King's Bounty: Warriors of the North

King's Bounty: Warriors of the North is a 2012 strategy video game developed for Microsoft Windows by 1C-Softclub and published by 1C Company. It is a follow-up to King's Bounty: The Legend.

Plot

The game takes in the same setting as King's Bounty: the Legend and is a follow-up to it. A generation has passed since the events of King's Bounty: the Legend. The protagonist is Olaf, a Viking who is the youngest son of Tormund the Ferocious. The story has Olaf protect and liberate the lands of Endora from the attacks of the undead army and liberate the land of Nordig from their threat in which along with his army and with the help of five Valkyries.

Gameplay

King's Bounty: Warriors of the North maintains many of the same game conventions used in previous installments. The game is a strategy with RPG elements. The protagonist is Olaf, who is a Viking. In the beginning players control an army consisting of five legions. Players have access to an overworld map they can click to move around along with their army. Sometimes they will stumble onto buried treasures, other times the loot will be out in the open and can find huts or villages where they can buy and sell items or units. Upon engaging an enemy the game switches to turn-based battle mode where the player's and enemy forces are displayed on a hex-tiled board with both armies at the opposite ends. Each unit has a specific number of health points which when completely deleted, the entire unit is destroyed. The turn of the units take place in fixed cycles and the player can choose whether to defend, move, attack or use the special abilities of their characters. Upon defeating an enemy force, players gain money and experience which they can use to make their armies more powerful. The game also has a skill tree which players use to enhance their abilities. Along with magical abilities, the game also features rage abilities. Like magic, these abilities can be used to summon creatures and damage enemies however it only accumulates when a player is hit by an enemy or hits an enemy and dissipates between battles. The game includes a new race Vikings and new units like Berzerker, Skald and Ice Dragon. In addition Olaf is also assisted by his companions the five Valkyries and each of them has a unique ability and each will give various bonuses to Olaf's specific stats. Although Olaf travels along with all five female-fighters, however he will need to choose one of them to become the main Valkyrie (not the favorite wife!), and her bonus will be 100 percent active unlike the other four with just 25 percent of their powers. The female warriors will gain experience which will improve their combat abilities. In order to upgrade the level of a Valkyrie players can sacrifice unneeded equipment. This in turn yield more bonuses to the stats of a character. Players can also perform a special quest for each of them which is the only way to reach the level cap of a Valkyrie.^[1][2][3][4]

Development

On October 6, 2011 1C Company announced the game as the next game in the King's Bounty. They revealed that the protagonist of the game will be Olaf who will fight the undead and liberate frozen wastelands, dwarven dungeons and cities from the grips of necromancy with the help of Valkyries. The game would announced include a new school of magic called Rune Magic. It was scheduled to release in second quarter of 2012.^[5] The game was shown in pre-alpha state to the press in February 2012 and was revealed to be a follow-up to the game King's Bounty: The Legend.^[6][7] On March 16, 2012 1C Company along with GamesBeat published the first part of the dev diaries that revealed aspects about development of the game. It revealed a new race, the Vikings along with new units.^[1] 1C Company released a trailer and screenshots during Gamescom 2012 and was announced to be released in fourth quarter of 2012.^[8] On October 16, 2012 it was revealed that the game would be released on October 26, 2012. In addition a special edition called Valhalla Edition was also announced that contained the Valhalla armor set.^[9] On January 16, 2014 1C Company revealed the DLC for the game titled King's Bounty: Warriors of the North - Ice and Fire will be available on January 30, 2014. It takes place on a small snow-covered island ruled by Snow Elves. The DLC includes a creature skill system which makes the player's troops stronger as they lead them through battles, new type of undead called Necrolizards, new locations and creatures, revamped creatures from the main game and new items with unique attributes.^[10][11] The DLC was released on the date on Steam.^[12]

Reception

The game holds an aggregate of 73.92% on GameRankings and a score of 74/100 on Metacritic.^[13][14] Dave Vader of GamingXP gave the game a review score of 86% praising its gameplay and Viking setting.^[15] Krystian Smoszna of Gry-Online called it "a robust extension of the well-known and popular formula [of King's Bounty]". ^[16] Sebastian Haley of GamesBeat gave it a review score of 80/100 however criticised that the game didn't offer anything new over the previous installments.^[17]

References