Inside Social Games

Over the summer we had the chance to take a brief look at the preview of a new Facebook massive multiplayer online game called Vikings of Thule. Developed by Gogogic, a full review of this Viking-based role-playing game has been a long time coming. With the very good first impression we had, we went into this Norse realm with high hopes.

When starting out, players are tasked with the creation of their avatar, selection of their region, and their home town. The first and last of these seem to mean little beyond aesthetic appeal, but the region actually grants users a bonus to some of the various, consumable resources required by the game (ore, resources, runes, etc). Once done, the main player objective is made abundantly clear: To become “one of the 39 who hold a vote at Althingi.” Essentially, become one of the Top 39 players, and evidentially, that is no easy task.

In order to progress players must perform more basic tasks such as buying and better equipping themselves, but must also manage their resources in order to upgrade there homes and land, loot windfalls, manage followers, and win duels. All of these earns what is called “Respect Points” (RP), which essentially equates to your level. The higher your respect, the higher your ranking, and each of the aforementioned features can add to it.

Homes are perhaps the simplest of the four: The bigger (higher level) home you own, the more RP you earn a day. Furthermore, your home also comes with land, which also comes with followers that can become classes – Peasants, Huskarls, and Jarls. Each day, you will earn followers (with the latter two unlocking at a level three and level five respectively) that can be allotted to any of the three types. Each will grant you RP, resources, or other benefits on a daily basis.

When you are not messing around with your assets, you are probably looting windfalls, which seem to be random resource items that can spawn on the map or be stolen from friends. Of course, while that is interesting, and a source of income when broke, most people will spend their time dueling.

Which is perhaps one of the most interesting features of Vikings of Thule. Duels can be fought randomly (which will pit you against someone of a similar level) or chosen manually from lists of players in different towns. Each duel will cost an “entry fee” with the winner claiming both buy-ins as well as RP. However, that is not what makes it interesting.

Dueling is almost like a collectible card game (CCG). Along with gear, the Marketplace also sells “Moves.” This could consist of a movement, an attack, a spell, a defense, and so on. Each duel is set up into rounds that take place on a tiled 5×5 space, and before each round only three “cards” (three moves) can be chosen. The three are then played out, in the order they were selected, affecting the tiles on the stage that are displayed on the card face.

Suffice to say, Vikings of Thule has a number of wonderful features. The only real downside is it feels that Gogogic stretched themselves a little too thinly. Each feature to the game is very interesting, but feels like they could be so much more. The home and land, for example is nice, but in the end you are only clicking a button to upgrade a house, and if followers come in daily, there doesn’t’ seem to be any real strategic choices to be made. Patience is all that is needed.

Furthermore, other than duels and getting windfalls stolen occasionally, there doesn’t seem to be any penalties for anything (and losing, honestly, isn’t that bad save for a little loss of coin… which can be earned back in time by your followers). Vikings were known for being brutal, and it’s ironic to have a Viking game where there are minimal penalties for poor play, bad decisions, and so on.

Officially still in open beta, Vikings of Thule looks great and has a tremendous amount of potential, even though it has only gained a few thousand users, according to AppData. The features truly are fun to play, but as odd as it might sound, without a little risk, its almost a moot point. What’s the point of a reward, if there was no exhilaration in attaining it?