Recent reviews by Corvüs

I’ve never wrote a review before but I think that such a great and promising game receiving the reviews it is deserves a comprehensive review as compared to bad reviews like “game doesn’t let you join midway through saga” or good reviews like “The game is good”. There is a tl;dr at the bottom.

This is all from my point of view, but I’ve almost 100% (all but level 50, 85/100 days in Survival, and 1M souls spent) all the challenges for season one. I’ve played both modes, solo, with friends, and with randoms.

Other Reviews:
- The bulk of the negative reviews that I’ve seen are stating that the game is too grindy, that the combat is boring, and that saga mode is too hard/too fast paced. They don’t specify how the game is grindy, but I’m going to assume the battlepass which is grindy UNTIL you start winning in Saga, as I stated earlier, each saga win is a level basically. Saga is fast paced, but it matches the story of the game; weren’t people just complaining about how slow paced Cyberpunk2077 was when the story was so frantic? I will concede though that combat against run of the mill enemies is boring, but against the jotunn, saga boss, and giants it’s a lot of fun. Which facing off against a giant lava giant should be more entertaining than kicking a goblin if you ask me.
- The bulk of the positive reviews that I’ve seen state that the game is fun to play with friends, the battlepass system, and that it has a lot of potential. The game is a lot of fun with friends, but what game isn’t? It’s also a lot of fun solo and the couple of games I did with randoms were great. The battlepass system is included with the game and changes each season, you cannot buy levels and it gives you items that effect gameplay which is a great way to reward and motivate players and they plan to roll out seasons every couple of months. The game has enormous potential and I really hope that Norsfell don’t let the mixed reviews on steam deter them, the game is already great and I really look forward to them doing more with it.

Saga:
- The “main” game mode is saga; you earn golden horns by killing jotunn (1 per) and killing the saga boss (5). You need to leave/extract from Midgard via the Bifrost to collect your golden horns (a currency that is earned through play and cannot be purchased). If you’re getting close to a defeat and are worried you can extract via the Bifrost at any time and collect the horn(s) you’ve earned. You use golden horns in game and in the shop. In game to craft legendary items and in shop to buy recipes or cosmetics. Saga is timed, anything past 15-16 in-game days and you’re gonna have a bad time. It is fast paced and challenging, at first, but once you’ve learned a bit and gotten used to the game you really start thriving in the game mode.

Survival:
- If the main game mode is too fast paced or challenging for you than this is for you. You can set the parameters of the world a few examples are world size, resource abundance, and enemy difficulty. As you change the parameters making the game easier or harder you also adjust how much battlepass experience you earn. If you run everything down then you earn less, but if you’re worried about experience then use the easier settings to learn the game and then jump into saga to earn horns and exp (each win is about 28k exp which is a level and some change). There’s no time limit here like in Saga and everything respawns so you don’t need to worry about running out of resources.
Currency: There’s golden horns (that were covered in the Saga overview above) and there are coins. The coins are a microtransaction, but they are only able to be used on cosmetics ONLY. You cant use them to buy golden horns or to buy the recipes that show up in the shop occasionally.

The Good:
- The game is extremely fun solo, with friends, or with randoms. If you are worried it won’t be fun solo, then hop into some random worlds with matchmaking. There are emotes, voicelines, a text chat, and you can talk with mics to communicate. Maybe you’ll make some friends there that you can regularly play with.
- I love that the battlepass system and the shop are setup to reward you for playing and playing consistently. (A complaint I have about WoW is that the catch-up mechanics for returning players feel like they punish active players; why grind something for a year when I can come in towards the end and do everything in a month?)
- The graphics and sound are absolutely beautiful. I can tell which jotunn I am about to fight before I see them by the sound of their footsteps, or I know a goblin is off screen cause I hear them skittering around.
- Runes are a lot of fun and create strong synergies with different classes. A friend of mine craves “Nothing to hide runes” that make you do more damage per empty armor slot. They then pick berserker and run around with a hammer doing crazy damage, truly the viking we should aspire to be.

The Bad:
- Combat can be frustrating. Attacks hitboxes don’t line up for some enemies (looking at you trolls) and blocking is only useful very early in the game and niche at best later.
- The environment is working with your enemies. I can not tell you how many times the water’s gravitational pull has coaxed my body through earth to drown me. A few time’s I’ve gotten stuck on a rock and been faced with the option to kill myself (luckily there’s an option if you’re stuck) or have a lone goblin chuck rocks at my head until death’s sweet embrace took me.

TL;DR:
- It’s a great game with it’s share of bugs and jank, not game breaking, but frustrating at times and you can learn to avoid them. Saga is a race and is difficult (at first) but as you learn and get better at the game it becomes more enjoyable. If that sounds scary, try Survival where you can adjust settings and play/learn at your own pace. The game is great solo, with randoms, and with friends (I’ve experienced each and have had a great time each time). Microtransactions are cosmetic only and battlepass/seasons are included with the game and give you premium currency among other cosmetics and items that effect gameplay.