Genre:
Action-RPG
Release:
24th of March 2017
Age Rating
PEGI - 18
ESRB - 17+
USK - 18
What is Vikings – Wolves of Midgard?
Fast, brutal and tactical, the Action RPG Vikings – Wolves of Midgard takes you to the shores of Midgard in the midst of Ragnarok, the end of days. In a believable world based upon the mythology and history of the Vikings, you will battle fearsome giants, the hordes of the undead, and the twisted beasts of Ragnarok, as you try to survive the growing cold that threatens to end all life, forever.
Master a variety of mighty weapons, including the sword and shield, two-handed hammers, dual-wielded axes and swift bows, and unleash devastating spells on your enemies.
What are Vikings – Wolves of Midgard’s main features?
Varying locations: Travel the realms of earthly Midgard, freezing Niflheim and boiling Balheim, either as a fierce Viking warrior or merciless shieldmaiden.
The deadly Fimbulwinter: Withstand the deathly colds and protect yourself from exposure to nature’s wrath in order to survive.
Tribute to the Gods: Collect blood from fallen enemies and sacrifice it at the altar to gain gifts from the Gods to enhance your powers.
Berserker rage: Control your rage, or let your anger take hold by activating Rage Mode and use it to your advantage to overwhelm your enemies in combat.
The art of combat: Perfect your skills with each weapon to unlock their true potential, including swords, bows and spell-powered canes.
Teamwork: Take a friend along on an adventurous journey to the shores of Midgard in an epic two player online co-op mode. Choose between four difficulty levels to match your skills and talents. Do you dare attempt the unrelenting hardcore mode?
The clan of wolves: Rebuild your village and lead your clan to glory.
Destructible environments: Utilize your surroundings by burying your foes under falling rocks or pushing them off high cliffs.
What platforms will Vikings – Wolves of Midgard release on?
PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows PC at launch; with Mac and Linux to follow at a later date.
When will Vikings – Wolves of Midgard release?
24th March 2017 for Steam globally (Windows PC) and the European PC and console retail/digital market. 28th March in the US for physical retail and digital console.
What languages will be available in Vikings – Wolves of Midgard?
At the moment, we are planning to include English, Spanish, French, Italian, German and Russian localization. At the very least, the English and German versions will also feature localized voiceover.
What engine does Vikings – Wolves of Midgard use?
Vikings – Wolves of Midgard uses the Unity engine.
Will Vikings – Wolves of Midgard include modding support?
Currently, there are no plans for modding support.
Who is developing Vikings – Wolves of Midgard?
Vikings – Wolves of Midgard is being developed by Games Farm in Kosice, Slovakia, with a team of 25 men and women working on the game. Games Farm has released more than 10 games in recent years across several platforms. They are mostly known for the Air Conflicts series and the highly praised Action RPG Shadows: Heretic Kingdoms.
What separates Vikings – Wolves of Midgard from other Action RPGs out there?
Vikings – Wolves of Midgard is the first story-driven Action RPG set in a brutal fantasy Viking world, and is heavily influenced by Norse mythology. Compared to other games in the genre, you won’t be spoiled by massive amounts of loot. Instead, there will be an extensive crafting system where you can collect materials to be used by the armourer and smithy in the game’s village ‘hub’ to create new equipment. In addition, there are scattered fragments of mythical weapons and armours spread across all of Midgard to keep collectors and gear-hoarders on their toes.
Your equipment will determine the strength of your Viking and enhance your chosen playstyle – with each slain enemy’s collected blood inching you closer towards unlocking your Viking’s full abilities and the full potential of your chosen weapon style(s).
Also, along with the usual threats of monsters, mythical creatures and giants, players will also have to deal with exposure to the elements, such as the never-ending winter currently enveloping most of Midgard, the lethal poison in Utgard or the blazing heat of Balheim (Muspelheim).
Will the Viking/shieldmaiden be customisable?
Players can choose whether to play as a fierce Viking warrior or a merciless shieldmaiden. There are basic customization features like hairstyle and colour, beard, and tattoos. Also, you can choose your starting weapon set; such as sword and shield, dual-wielded axes and bows.
Is there much variety when it comes to environments and worlds?
Yes! Vikings – Wolves of Midgard will feature a huge variety of historical and fantasy locations and environments. Players will be able to travel to the realms of Midgard, Utgard, Niflheim or Dvergheim – based on environments such as snow, mud, villages, caverns, shores, medieval cities, and many more.
Do the names of the worlds/levels such as ‘Midgard’ have a meaning, or are they fictional?
Most of the levels in the game are deeply rooted in Norse mythology:
Midgard, home of the human race (essentially, Earth).
Utgard, the stronghold of the giants, located in the Outyards.
Niflheim, is the darkest and coldest region, and lies in the north.
Balheim, originating from Muspelheim; the home of the fire Giants and Demons.
Dvergheim, a fantasy world, and the home of the Dark Alfar (sort of Dark Elves).
Any word on replayability?
With every New Game+ playthrough, the equipment you craft and discover becomes even more powerful. Also, don’t forget that you only can master two weapon styles per playthrough. Collect as much blood as possible to unlock all the Gifts of the Gods and become the most powerful Viking in Midgard and the realms.
Will Vikings – Wolves of Midgard feature a multiplayer mode?
Yes, Vikings – Wolves of Midgard will feature a 2-player online co-op multiplayer mode. Players can decide to host both private and public co-op sessions, giving you the option of playing with friends or with anyone from the Vikings community (note: cross-play between console and PC versions is not supported). When the game is set to public, any Vikings - Wolves of Midgard player will be able to join, simply by clicking “Find Game” after selecting multiplayer from the start menu.
Will there be any other modes besides single- and multiplayer?
There will be the ‘Trials of the Gods’ mode challenges players to withstand waves of monsters or battle tough bosses to earn precious rewards, like equipment and runes, to further enhance their character. There will be 50 trials overall (10 per god).
There will also be a New Game+ mode, which allows players to further develop their character, master all the other weapon styles and unlock the full range of the ‘Gifts of the Gods’ to perfect their character.
Will there also be a physical version?
Yes, Vikings – Wolves of Midgard will be released as a physical edition for Windows PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
How much playtime are you aiming for?
This will depend on the player’s skill, but the estimated playtime for the campaign is 20+ hours, excluding New Game+, Trials of the Gods, and repeatable raids/hunts.
What are raids and hunts?
Raids are the adventures the Viking warrior/shieldmaiden undertakes as part of the game’s story, with some raids becoming repeatable after completion. These repeatable raids are then called hunts, can be played as often as the player wants to, and will have feature slightly changed missions/quest parameters.
Unlike at the end of raids, you will not face the boss encounter when undertaking hunts. Instead, the experience is focused on gathering crafting materials, in order to better prepare for the next raid and boost your weapons/abilities.
Will there be character creation and/or customization options?
When it comes to customization, players can choose whether to play as a fierce Viking warrior or a merciless shieldmaiden. You may then make use of basic customization features like hairstyle and colour, beard, and tattoos. Last, but not least, the player will then select their chosen god, and therefore their weapon style.
How many different weapons are available in Vikings – Wolves of Midgard?
There will be swords, axes, hammers, staffs, bows and shields. Some weapons can be used in more than one way and come in different configurations, such as one-handed, two-handed or dual-wielded.
We recommend that when you choose a specific god, you should also stick to the preferred weapon-type of that god. For example, if you have chosen Thor, who is based on two-handed weapons, you should make use of two-handed hammers, axes and swords, rather than other weapons. Only by sticking to these specific weapons will you be able to fully unleash their full potential and make use of the abilities gifted to you by your chosen god.
Hint: Choose wisely, as you can only fully master two weapon styles per playthrough.
What is the purpose of the village hub in Vikings – Wolves of Midgard?
At the beginning of the game, the village hub (Ulfung Village) has been raided and almost completely destroyed by giants. After getting rid of the intruders, only a handful of survivors remain – including the main character – leaving you to rebuild the village over the course of the campaign. Players can upgrade buildings such as the weaponsmith, armourer, runesmith, and mead hall to unlock more content (better equipment, etc).
How many difficulty levels are there?
There will be four difficulty levels, including a ‘hardcore’ (Valhalla Mode) mode where if your character dies, then he/she is permanently dead and you must start again from the beginning with a new character.
How do you improve your character and maximize damage?
To develop a character’s power, you’ll have to collect blood by killing enemies. The collected blood can be sacrificed at the altar in Ulfung Village to unlock the ‘Gifts of the Gods’, which will improve stats like critical chance, damage, resistance or ultimate skills, depending on which god you have chosen.
Besides these improvements, the character will also build up ‘rage’ while fighting enemies. Once the rage bar is full, you can go into berserker mode to overwhelm your enemies with pure power.
Hint: use the destructible environment and the game’s physics to your advantage by hurling enemies off cliffs or burying them under falling rocks.
What about replayability? Is there an end-game and/or different types of difficulties?
There is the "Trials of the Gods" mode, which present players with a challenge to withstand waves of monsters or battling tough bosses to earn precious rewards, like equipment and runes, to further enhance their character. There will be 50 trials overall.
Additionally in Vikings - Wolves of Midgard, there will be a New Game+ mode which allows players to further develop their character, master all the other weapon styles with their respective Gods and unlock the full range of ‘Gifts of the Gods’ to unlock their Viking’s full potential.
With every New Game+ playthrough, the equipment you craft and discover becomes even more powerful. Also, don’t forget that you only can master two weapon styles/Gods per playthrough, with New Game+ allowing you to pick up two additional weapon styles each time you start over.
When it comes to difficulty, there will be four different difficulty levels, including a ‘hardcore’ mode (Valhalla Mode) where, if your character dies, they will be permanently dead and you will have to start from scratch with a new character.
Will there be any loot at all besides crafting materials?
There will also be loot drops in addition to the common crafting materials drops, which will happen at random. One example would be bosses that might drop rare loot, such as weapons and gear, in addition to crafting materials.
So yes, there will be loot, but not so much that it could detract from the enjoyment of the game itself. We want players to experience the action-focused gameplay at its best, not spending most of their time in the inventory screen, as with other ARPGs.
Will there be a Stat system, like Strength, Agility, Stamina, Speed, etc? Or will there be some kind of talent tree?
Yes. To develop a character’s power, you will have to collect blood, which can be gained by killing enemies. The collected blood can then be sacrificed to unlock the ‘Gifts of the Gods’, which will not only grant new abilities for your character and your chosen weapon style, but also improve stats such as critical chance, damage, resistance and ultimate skills. There is a talent tree for each of the five gods, each of which specializes in one of five different playstyles.
Will there be different types of classes, like Warrior, Assassin and Mage?
Your equipment will determine the strength of your Viking and enhance your chosen playstyle. When starting a new game, you get to choose from one of five Norse gods, each of which are tied to a particular weapon style:
Thor - Two-handed weapons (axe, sword, hammer)
Tyr - One-handed weapons (axe, sword, hammer) with the option of a shield in the offhand
Loki - Dual-wielded one-handed weapons
Skathi - Bow
Odin - Staff
Each slain enemy takes you one step closer towards unlocking a weapon style’s true potential.
But to unlock its full power, you should consider focusing your efforts on one weapon style. This doesn’t mean that you cannot use other weapons, but a jack-of-all-trades will be less effective than a specialized warrior with mastery over a particular weapon and its advanced skills.
So I need to collect blood from fallen enemies to level up?
Yes. When you have collected enough blood, you can head to the next altar, where you can make a sacrifice to the god(s). You must then choose from a selection of bonuses in order to level up:
Maximum health points
Damage
Attack speed
Elemental resistance
Armor
After you have selected one of the above you will then be granted two skill points, which can be spent freely on the various Gifts of the Gods. We recommend to focus on one god/playstyle at a time, as you will only be able to fully unlock two gods/playstyles per playthrough. For example, if you choose the god Tyr when you first create your character, you should unlock all of the skills and bonuses from the Tyr skilltree before taking abilities from the next god.
Will there be any pets in the game to help you during fights?
Why take a pet with you, when you can play with a friend? Vikings - Wolves of Midgard features a two-player online co-op multiplayer mode!
Will the multiplayer/co-op be cross-platform?
On PC, you will be able to play with other players on PC, Mac, and Linux.
Console players will only be able to play with other players who own the same console.
Will there be couch/splitscreen co-op?
Sorry, no. There are currently no plans to implement couch/splitscreen co-op.
Who are the artists behind the game’s soundtrack?
The soundtrack has been created by Dynamedion, and as an added bonus, all Steam pre-purchasers will get a digital copy of the game’s soundtrack.
Are there plans for testing phases, betas, or even early access?
We are not planning any Alpha, Beta, Early Access or any other public testing phases. This is so that we can concentrate fully on developing the game in time for release.
This FAQ will be constantly updated, so stay tuned!
For more questions and feedback of any kind, feel free to post or even create a thread in the Vikings - Wolves of Midgard main thread.[/align]
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