintendo Switch port planned to be released at a later date.
Gloomhaven is a turn-based strategy role-playing video game, developed by Flaming Fowl Studios and published by Asmodee Digital. It is an adaptation of the tabletop game by the same name. Following two years of early access, Gloomhaven was released for Windows on October 20, 2021 and macOS on November 25, 2021. The game was ported to Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S in September 2023.
Dune: Spice Wars is a 4X real-time strategy video game developed by Shiro Games and published by Funcom. In the game, the player tries to dominate the planet of Arrakis diplomatically or militarily. The title is set in the Dune universe, it was released in early access in April 2022 and was fully released in September 2023.
Thirsty Suitors is an adventure video game about a young woman, Jala, who returns to her hometown for her sister's wedding and must navigate her relationships with her family and former paramours. It has been developed by Outerloop Games and published by Annapurna Interactive. The game was released on November 2, 2023, for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.
Unexplored is a series of two roguelike video games developed and published by Ludomotion. The first game, Unexplored, was released in 2017. The second game, Unexplored 2: The Wayfarer's Legacy, was released in 2022.
