Expeditions: Viking Preview

Rock, Paper, Shotgun has published a quick and punchy write-up on Expeditions: Viking, Logic Artists’ follow-up to Expeditions: Conquistador. Writer Alec Meer seemed pretty satisfied with what he’d seen so far, with only a few caveats. An excerpt:

It’s a relief to play something comparatively buttoned down, that isn’t going to drop dragons or prophecies on me and where individual people and individual political decisions matter. I ‘failed’ a few quests, but the world still turned, just quietly adapting to what I’d done, or not done.

The turn-based, faintly Jagged Alliancey combat is serviceable too. It feels a bit wooden and bloodless, so don’t go looking for full Viqueen brutality here, but there’s an impressive range of character skills and weapons which mean you’re fighting somewhere between tactical and onslaught. You’ve got your guy who can hook an enemy’s shield away with an axe, a lass with a spear who can stab people from three hexes away, stunning people with shieldblows, multi-shot archers and even a witch who can throw poison in people’s faces.

It’s just about on the right side of credible, and most importantly it’s varied, though I don’t know that I’d call it especially elegant. Maybe that’s appropriate – certainly, I went into quite a few fights a long way short of certain how it would turn out.