A good diablo-like, but well, a diablo-like. Upgrade your stuff, kill, upgrade your stuff more. It's undeniably fun for quite a while (and plays pretty damn well with pad), despite the main character having the personality of a stone and the same charisma, but then after several hours you start to ask yourself "why am I doing this?". The loot is not supremely satisfactory, the enemies start to become similar version of the same ones you met but with different colors, so the same-y-ness feeling grows. I could never finish, but i enjoyed the time i spent on it, so despite it being no masterpiece, it gets a solid 70/100 for the 12-13h or fun i got.

I've been playing this game on and off for quite a while now so I thought why not write a review:

Visuals:
+ beautiful handcrafted maps with multiple points of interest
+ multiple environments from northern forests, to sandy beaches, lava castles and medieval villages
+ enemies often have different skins depending on their environment
+ great lighting and shaders
+ particle effects aren't as over the top as in most other H&S games (I'm looking at you Diablo III)
- The camera is a little too close to the character
- Some areas, especially in the lategame, look considerably worse than others
- Sometimes the scaling is off, making some buildings/objects look too small in comparison to your character
- The UI (especially the XP bar) can be unnecessary hard to read a t times
- very limited amount of player outfits, no transmogrification option

Sound:
+ Absolutely fantastic mix of Viking themed Folkmusic and Rock
+ Extensive ambient sound library
- Incredibly cheesy dialogue with fluctuating quality in terms of voiceacting

Leveldesign:
+ Seamless transition between open areas, dungeons and villages
+ many destructible objects that can drop building and crafting materials
+ fair placement of healing wells and checkpoints
+ challenging bossfights at the end of every level
+ interesting exposure mechanic that adds a strategic component to traversing through the levels
+ hidden items and areas
- no randomization in terms of enemy placement/terrain making every walkthrough basically the same
- inconsistent difficulty (the first level is one of the hardest)
- bonus objectives are pretty unimaginative and often unnecessarily hard to find
- puzzles are too easy and unimaginative

Items and Crafting:
+ Every Item drops with random stats, even if you buy them in town
+ Upgrading buildings results in a larger variety of crafteable items
+ Gear can be upgraded with runes
- The most powerful items are not randomized and always drop in the same locations, taking away every incentive to grind for gear
- Items mostly upgrade stats like speed, dmg, health, etc but they don't add any special effects or interesting gameplay mechanics
- Loot does come in tiers which means that every time you upgrade the smithy or armory you basically want to re-craft your entire gear since the "new stuff" is almost always better than what you have found before, once again taking away the joy of grinding for better gear

Classes, Skills and Attributes:
+ It's possible to pick two classes at once and switch in between these classes by switching weapons
+ Most skills are incredibly fun to use and get bonus effects when levelling them up
+ Spells synergize well with each other no matter which character you play
+ By using a trinket the player can acquire an additional special skill for their character
- Incredibly small number of skills
- The skilltree doesn't allow you to chose IF you want to level ability X but only WHEN you want to level ability X
- Switching between character classes doesn't offer any advantages which makes the whole dual class system useless
- attribute points don't influence the game in a meaningful way

Combat:
+ fast paced combat that requires you to skillfully dodge enemy attacks and evade enemy spells and projectiles. A good player is able to avoid almost all damage making succesful fights extremely rewarding
+ Enemies are highly agile, have different attack patterns and can often cast multiple unique spells and special attacks. However, pretty much every attack can be dodged or countered. This leads to incredibly interesting fights where the player has to keep track of everything that's going on around them and react accordingly
+ Hands down the best and most challenging boss fights I have ever seen in a game like this (isometric H&S that is). There are too many great boss fights in Vikings to list them all but already the very first boss you encounter is better than most bosses in other games of this genre
+ the rage mechanic lets you go into a berserk mode that increases you speed/dmg/xp, etc... depending on your character and skills. This is not only very fun to use but can sometimes be a real game-changer in sticky situations

Verdict:
Whether you'll like "Vikings" or not depends mostly on what you expect this game to be like. If you are looking for a game like Diablo that focuses on finding loot and perfecting your build over hundreds of hours of playtime then you'll be disappointing. The game only offers very limited options to customize your character so if you're interested in that then you better look elsewhere. However, if you are simply interested in challenging and fun fights in a beautifully crafted viking setting then I highly recommend you check out this game. Even though you probably won't play through this games more than 2 or 3 times a single playthrough takes about 20 hours so the game is certainly worth its money, especially if you buy it on sale.

I can kind of understand all the negative review about this game. To be honest at first I was disappointed too. I come here looking for something to satiate my thirst for Diablo-style games. This game didn't help. I tried it for a little bit and then give up, thinking it's a waste of time.

After a while I suddenly just want to find something fun to play, I take this game on with a new outlook and you know what? This game turns out to be AWESOME. Don't think of it as a failed Diablo, think of it as a BRIILIANT beat 'em up with Diablo POV and deep RPG progression system. Different weapon each with their own skilltre and builds, random loot for new equipments, forge system that you can upgrade for even better equipments and rune, big size maps with secrets and challenges and a dynamic combat system that really makes you fight your way around instead of just clicking Diablo-style.

The game is even better playing with friends or spouse, it really feels like a good old beat 'em up, only prettier and wayyyyy better. At least million times better than that pathetic Sacred 3 which is a plain beat 'em up trying to disguise itself (unsuccessful) as an RPG with a cheap story. And on that note Vikings's story is not bad itself.

If you don't like this game at first, try it again with a new outlook. Maybe you will find yourself a great fun game to play, like me ^^

Hello,

First of all, i hope that many of you surpass the sudden urge to downvote my review from the start just to prove to the others that this game isn't worthy to be bought and played.Please instead bear with my review and try to see the aspects that i think are important and easily shunned off by many of the players.

The most important thing that you should consider when buying/playing this game is the fact that this is not a triple A game, it's not a game made by one of the most known gaming companies (Valve, Blizzard, EA , Ubisoft, etc.) but it's a game that tries to enter the ARPG "land" that is currently "conquered" by the well known games such as Diablo,Grim Dawn,Path Of Exile, Torchlight and many other. For this particular reason i applaud Kalypso Media Digital for having the boldness to do so.

Some of the other reviewers refer to this game as a "Diablo" copy or as a *Insert similar game from the same genre here* copy. I do not think that is right. This game is indeed inspired by the Diablo series but not only.In my observations of this game, i believe that it's also inspired by but not limited to the Dark Soul series (the dodging system, the bossfigts,the punishment for wrong decisions,the blood system could be viewed as a equivalent of the Souls and a surrogate to the EXP system, etc.) and that alone makes this game quite special.

The developement part, as any other game, has indeed problems. Many of you expect the games that launch to be launched perfectly but seem to have a sudden lack of memory about other games, including Diablo, that launched with many flaws (including the infamous error 37).The fact that it has problems at launch shouldn't be a reason to discredit the developers/game. The main problems that i've personally encountered are UI issues such as overlaps (only when the resolution was somehow trying to be 21:9) Skill Electrive Mode (not present) Custom Graphic settings (not present but we can compare them to the early builds of the game where you only had Gamma as a setting) UI Scale settings (not present). On a personal note, i am sure that the game will receive updates in the future that will address this issues (Again, this is what i've noticed in my 6h gameplay so far)

One thing i am indeed "angry" about is the fact that since it launched, the game has received at least 3 updates (from what i recall) but a "Patch note" or any kind of info about what any of those update did was never posted. For this i ask the developers to keep the players informed about any change that is made on the LIVE version of the game as it helps the players understand what it's happening but also inform the people that are having troubles that their problem is fixed (in case of bugfixes of course)

To break it down in to the ol' PROS and CONS list here are what i consider the most important aspects of the game:

PROs :
-Gameplay (in my opinion unique)
-Exposure system
-City Management (upgrades,unlocks,etc.)
-Difficulty (quite challenging when playing at the highest difficulty but also very pleasent at the lower ones)
-Boss Fights
-Vikings and norse mythology
-Although made with primary ideea for consoles i think the K&M adaptation is quite good, you can see that best when switching to the controller and back the the K&M while in-game
-LAN mode for multiplayer ( many of the new games do not have this, but there are many cases where LAN can be very usefull)


CONs :
-Settings
-UI issues (such as 4 clicks to sell items)
-Patchnotes
-Although small, the grind for resources i think could be reduced


I will not make a "TL'DR" section for this review as i think that it's very important for the reader to understand my point of view so that he will understand my intention better.

Thank you!

I'm positively surprised.

PROS:

GRAPHICS: Stylish, set the mood.
MUSIC: Fitting norse-like action soundtrack, drives the combat forwards.
STORY: So far enjoying it. Very norse.
MAIN CHARACTER: Male / female. The shieldmaiden has a very empowering personality.
COMBAT: Feels dynamic and has oomph. You keep jumping around the battlefield.
SKILL SYSTEM: Simple and works. 5 gods offer different skills, each skill has 3 tiers, mostly passive skills, 5 actives.
EQUIPMENT: 99 slots + shared stash. You won't run out of inventory. Varied yet not a crap item spam. Selling extras after a mission takes two minutes at most.

CONS:

SAVE SYSTEM: Checkpoint-based. All progression since last checkpoint is lost if you die. Can lead to backtracking to another checkpoint to save your progress.
SOCKETS: You can't remove and retain engraved runes from items. Socketing is permanent. As a result, I don't use most runes at all. Some people may like this kind of system, I don't.
RESPEC: Only possible by manually editing the save file.

VERDICT:

All in all, the pros outweigh the cons. Healthily recommend this.

If you want to play deep and complex hack and slash action RPG you need look elsewhere. This game is very basic and does not offer profound class customization or interesting level design. But for people, who understand what they get into, game can still be fun.

Pros:
- Good graphics;
- Norse mythology;
- Co-op;

Cons:
- Annoying exposure feature;
- Game gets really repetitive;
- Not enough variety(in everything);

If you're looking for a 2 player co op game you can play on the couch, get this on sale and you won't be disappointed.
My significant other and I played this and the console version of Diablo 3 and definately had more fun with this one.
The combat feels more alive and visceral, giving you direct feedback when landing a hit or dodging enemies' attacks, which makes it feel a lot more like a brawler than your classic loot'em'ups.
Missions feel different enough from each other to not become stale in the long run, you will more often than not have to search for your objective by exploring the map and not simply walk from one marker to the next
Speaking of exploring, we also enjoyed searching for legendary items which are shattered into fragments and hidden behind small environmental puzzles or trials.
All in all, this game has enough content to warrant around 26 hours for a single playthrough with some grinding for levels or weapon upgrades in between, because at some stages the difficulty ramps up by a margin.

Also leaving a positive review because even one year after release, the devs are still listening to community feedback and updating and improving the game.

The game needs a lot of work, but overall it is very enjoyable. The price is way too high, though.

Pros
1. The game is beautiful and at times really feels like what a hack-'n'-slash game should feel like. At times.
2. The environmental effects are original and actually a lot of fun. Some people may complain about how much you have to backtrack, but in reality it is not that bad - there are plenty of 'recharging' points. Besides, it adds to the game experience. You have to worry about more than just your health. It's fun.
3. The overall Viking setting is great. The maps are well designed, too, with challenges adding a little extra to the game.
4. An upgrade to a skill really improves it.
5. Upgradeable shops are cool, but I feel like this is something the game could improve on at the current state.

Cons
1. The character you play is VERY UNLIKABLE AND HAS A HORRIBLE ATTITUDE.
2a. Bosses and champions have an insane amount of health compared to your damage output.
2b. Enemies can push you in a corner and surround you, such that you cannot move or roll away from them. With their insane amount of health and damage (I am just a flimsy archer), this means insta-death.
2c. There are not enough skills (and the ones there are, are not satisfying enough for a hack-'n'-slash) so it often feels like you're just repeating the same strategy: shoot one or two arrows and roll to avoid taking hits yourself. Wait for the skill cooldown to deal damage. Repeat (50 times).
2d. Most enemies and champions can be frozen with a regular hit (9%) or a critical (45%) for two seconds using the Skathi skill tree; an arrow in the back is an automatic crit. A very easy strategy to kill champions is to roll behind them and shoot arrows in their behinds. Once they are frozen, you can crit them to death (from behind) - they can freeze while frozen.
3. As an archer, my character often stops to shoot and break random stuff during movement. This often results in the horde I just kited gangbanging me. Especially problematic because some barrels are invisible (minor bug).
4. (Minor spoiler:) I managed not to die the entire game, then in the second to last mission there was an invincible guy one-hitting me. Felt unfair and really ♥♥♥♥♥♥.
5. (Another minor spoiler:) In one of the missions the developers blatantly copied the bosses from the previous mission, but changed the icy setting to a firey setting.
6. Minor bugs make the game feel unfinished: Putting collectables in your stash and back into your inventory destroys them. Pressing escape when the stash is opened opens the game menu instead of just closing the stash. The result menu after you assemble a legendary pops up behind your inventory screen when you're in a mission.
7. Would be better with more equipment. This kind of game needs extreme customization possibilities to fit your play style. I also feel like more could be done with elemental damage and resistances.

I only like to play ARPGs lately. I've played D3, Grim Dawn, and Torchlight to death already and never really liked Path of Exile. Stumbled on to this game and wish I'd found it sooner! It doesn't have the depth of those others, but that's fine with me. It's really fun to play and I'm loving the graphics and music. My only complaint was the first boss was way too difficult. I had to drop it all the way down to peasant just to get by. From there on, the difficulty was about right even after switching it back up to normal.