TRIBES OF MIDGARD REVIEW - Wait Ragnarok with clever survival action

Review of Midgard Tribes

If we believe the interviews, when the members of the Norse fell Development Team planned their game, they examined their predictive crystal ball of trends and have deduced that the most important things were, or would be, the Cooperative Games and Viking Games. That this way of doing entertainment is cynical or pragmatic is to win, but in the end they were right, and we are in a golden age of the theme of Vikings, cooperative games and survival games. Tribes of Midgard reached the peak of its popularity at the right time and is just unique enough to win a distinct place in a quite crowded room.

Tribes of Midgard is of course a gender mashup, combining parts of action-RPG in the third person with survival and craft mechanisms, wave-based fighting, Roguelike curls and a multilayer EVE cooperation team. The biggest compliment I can do to the game is that almost every element is intelligently managed and makes sense. Nothing seems artificially folded just to add a chip to the pitch of the elevator, and almost all disparate parts work in harmony. While the genesis of the game looks like the result of a market study, the end result is usually organic.

The frame and the premise come from Nordic mythology and essentially involve that you and your tribe protect a tree, grown from the invigorating seed of Yggdrasil, which is at the center of your camp. Every night, supernatural creatures called Helpings invade and more, of powerful massive giants called Rotary fires a path through the card, determined to destroy the tree. The seasons change and the nights lengthen and become more perilous. During the day, you make excursions outside the village in the countryside and often in the distance, collecting craft resources and fighting random enemies for their precious booty. It is easy to teleport in your village in time for the night defense period. As you gain in level and competence, you can add defenses to your city as reinforced doors and pitfalls. Playing solo, the NPCs do a credible defense job — and you can choose to upgrade them, making them more capable — but it's more fun and effective when your tribe is, well, a tribe.

In addition to being able to manufacture objects such as bridges or shelters in nature, your village houses craft resorts that allow you to make ever stronger weapons and armor, and you can optionally select one of eight specialties. Class and higher level within it. Having a variety of classes in your tribe is essential to facing the Rotary, each with specific resistances and powers to counter. In addition to simply collecting and exploring, you can also perform timed quests, each with specific rewards of booty, upgrade materials or special objects.

Delicious Genre Viking Stew

The combination of so many kinds could suggest that playing tribes of Midgard could be a nightmare of conflicting mechanisms, but this is never the case. Anyone who is tired of survival and craft games will celebrate how simple the process is and painless in Tribes of Midgard, idem for RPG elements, which offer a lot of customization without being weighted by too many options. Everything is set for ease of use, and although the tutorial is quite simple, it is not easy to understand the systems in play. Even death is relatively painless and lost booty is recoverable. However, let a Rotary destroy the tree of the world and the game is definitely finished in the way of a Roguelike, although you have the advantage of everything you have unlocked. You can save your progress at any time in Persistent Saga mode.

There are many ways to discover Midgard tribes. The solo game is certainly possible, and the game will scale enemies and other elements to one player reasonably. However, it is a game designed for the cooperative EVE and up to ten players can work together in persistent Saga mode or more difficult survival mode, which is obviously a test of force and organization against waves increasing difficulty.

Tribes of Midgard has a distinctive artistic style that divides the difference between dark realism and the charm of the book of tales, colorful and not too detailed. There are five different biomes and the seasons change quickly. The sound design is effective although disappointing minimal, and even in nature, there was little sound to plant the decor. I really wanted a little of sound impact of the fight and especially, the formidable Rotary. Orchestral music on the Nordic theme is good but also relatively sober. I wanted to hear more, or at least that adds more to the drama than he did.

It is not often a game tries to merge elements of so many kinds. Usually, the result weakens the overall experience, but Tribes of Midgard is this rare exception, a game in which all disparate parts resound and strengthen each other. The first levels can become a little repetitive, but exploration, craftsmanship and combat continue to engage all along. Tribes of Midgard should please Action RPG fans, survival games, cooperative EVE and, of course, the rich tapestry of fighting, traditions and viking culture.