Expeditions: Viking March Newsletter

The Expeditions: Viking March newsletter recaps the team’s experiences at the recent PAX East, talks a bit about the results of the game’s final Beta, and showcases the shield abilities at your disposal. Check it out:

Viking Shields, Viking Chic!

Whether swinging a sword or an axe, the Vikings were renowned, not just for their ferocity with edged weapons, but their defensive tactics as well. The cornerstone of that defense was their ability to protect themselves with shields.

To reflect this in the tactical turn-based combat environment of Expeditions: Viking, shields have their own skill progression. Leveling a character’s shield skill will increase a character’s shield block chance against enemy attacks (when holding a shield) and unlocks three unique abilities a player can use during combat.

Brace – at Rank 1, Brace uses an attack action to quick repair a shield to mint condition. While this does forego an attack for the bracing character this round, A fully repaired shield can go a long way toward keeping your front line fighters alive.

Defend – is an Attack Action that applies the Defending status effect to the user making the shield impervious to all damage until the start of the player’s next turn. Highly valuable for characters who are being focused by the enemy forces.

Shield Bash – Pushes the target 1 hex away and applies the Knocked Down status effect. Characters that are knocked down are unable to act or block and have a base Damage Reduction of 0% and recovering from this costs 2 moves. Because not everything one does with a shield is defensive.

Coming Up

What’s next you say? Well it’s the release, that’s what! Expeditions: Viking is coming out April 27th, which is just about a month from now and since we are now feature complete, we’ll be working very hard to deliver you folks a polished and pleasurable day 1 experience.

PAX East was a whirlwind of fun as per usual and we are very glad to have met face to face with many of you in Boston this year! Now if you’ll excuse us we’re off to put our nose to the grindstone, it’s time to sharpen our blades, and mend our shields, a great adventure is just around the corner.

Remember, to stay tuned for the April newsletter for your loyalty bonuses!