I Recommend: Bad North

The best techniques are passed on by the survivors 

Playing games is a sort of a thing that I like to do, not sure if you've noticed. Sitting down and diving into games both unfathomably massive and complicated as well as those that are simple and relatively small both form perhaps the most core aspects who and what I am. That's partially why I started this series of games that I recommend, because otherwise I'd spend all my time talking about these big extravagant affairs of gaming when the smaller more intimate one's are just as important and special to me. They're just not the sorts of products that would slide into any other discussion, which is why it's important I don't forget to cover this series like I've done something like twice in a row now. (That's an angry message aimed directly at me.) With that in mind, the game I have to bring up today is one I only actually came across thanks to that ol' Epic free games deal that they love doing, which has me begrudgingly admitting that they certainly do seem to have a rather solid track record so far of offered games. (Doesn't mean I have to love every single thing that Epic store does) The title in question is: Bad North.

Bad North, or specifically for the version I'm playing, 'Bad North: Jotunn Edition' is a frightfully simple strategy game which answers the question of what could I possible do to kill time whilst I spend an actual week setting up my modded Oblivion run. (Why do I need three different mod organisers to sort things out? How did the community allow things to get this convoluted!?) The answer being; I get lost in a world of polygonal simplicity where all the game consists of is a 'king of the hill'-esque scenario that just is built upon level after level with small nuggets of tactical planning thrown in there. But don't let that get to sounding intimidating for you, trust me when I say that 'tactics' is a phrase that typically gets me running for the hills too, rather I'm talking the sorts of rock-paper-scissors tactics that you take to so easily you don't even realise you're being challenged until you've been hopelessly pulled into the cycle of island hopping.

Plausible Concept's Bad North presents the player as a group of Viking-looking polygons sitting on a mostly desolate island save for a single building present there. Over the course of the level a few ships with gently drift into dock, with their path being predictably straight for cohesive planning purposes, and a party of marauders will try to storm the island and destroy the building. All you have to do is guide your army of warriors to mash themselves into the invaders and keep your home from being set on fire. That's pretty much it, I just laid out the entire gameplay loop of this whole title. Yet I'm being honest when I say that within that simple premise there's enough game to keep you on-your-toes and hooked for a few hours at the very least. (And sometimes a few hours is all you're looking for.)

First off, it extends itself by having a barrage of seemingly endless scenarios just like that level I just described, but randomly generated with a few conceptual consistencies so that you develop and maintain some idea of what's going on. The islands that you come across might be bigger and with more than one building to protect, and that swelling in size will mean that a proportional force of enemies will come to greet you. Maybe they'll be so many enemies that you cannot devote your warriors to protect all side at once, something you'll have to figure out. Or maybe, as the levels go on, you'll find yourself facing enemy troops who are more powerful and capable of overpowering your ordinary troops. These are variables that occur naturally and are conveyed to the player through either a general overview of the island they choose to travel to for the mission or through a very barebones user interface. Both ways in which the team devoted themselves to the concept of a 'minimalistic tactical experience'.  

As the screenshots have likely succinctly imparted, minimalism is the key design philosophy that drove majority of the development decisions. The bare, yet elegant, featureless attackers and defenders, the control scheme which literally consists of little more than clicking, and even the core progression that is very straightforward and comprehensive. Tactical games have this tendency to appear big and intimidating unless you dedicate yourself to memorising all of these rules about 'unit counters' and 'resource nodes' and 'development costs' and all of these topics that are least worthy of entire dedicated tutorial pages to explain them. Trust me, as someone who's actually quite a big fan of 4x titles like Stellaris and Civilisation, they can take up a lot of your time and mind just to come to initial grips with. What I feel that Plausible Concept have succeeded in doing with Bad North, is in whittling down all of that chafe into bare simple basics that are unimposing, approachable and still fun. Now that's not to say I think Bad North makes the perfect stepping stone to being able to enjoy 4x mind you, that's still a pretty substantial leap, but I still think it makes for a great strategy game for those who don't think they like strategy because it's just too much to absorb at once. (Which I think is a genuine criticism of the genre type.)

Though that simplicity doesn't mean Bad North has stepped away from strategy staples such as progression, indeed there is a rouge heart to this little game, so some form of progression does need to be instituted so that each run can be measured against the last. Minimalism is the soul here, yet again, in order to maintain that all important approachability. Every building you manage to protect throughout the duration of the assault rewards you with coin related to how big the building was, coin that you can then spend on upgrades to make your troops more powerful. Additionally, some islands come with standing armies already upon them, that will join your roster if you manage to complete that level with them. Of course, the risk comes that if an army is ever completely destroyed during a raid they're gone for good, but Bad North, once again being much more friendly compared to the rest of the genre, offers ways to replay levels if you screw up badly and manage to lose an army unjustly.

By the late game, and where things become interesting, the real hook of the game comes when the enemies start reinforcing their troops with  three or four archetypes that directly counteract yours. There are archers, warriors and Pikemen, each with an obvious advantage and disadvantage to range and melee attack strength that can be deduced. It's up to the player to match armies with their counters, whilst positioning defensively to keep the island safe, and there's even a few specially powered armies you can earn along the way in order to sprinkle just that extra something into the variety of the formula. Throw all of that in together and you've got a surprisingly clever little tactical defence game that naturally introduces all of it's ingenuity to the player and even at it's peak is never too much to come to grips with. Making Bad North an absolutely great time for those who are here to digest short sessions of strategy action without becoming too invested (as one might with 'Into the Breach' and it's 'every mistake is deadly' policy) or getting dragged into a game that lasts months. (As one would with 'Civilisation' Because of course.)

Bad North is the sort of game that I would recommended simply because of it's wide spread possible appeal to literally any kind of game player out there. Those that are used to small chunks of bitesize game that they'll get off their phone, will find an easy to latch onto experience. Some that might be into some types of games but perhaps not so much strategy, will discover that this is a very casual yet rewarding time. And strategy fans I'm sure will be able to pick up on the understated depth in the game's mechanics that are just enough to stimulate. And beyond all of that, I love the game because visually the idea of utilising a minimalist artstyle to portray Nordic snow islands has a simple beauty to it that I deeply resonate with. What's more, the game is less than £12 on Steam, so it certainly meets it's value proposition. If casual strategy is in anyway your thing, then so is 'Bad North: Jotunn Edition'.