Speaking as a YouTuber, whoever had the idea
of announcing Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla
via an eight hour Photoshop livestream is
a genius.
You can’t buy that sort of average view
duration.
We did get a cinematic trailer the following
day that gave more insight into what the vikings
and viqueens will be getting up to on their
holiday to England, but the six month wait
is going to hurt.
We want to play as a Scandinavian warrior
now, not at Christmas.
To help time go quicker, we’ve compiled
a list of the 10 best viking games on PC you
can download as soon as you’ve finished
watching this video.
And, before you say it, we did consider Skyrim,
but it doesn’t quite meet the criteria.
There are great mods out there to crank up
the Norsepower on it, though, so if you really
want, you can make this list of 11 games and
everybody wins.
Compromise is just wonderful, isn’t it?
Anyway, enough of that.
Let’s look at some video games where you
play as vikings!
Let’s kick off with For Honor.
Or should that be throw off?
This beefy brawler is a who’s who of history’s
toughest bastards, and so it’s only right
that vikings take up a chunk of the roster.
It’s basically Ubisoft’s take on Deadliest
Warrior - the highbrow TV show that asked
important questions like who would win in
a fight between the IRA and the Taliban?
Don’t expect that For Honor DLC any time
soon.
More of a fighting game than an Assassin’s
Creed hack-and-slasher, For Honor builds a
deep system out of directional blocks, stamina
management and throwing chaps onto spikes.
That’s one for the proctologist.
Given that 15 Ubisoft studios are working
on Valhalla, you’d think there’d be some
team crossover - I don’t expect them to
lift combat wholesale, but I’d be happy
to see them share the meaty execution animations.
If our man-slash-woman Eivor doesn’t split
skulls like a champion woodchopper I’ll
be sad.
For Honor’s shabby online performance tainted
it at launch, but with years of updates and
dedicated servers, it’s evolved into a fighting
game unlike any other.
A viking is a safe bet in a fist fight.
Easy money.
I’m not sure who I’d stick a tenner on
when their opposition is nature, though.
Because, while the continent of Northgard
has plenty of undead draugr and dire wolves
to contend with, the greatest threat you face
in this RTS is a spot of bad weather.
Like, really bad.
Like, the worst winter on record bad.
To ensure the survival of your people, you
have to hoard as much food and wood and the
like as you can during better spells.
Manage your resources poorly and the unfriendly
creatures of Norse mythology will absolutely
destroy you.
Many hands – or hooves – make light work
of baddies, which is why fans were delighted
to hear about the patch that allowed you to
become friends with boars, last March.
As well as skewering enemies on their mighty
tusks, these piggies can give the vikings
a good feed when they’re peckish.
Oh come on, like you wouldn’t turn Percy
into a bacon sandwich if it meant your clan
could live a little longer.
Plus, the boar gets to die a hero.
A delicious hero.
Ah, Rune.
Last year’s sequel didn’t capture the
imagination of the public, but the 2000 original
has its fans.
Wonderfully, Rune’s plot is as dense as
a pink wafer: you play as a blade-wielding
boy called Ragnar that must save the world
by putting a stop to that devious Loki.
Standard.
What made Human Head’s action game stand
out was that it hung its horned-hat on melee.
Every one of the game’s weapons involve
you getting up in your foe’s face and hacking
to your heart’s content, or their heart
is no longer beating.
I wouldn’t say Rune had the impact Batman
had on close quarters combat, but it was an
effective hook back in the day.
There’s no doubt that it's a bit ropey in
2020, so perhaps this one appeals more to
those wearing rose-tinted glasses.
But as the vikings will tell you, it’s important
to honour your ancestors, and there’s an
odd charm to the mindless swinging of sharp
implements in Rune.
And everyone can enjoy OTT cutscenes like
this.
If you’re seriously looking for some extra
homework before Assassin’s Creed, Thrones
of Britannia may be the game for you.
It doesn’t bother with boys and girls with
magic electric hammers and instead aims for
historical accuracy.
Spoilers for actual history coming up, if
that’s a thing.
Set in 878 AD, after Alfred the Great (and
far from modest) defeated a Viking invasion,
Thrones sees you lead a faction into battle
to kill everyone that isn’t part of your
group, because that was the favoured pastime
back then.
Thankfully, four of the ten available factions
are viking-based, which means you can get
a feel for lobbing the heads off Brits before
Ubisoft gives you thumbs up later this year.
As a Total War game the dismemberment plays
out a little differently to a Creed game.
Whether navigating a huge map, hiring new
recruits along the way, or engaging in one
of the large-scale battles, Thrones of Britannia
demands you strategise or you die.
While I’m not too confident the crossover
between Total War and AC fans is all that
great, this is one you should definitely check
out if you’re looking to learn more about
Valhalla’s setting.
Creative Assembly’s *other* viking outing
is brawn over brains.
Viking: Battle For Asgard is like eating a
big bag of Doritos: an endlessly one flavour
experience - you are a viking, you chop up
men - but one that’s so inoffensive you
keep you doing it anyway.
It’s probably the closest thing on this
list to Assassin’s Creed Valhalla as you
trek around open world islands, amassing an
army by sneaking into prison camps and...
accidentally triggering every enemy there
because there is no way this beefy boy is
made for stealth.
So begins the button mashing and the limb
chopping takedowns that everyone was doing
in the noughties after playing God of War.
Creative Assembly’s single nod to their
strategic background is the climax to each
island that sees your recused soldiers storm
a stronghold.
In reality you’re playing the same hack-and-slash
fight, but with lots of friends around you.
It makes us hope that Assassin’s Creed Odyssey’s
big conquest battles pop up in Valhalla, if
only to show us how large-scale chaos should
be done.
Still, as mindless entertainment goes, it’s
hard to argue with that.
Jotun is a feast for the eyes.
Like something between Studio Ghibli and The
Snowman, Thunder Lotus Games’ storybook
action-adventure is a wonderful way to spend
a few hours.
A viking named Thora is denied access to Valhalla
after she drowns at sea.
An inglorious death means her name’s not
on the list and she’s not coming in.
Unless she can take on a whole host of huge
nasties and win - then they’ll welcome her
into Valhalla with open arms.
Because Thora looks minuscule next to these
big bads, you feel like a right badass when
you’re able to off one.
You’ll need more than your base painmaker
for the titans of Norse mythology, though,
which is where your special abilities come
in.
For example, Thor grants her the ability to
use Mjolnir for a short time, while Loki gives
Thora the power to create a decoy that can
briefly fool one of these giants.
Quite simply, Jotun is a delightful way to
spend an afternoon immersed in Norse mythology.
If Jotun is fully taking the myth, then Expedition:
Vikings is more about the man.
As a recently anointed thegn you have to lead
a diminished viking clan to greatness: raiders
must be pushed back, alliances struck and
much mead quaffed.
It plays out as a simple CRPG, with dialogue
skill checks letting you talk your way in
or out of a battle advantage, which unfold
on a turn-based hex grid.
Will you kick things off with honour to earn
the respect of your men or will you shank
your enemy as you break bread?
Of all the games on the list, this feels closest
to the moral quandaries you’d expect from
TV shows like Vikings or Last Kingdom.
It’s not the work of AAA mega budget - the
visuals are muddy both literally and figuratively
- but it gets the all important ideas right.
Combat offers deep strategic interplay between
classes, there’s meaty clan management to
keep you engaged for its 20 hour tale and
it certainly scratches our barbarian itch.
The Banner Saga trilogy is a great companion
piece to Expeditions: Vikings.
It’s another game that splits a tale between
turn-based strategies and leadership decisions
that have you stroking your long viking beard.
It’s kind of like Battlestar Galactica with
more mead: you lead a band of struggling refugees
and have to make brutal decisions about dwindling
food supplies, waning morale and welcoming
other lost souls you meet along the way.
It’s designed to push you into a corner
and is often unhappier than a Ken Loach marathon.
It may sound like a slog, but it’s an incredibly
personal journey - decisions carry between
the three games, so by the end it’s not
just any group of characters you’re protecting,
but the caravan you’ve carefully built up
over 25 hours.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is also going
to feature dialogue choices and branching
decisions, as we saw in Odyssey, so you could
use Banner Saga as a Viking management training.
Now, this is a proper throwback.
Beginning life as a Kickstarter campaign before
coming to PC in 2013, Volgarr the Viking is
your classic 2D action platformer, like Rastan
or Ghosts n’ Goblins.
Odin – who pops up a lot in this list as
a sort of quest-giver – tells V-man to go
out and kill a dragon.
Any additional information would be redundant.
You throw spears, you swing your sword, and
that’s it.
Oh, and you die absolutely loads.
Like those 2D action platformers of old, Volgarr
is mega hard.
In fact, we should probably adopt the phrase
“The Volgarr of puzzle games” or “The
Volgarr of first-person shooters” for the
toughest games in a genre.
Dark Souls has had its time in the sun.
Because of its difficulty, it’s obviously
not for everyone, but the masochistic types
(who also happen to enjoy vikings quite a
bit) will lap this up.
Technically in Bad North the Viking raiders
are the baddies, but what are you going to
do: call the list police on us?
Your task is to defend each small island you
hop to in your ongoing escape effort, carefully
positioning archers, spearmen and defensive
shield units, as boats come in waves.
They spill out ‘orrible Vikings and miniature
bloodshed commences.
Bad North is both pretty gruesome and unbelievably
cute, and last year it had a free Jotunn Edition
update that tweaked the game and made some
decent QOL improvements.
The push and pull of the RTS combat plays
out really well, and the sound design is unbelievably
satisfying.
Though it won’t be as up close as Valhalla,
this’d be a good one for strategy fans who
want to get in the invaders and defenders
mindset.
Listen, we’re just like the rest of you.
We’d love to be playing Assassin’s Creed:
Valhalla right this second… mainly because
that would mean we’d rank quite highly whenever
anyone on YouTube searched for the game.
But we hope that these viking delights can
satisfy you until Ubisoft releases the game
later this year.
Do you have a favourite from this list?
Or did we miss out one that you hold near
and dear?
Drop us a comment and let us know your favourite
viking video games.
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Thank you very much for watching and happy
vikinging, you absolute star.
