Valhalla Hills (Early Access)

In the real-time strategy game Valhalla Hills, from the makers of the Settlers series, you control a tribe of Vikings in their quest to find favor with the Allfather Odin, whose blessing they need to enter the realm of Asgard.         

Since time immemorial, the greatest aspiration in a Viking’s heart has been the honor of feasting with Odin amid the Valhalla Hills in Asgard. They spend their entire lives in pursuit of honor and glory in the hopes that this wish will be fulfilled upon their death. But times have changed, and Odin has decided to no longer welcome Viking warriors into his abode. It’s all because of Odin’s son Leko, who doesn’t want to act like a Viking and has no love for carousing or for battle. His talents lie elsewhere – namely, in the art of building, and his tremendous creativity has been attracting attention. Due to his disreputable activities, Odin banishes his son to the world of men, where he will at least be of some use as the “god of builders”. Once there, Leko joins forces with the Viking heroes, and together they forge a plan that will allow them to prove to Odin that they are indeed worthy of his favor. Their path leads directly to Asgard, but the Allfather sends them right back to earth, as they are not honorable enough in his eyes. The rest of the game follows Leko and his Viking companions as they attempt to accomplish mighty deeds in order to earn back the respect of Leko’s father and once again be admitted into the realm of the gods.  

Gameplay

Each new game starts on a randomly selected map, which ensures that each level takes place in a different environment. If you play long enough, you’ll start to recognize the numbers that identify the individual maps, which allows you to skip over places you don’t like and pick another random selection. Once you enter a world, you can use to arrow keys to explore your surroundings. You can also control the camera using the mouse by moving the pointer to the edge of the map in the direction you want to look. Important information about objectives reached or buildings built appear in little boxes at the top of the screen. You can save your game at any time in the options menu.

In order to create the best possible conditions for your Vikings to thrive, it’s important to provide them with everything they need to survive. Aside producing enough food and other basic necessities, you should also make sure there’s enough tents, and later huts, for your people to live in. Your rugged Norsemen are more than capable of sleeping out under the numerous trees that pepper the countryside, but this isn’t necessarily good for to the Viking work ethic, either. If you ignore your people’s needs, they’ll end up spending their time picking berries or taking naps instead of performing the tasks you’ve given them.

The portals allow the Vikings to access the Bifröst, the bridge that leads back to Asgard. You can usually see the portal when you start a level, but it’s not really a good idea to try to open it right away. Each of these magical gateways are guarded by beings of various sorts, all of whom will try to prevent you from getting to the Bifröst. They come from the Underworld, so they’re not exactly friendly. The game offers you several different ways to get past these infernal guards. You can choose the path of direct confrontation and fight them, but you can also placate them with sacrificial oblations.

If the village is attacked by monsters from the portal, you’ll have to use any means necessary to secure the portal you started the level from. This portal is the heart of your village, and if it falls, the Vikings will have no chance of completing the mission. The portals that lead to the Bifröst serve as the end of the current mission as well as the beginning of the next one. This means that once your forces are strong enough to defeat the monsters guarding the portal, there’s nothing else preventing you from going on the next level. At the end of each mission they give you a summary of your achievements and show you which new buildings you’ll be able to use on the next map.

At the lower left of the screen are three buttons you can click to open the various construction menus you will use to play most of the game. One allows you to construct various economic buildings such as woodcutting and fishing huts, another is for homes and the like, and the last one is for military buildings. Before you put up a structure, pay attention to the color of the plot you’re building on. If it’s red or orange, this means your project’s going to cost a lot more resources than if it’s green. When you decide to build a building, there’s a certain radius to keep in mind that the Vikings will need to complete their work. The range of each economic building can be increased by building roads to allow your busy workers to get from place to place more quickly.

Basic buildings like hunting and fishing shacks ensure that your people will have enough food. You have to watch the hunter, though, who will quickly wipe out all the game animals on the map if you’re not careful. If you make sure the animals are able to reproduce, they can easily be used as a permanent source of food.

Military buildings like army camps allow you to recruit and train soldiers, who you will need to get your Vikings through the portals and to defend your village from uninvited guests from the Underworld. If an enemy approaches a camp, the soldiers there will automatically attack it. If you want to get the best use out of your army camps, make sure to place a weaponsmith and a brewery nearby. This allows your soldiers to arm themselves and increase their health by drinking malt beer. You can also use gold to increase the damage your troops do in battle.

In the upper left corner of the screen you can see what time of day it is and how many days have passed since you started. It also shows you how much time you have before the sun comes up – or before it gets dark again. Next to this display is an arrow that allows you to adjust the game speed in three different levels, like in the Sims series.

Graphics

Sound