Northgard

Genre: Real-Time Strategy

Players: 1-6 Competitive (Online)

.

Review:

Northgard and I have a… difficult history together. In my previous attempt to review this Real-Time Strategy Game, I gave the game an F, a decision I didn’t come to lightly. I did recognize that the game had a lot of positive elements, and potential to be a solid Real-Time Strategy game, a genre the Nintendo Switch is currently starving for. However, Northgard simply didn’t seem to be working properly, its fundamental mechanics not responding to commands. And with this core foundation for the game malfunctioning, I felt the game was simply unplayable.

However, while I felt completely justified in that earlier review, at the same time it didn’t sit well with me. It certainly seemed like there must have been something about this game that I missed, some mechanic that wasn’t properly explained to the player. Certainly fans of the game I spoke with seemed to think so, and immediately after I reviewed the game, I resolved to return to it again at a later time, after I took a long break from the game so the sour taste from my first experience had a chance to leave my palate.

I can say that this time around, I had a very different experience with the game. That’s not to say that my thoughts this time are entirely positive, but I think I have a better understanding now of what I missed in my first review, as well as a better grasp of this game’s real problems. And while those problems are not insignificant, better understanding them means I can better appreciate the game’s positive points.

With that said, let’s try this one more time…

.

Reclaiming Lost Territory

Northgard is a Real-Time Strategy game first released on PC in 2018 ported to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch in 2019, with the game getting an additional port to mobile devices in 2021. This game follows a group of vikings venturing into a newly-discovered land, searching both to claim the abundant resources of that new land, as well as to seek revenge on a murderous enemy who seeks to claim the land and its treasure for himself.

Northgard’s presentation is generally pretty good, albeit nothing terribly impressive, using relatively simple 3D visuals with a good amount of personality to them, and even some nice detail in depicting the game’s changing seasons – an important element in the strategy of the game. These visuals are backed by a solid instrumental soundtrack that does a good job of selling the game’s Norse themes, as well as some decent voice acting for its narration.

However, this mostly good presentation comes with a major caveat – it is poorly-optimized for Nintendo Switch. Namely, the text size in this game is abysmally small, being a bit difficult to see both in docked and handheld modes. What’s more, the menus seem to be laid out in a way that’s mostly conducive to the original PC release, and is less befitting a game console, and in particular the lack of support for the Nintendo Switch’s touchscreen is disappointing, when this seems like it would make it much easier to control the game.

.

Looking After Your People

When it comes to the gameplay, there are a few things that should be addressed right off the bat. While Northgard appears to be a relatively welcoming experience for those who aren’t steeped in the Real-Time Strategy genre, this is actually a game that requires meticulous resource management, and doesn’t always make it easy for players to access the information they need to do so.

Initially, it seems that there are three primary resources to keep track of – food, lumber, and money. Simple enough, yes? Food to feed your populace, lumber to build structures, and money to fund new developments. However, this is just the tip of the iceberg. You also have happiness, fame, lore, population size, maximum population size, two different kinds of ore, commercial influence, military experience… it’s a lot to keep track of, and it’s not always clear when one of your resources is being drained just what is sapping that resource.

However, perhaps one of the most important resources in the game is something that is not treated as a resource – villagers. Your villagers don’t simply pop into existence when you build housing, but are produced by your town hall building at a rate that’s based on your happiness level. The housing simply determines the maximum number of villagers you have available. These villagers can be assigned to various jobs as you build the structures corresponding to those jobs – your farmers, soldiers, lumberjacks and so on. However, villagers who haven’t been assigned to a job are vital to building your empire – they are the only units capable of building new structures.

Because of this, players will find that they may very well have to juggle their villagers’ different roles by assigning them jobs, unassigning them jobs to build something, and reassigning them to some new job as your needs change. And to make things even more frustrating, it doesn’t seem like players are able to select individual units to un-assign or reassign roles – they must select them from a sub-menu and the game will apparently choose a member of the particular class for you to reassign.

There’s another problem too – none of what I just said is properly explained to the player. This was the stumbling block I had in my initial review of this game, and why it seemed like nothing was acting the way it should. I kept building houses, but my population wouldn’t grow. Why? My happiness level wasn’t high enough… but I didn’t know that was an important factor. I kept trying to build structures, but they’d never finish building. Why? Because all of my villagers were assigned to jobs and the game’s listing of population only lists your current and maximum population, not your unassigned villagers, which are necessary to build. To be fair, the game does show how many of each unit type you have on the right side of the screen, but these icons are tiny and hard to make out, and I also feel like unassigned villagers should be given far more prominence than just any other unit type.

Despite all of my complaints about how poorly Northgard communicates absolutely vital information, I can still see this being an enjoyable game for players looking to play a Real-Time Strategy game. The actual mechanics of building, claiming land, and evolving your peoples’ abilities are interesting and reasonably varied to make for good strategy… but only if you’re prepared to dive into the surprisingly meticulous management that this game requires (but doesn’t properly prepare the player for).

In the end, if you like Real-Time Strategy games, you don’t have much to choose from on Nintendo Switch, and Northgard is a decent entry in the genre… but not if you go into it unprepared. Consult a wiki guide, and understand that you’ll need to be attentive to numerous elements that the game doesn’t properly explain to you. However, if you’re up to that challenge, and can put up with the game’s poor optimization for Nintendo Switch, you might want to give Northgard a try.

tl;dr – Northgard is a Real-Time Strategy game about vikings exploring a new land while warring with competing tribes. This game has a good variety of options and decent core gameplay, but it’s more complex than it initially appears, and does a terrible job conveying vital information to the player. This game is also poorly optimized for Nintendo Switch. If you’re a fan of the genre, you may find this game to be enjoyable, but definitely consult a wiki guide before you start playing.

Grade: C+

^{You can support eShopperReviews on Patreon! Please click HERE to become a Sponsor!}

^{This month’s sponsors are MB, Andy Miller, Johannes, u/RamboFox, Exlene, Eli Goodman, Ilya Zverev, and Stov. Thank you for helping to keep the reviews coming!}