 The Vikings cock everything up. How do I know that? Well, I live in Sweden. Thanks for watching, I'll be back with more quality content. If you enjoy this video, please like, share and subscribe. You're still here. Fine. It's not only because I live in Sweden. It's also got to do with the conceit that propels you to action in but not yacht in addition. The king is dead. And whereas most people just say long live the king. Apparently we can't do that because we're in the middle of a Viking invasion. Yes, indeed. These bad Northmen are coming. So it's time to pull out the old bows, the arrows, the sticks with the pointy pointy bits and send those nasty boys packing. If you want games with tight mechanics, almost singular in their execution, you look first and foremost to the indie market. Bad North is an example of a few core ideas polished to damn near perfection and remarkably enjoyable to mess about with. What does Bad North offer you? The small island map with several buildings to defend, up to four squads to develop in one of three classes, warriors, peer men, archer. A single ability for each class also upgradeable and scores upon scores of enemies, waves of them to be stopped. Positioning is king. Maybe that's where long live the king should come in. This is a lesson every great historical battle will teach you in the main precept of Bad North. This is the core of the game, along with a straightforward, but not, rock-paper-scissors mechanic which dictates which squads to use against which types of vikings. Most basic Viking enemy types have a direct counter. The dual wielders are countered by archers. The huskals is showing axes unnegated by the shields of the swordsman infantry, as are the Viking archers' arrows. Even the advanced enemies, the brutes, are accounted by the pikemen, so you might not be able to tell it at first glance. If you're like me and lucky enough to come across an item that allows you to expand the roster of one of your squads, if you find yourself with an archer's squad, give that item to the archers, turns out an extra eight bows really, really makes a difference. What else does Bad North just an addition offer? A number of items, each of which offers some bonus or another. The one I mentioned already, adding additional units to a commander's squad. Additional coins as payment after every successful defense. Even the holy grail makes an appearance allowing you to resurrect a commander who has fallen. Something I was particularly thankful for, as my single spearman unit died over a really dumb mistake I'd made over in attention. Two islands later, I resurrected him, just in time for the final island battle. The music is minimalistic, but of a fine quality, especially memorable in that very first note that plays whenever the Vikings' skirmish of the latest island you defend begins. The sound effects are all around excellent, some of them downright funny. The graphics are so simplistic and slick, which is to say I love this aesthetic, I love it. It looks great, it plays at a consistent 144 fps, the game is a 250 megabyte in store. There's lessons to be done there. A full run on normal will take you no more than three hours, maybe three and a half. Mine took me a little less than three. There's a difficulty spike two thirds into the run that demands you use everything you've learned about your enemies and about positioning. The game makes sure that you don't have a moment's calm during these later defenses. It does not pull any punches, and the continued assaults by many different enemies dare you to react with split second decisions. The tension is palpable. The random generation of the islands also means you'll always be forced into further adapting your tried and tested strategies with awareness to any limitations and strategic opportunities the terrain offers. You can take it real easy that first hour for the first dozen islands or so. You fill in your roster of your false quads, you repel all the basic Vikings, you get an idea of how this plays out. Fair enough, little by little, you get your feet into a game that has a fair amount of complexity worth exploring later on. This is the very definition of easy to get into hard to master. I failed once, and it was more a choice rather than actual failure, because I had only just passed through the first of three checkpoints. I had lost a unit due to getting distracted and I really liked that unit, so I gave up. This isn't as punishing as most road lights I've played in recent memory, and I'm not complaining. There's a bit of meta progression, but it's really quite basic. There's a codex which offers you some information and a number of basic traits to begin a new game with. This game is sold for €15. I played it on the Xbox Game Pass for PC, but I know it's leaving that soon. That's what drew me to it. I've had bad nought installed on my computer for the entirety of the summer, and only when it's leaving Xbox Game Pass did I finally find the time to play it. For shame. It's a game worth the money, and I might just buy it when I get this crutch for more of its unique proposition. What I would like to see improved in bad nought is the progression of your squads. It's a little too simple and lacks the degree of customisation that the enemy is showcased. I know this game is driven by the colorful simplicity in aesthetics and systems boat, but I think a little extra complexity, a few more variables for the players to engage with, could really make this a must-play in this strategy. As it is, what you will find in bad nought yorton edition is a strategy game, absolutely in love with micromanagement, that puts in its money on exploring basic concepts at a commendable depth. With slick controls and adorable presentation, it plays great. A well-rounded package, which I'm happy to recommend for fellow fans of the RTS genre. Thank you for watching. If you enjoyed this review, please like it, share it with your friends, subscribe, send it to your grandmother in the post. Yes, that's right. Write the link longhand and mail it to your grandmother. She will like it, she will love it. She was around back when the bad vikings came. She will appreciate the tactics it takes to deal with them. Probably. If you enjoyed this video, please, once again, look forward to the next one. What games would you like me to tackle next? Let me know. I'm very excited to do more. Next up, I think I'm going to talk about Wasteland 3 and I'm also preparing a long-ass critique of Tell Me Why, which is full of praise, not only. See you next time. Bye!