Info about Sons of Valhalla:

Official game description:
  
Sons of Valhalla combines side-scrolling combat with base-building strategy in a beautiful pixel-art Viking Age world. You play as Thorald Olavson, a warrior hell-bent on tracking down the Jarl who burned down his home, kidnapped his beloved, and fled to distant England.  
Raise a warband, establish strongholds, and personally lead your troops in a grand saga of vengeance.  
Across the North Sea, far from home, you must first establish a stronghold from which to begin your assault. Hunting your nemesis down will take resources, soldiers, and strategic thinking. Manage a growing economy, establish siege camps and training grounds, raise a massive host, and raid neighboring villages to bolster your resources and push your enemy back.  
*   Construct and upgrade a variety of buildings to collect resources, recruit warriors, and upgrade their capabilities and equipment. Elevate your burgeoning villages into powerful strongholds that provide well-armed troops and mighty siege engines.  
*   Establish defensive structures as you push further afield – the enemy will not sit idly by in the face of your encroachment, and you can expect conquered border towns to turn into contested battlegrounds. Mercenaries such as pyromaniacs and skilled hunters exclusively available at these towns can turn the tide of battle.  
*   With limited resources, planning your expansions and upgrades is of the utmost importance to ensure you have the right soldiers available at any given time. Will you prioritize a larger army of low-tier units? Or will you seek out expensive champions to help forge your path? A sea of swordsmen will fall to enemy archers perched behind stone walls unless upgraded with shields, just as a lone shaman would be swarmed by enemy footmen if left without an escort.
Lead your men in tactical combat by issuing orders and utilizing special abilities and formations. But remember – a true warrior leads from the front, so be prepared to take up your sword to fight alongside your men.  
*   Recruit a wide array of troops to fight by your side – from basic swordsmen and archers to unique champions such as combat blacksmiths and shieldmaidens, each comes with their own strengths and weaknesses. Success in battle comes from using the right troops for the right situation. Will you utilize the shaman for their healing powers to keep your troops fighting for longer, or is the rapid swinging of the berserker more your speed?  
*   Command your troops to overcome evolving situations on the battlefield – order them to fall in line behind you, to charge forward, to retreat, or to form the impregnable shield wall when under a hail of arrows. Quick thinking, positioning, and army composition all play a major role in battle.  
*   Break through the enemy shield wall and cut them down with your own blade or become a master of the bow and spear as you destroy your enemy from a distance. Fling flasks of tar and fire, equip powerful runes to embolden your troops, and down flasks of mead to maintain your fortitude as you stand with your men, protect their retreats, and lead their assaults. After a hard battle, while your warriors recover their strength at your strongholds, you can choose to venture alone into the wilderness to find treasure and harry the enemy.
Siege engines are needed to take down the mighty fortresses your enemy constructs as well as protect your own. Use catapults and battering rams to smash through gates and walls, and race to destroy the enemy trebuchets raining boulders down upon your forces.  
You are not alone in your war of vengeance. As you set England ablaze, Odin himself supports your cause with the gift of immortality, and with strength from beyond Midgard to aid you in combat – against armies and their leaders.  
*   Acquire powerful runes as you engage in battle and place them on your belts to strengthen your troops, your economy, and even yourself. Unlock more powerful attacks, become a particularly proficient night-raider, or seek out synergies that maximize your warband’s composition at any given time. Will you focus on your melee troops’ health and stamina, your archers’ ability to dodge and fight at night, or your siege engines’ damage and accuracy?  
*   Should you fall in battle, Odin will keep you alive to fulfill your destiny – but at a cost. Runes must be sacrificed to continue your journey with each death, and your decision might force you to seek out new strategies as old favorites are weakened with lost runes.  
*   From time to time, you will find yourself engaged in single-combat – a web of conspiracy takes you from one enemy leader to another, and only you have the strength to take them down. Balance upgrades to yourself against upgrades for your troops to ensure they are able to assist you in combat without sacrificing your own ability to overcome the enemy champions when faced with a duel – especially against those that fight without honor.
An alternate horde mode is available where you lead Thorald Olavson and his troops in wave-based combat that will put your Viking warriors to the test as massive armies clash under your command.  
Sons of Valhalla is the creation of two brothers with a passion for pixel art and the Viking Age. In-between the conquest and swordplay, we hope you will enjoy the little touches – the look of the buildings, the ducks swimming on water, your canine companion, and the general atmosphere as days turn to nights, sunshine to storms.

Release date: 5 Apr, 2024

Categories: Base Building, Strategy, Real-time Combat, Resource Management, Unit Management, Single-player Story, Horde Combat, Roguelike


- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price: No data
- Playtime Metrics: No data
- Time-to-fun: No data
- Player Archetypes: No data


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Excellent graphics and audio (weight 0.91): The game features excellent graphics, especially the beautiful pixel art style, well-done animations, and detailed environments. The voice acting and music are also praised for enhancing the overall experience.
- Fun and addictive gameplay (weight 0.73): Many reviewers found the game to be fun, enjoyable, and addictive. The gameplay loop is satisfying and keeps players engaged, making it a great choice for both short and extended play sessions.
- Engaging story and campaign (weight 0.69): The game features a good story and campaign that is engaging and well-paced. The story is simple but effective, providing a clear sense of direction and motivation for the player.
- Strategic and engaging combat (weight 0.29): The game offers interesting and engaging combat with strategic troop management and boss fights. Players can utilize varied combat approaches, construct buildings, and upgrade units, blending tower defense with RPG elements.
- Improved 'Kingdom' style gameplay (weight 0.24): The game is often compared to the Kingdom series, with reviewers noting similarities in gameplay and presentation. However, this game introduces more complex mechanics and character development, offering an improved experience.
- Immersive Viking theme (weight 0.1): The game effectively captures the atmosphere of the Viking age/mythology with its immersive design and interesting plot. The diverse environments and Nordic aesthetic enhance the overall experience.
- Interesting rune system (weight 0.07): The rune system adds an interesting and positive element to the gameplay. Runes provide benefits like increased food production or unit health, and can be used to revive in-game, adding variety and depth.
- Balanced difficulty and variety (weight 0.06): The game offers a balanced difficulty level that requires strategic planning. The game introduces new enemy types and in-game situations as the campaign progresses, adding variety to the gameplay.
- Satisfying Horde mode (weight 0.04): The Horde mode offers a challenging and satisfying experience, compensating for the short length of the main campaign. It includes features not available in the main story.
- Clear tutorial and playability (weight 0.04): The game provides a clear sense of direction and perfect playability. The tutorial is quick and comprehensive, making it easy for players to understand the game's basic progression and controls.
- Relaxing and unique gameplay (weight 0.03): The game is a relaxing pixel-art action strategy game with appealing graphics and its own features and quirks. It iterates on the Kingdom core concept.
- Good language support (weight 0.03): The game features good translations in multiple languages, including Ukrainian, Hungarian, and Japanese. This ensures a better experience for players from different regions.
- Pleasant background music (weight 0.03): The background music is decent and pleasant, though not a masterpiece. It complements the gameplay without being annoying.

Common complaints:
- Repetitive, shallow, and boring gameplay (weight 0.62): The game suffers from a lack of depth, content, and replayability, leading to a repetitive and ultimately boring experience. Many reviewers felt the game becomes monotonous quickly, with little to keep players engaged after the initial hours. Some reviewers also felt that the game was overpriced for the amount of content offered.
- Lacks strategic depth/innovation (weight 0.38): Reviewers felt the game lacks a clear identity, failing to deliver satisfying action or strategy elements. Many reviewers compared the game unfavorably to 'Kingdom Two Crowns', noting that it lacks the depth, atmosphere, and engaging mechanics of its inspiration. Some reviewers felt the game was more akin to a simple mobile or flash game than a full-priced title.
- Unbalanced and repetitive boss fights (weight 0.37): The game's difficulty is inconsistent and unbalanced, with some bosses being too easy while others are frustratingly difficult. This inconsistency, combined with repetitive boss patterns and strategies, makes the boss fights feel like a chore. Some reviewers noted that simply increasing enemy health and damage doesn't make the game more challenging, just more tedious.
- Poor unit AI (weight 0.24): The game suffers from poor AI for both allied soldiers and enemies, leading to frustrating and illogical behavior. Units often ignore orders, run into danger, or fail to perform their roles effectively. This makes combat feel chaotic and reduces the player's ability to strategize and control the battlefield.
- Excessive waiting for resources (weight 0.17): The core gameplay loop often involves excessive waiting for resources and troop upgrades, leading to a passive and unengaging experience. This repetitive cycle of waiting, building, and sieging becomes a chore, diminishing the overall enjoyment of the game. Some reviewers noted that a single tactic often works throughout the entire game, further reducing strategic depth.
- Uninteresting additional game modes (weight 0.15): The game's additional modes, such as Horde and Endless, quickly become repetitive and uninteresting. These modes often lack the engaging mechanics of the main campaign and offer limited replay value. Some reviewers also experienced performance issues, such as lag, in the Horde mode.
- Poor unit information/control (weight 0.1): The game lacks clear information and control over units, making it difficult to manage troops effectively. The limited tech tree and shallow unit upgrades further reduce strategic depth. Some reviewers noted that unit formations are not engaging enough to alleviate the repetitiveness of the gameplay.
- Technical issues and bugs (weight 0.07): The game suffers from technical issues, including frequent crashes and bugs. Some reviewers also noted clunky controls and animation problems. These technical issues detract from the overall player experience.
- Repetitive level design (weight 0.05): The game's levels and stages feel repetitive due to copy-pasted designs and the ability to use the same strategy to defeat each one. This lack of variety diminishes the overall engagement and enjoyment of the game.
- Generic and simple story (weight 0.05): The game's story is simple, generic, and often delivered through basic cutscenes. The plot is not a significant focus of the game and does little to enhance the overall experience.

Gameplay feedback:
- Core gameplay loop: combat, base-building (weight 0.47): The core gameplay loop involves side-scrolling combat, base building, resource management, and troop command. Players construct buildings, recruit and upgrade units, and strategically attack enemy positions, often relying on specific troop compositions and formations to succeed. The player character participates directly in combat, enhancing the experience compared to similar titles.
- Rune system: random buffs/abilities (weight 0.25): The game features a rune system that provides random stat buffs and abilities to the player character and troops. Runes are acquired through chests or enemy drops, adding a roguelike element. However, some runes are significantly more useful than others, and the effects of some runes are unreliable.
- Multiple game modes available (weight 0.08): The game offers multiple modes, including a campaign mode focused on attacking enemy bases, a horde mode centered on base defense, and an escape mode emphasizing stealth mechanics. These modes provide varied gameplay experiences beyond the main campaign.
- Shallow base-building mechanics (weight 0.08): The base building element lacks depth, and upgrading or building multiple resource buildings feels pointless. The various elements feel like they were added without proper integration.
- Effective units and combinations (weight 0.05): Certain units and combinations are particularly effective, such as archers, catapults, siege rams, and the oil and fire pot combination unlocked with the Shaman. Players can focus on specific builds to clear enemies effectively.

Performance notes:
- Significant performance and optimization issues (weight 0.1): The game suffers from significant performance and optimization issues, including stuttering, frame rate drops (especially on Steam Deck), random crashes, and lag spikes. Some players found temporary workarounds like changing resolution or switching between windowed and fullscreen modes, but these are not consistent solutions.
- Archer pathing broken with quantity (weight 0.02): Archers exhibit pathing issues when there are more than 5, causing them to fill redundant towers. This negatively impacts strategic tower placement and defense.
- Upgraded units spawn with base HP (weight 0.02): Units with upgraded HP sometimes spawn with their base HP and need to be healed. This bug undermines the benefit of upgrading units and adds an unnecessary burden on the player.
- Empty, undefended final bases (weight 0.02): In a significant number of levels, the final base lacks unit buildings and enemies, resulting in an anticlimactic and unchallenging conclusion. This issue detracts from the overall satisfaction of completing levels.
- No reset after getting caught (weight 0.02): A bug exists where getting caught doesn't reset the player to a save point, forcing a manual return to the main menu. This is a minor inconvenience that disrupts the flow of the game.
- Mercenaries always spawn on attack (weight 0.02): Mercenaries, when rehired, always spawn on the attack, requiring the player to manually set them to follow and hold still. This is a minor inconvenience that disrupts the flow of the game.
- Polished pixel artwork (weight 0.01): The game features polished pixel artwork, indicating a high level of visual detail and care in the game's aesthetic presentation.

Recommendations:
- Enjoyable, short, needs more content (weight 0.77): Many reviewers found the game enjoyable for a short period, especially on sale, but felt it lacked depth and content. They express hope for future updates, DLC, or a sequel to expand the experience. Some suggest it's a good casual game or a decent time-waster, while others recommend it for specific audiences like pixel art or Viking theme enthusiasts.
- Wait for a sale (weight 0.65): A common sentiment is that the game's full price is too high for the content offered. Many recommend waiting for a sale before purchasing, suggesting it's worth the discounted price but not the initial investment. Some reviewers provide specific price points they deem appropriate.
- Disappointing, not replayable (weight 0.55): Some reviewers express disappointment with the game, citing issues that make it unlikely they will replay it. Some actively advise against purchasing it, while others suggest forming your own opinion despite negative reviews. These negative reviews often lack specific details.
- Inferior to Kingdom series (weight 0.14): Several reviewers compare the game unfavorably to the Kingdom series, particularly Kingdom Two Crowns. They suggest that it doesn't measure up in terms of gameplay, depth, or overall enjoyment. Some recommend playing Kingdom Two Crowns instead.
- Needs variety and balance work (weight 0.04): Reviewers suggest improvements to variety, balance, and specific mechanics like boss fight styles and rune sets. These suggestions aim to add more depth and customization to the gameplay experience.
- Play 'Stick War' instead (weight 0.01): One reviewer suggests playing the flash game 'Stick War' instead, claiming it's more enjoyable. This point is of low importance due to being a single mention and potentially a subjective preference.
- Support the developers (weight 0.01): One reviewer encourages supporting the developers due to their dedication. This point is of low importance because it is a single mention and does not provide specific feedback on the game itself.

Other player notes:
- Early Access may have helped (weight 0.06): The game may have benefited from an Early Access release to address issues and incorporate player feedback, as evidenced by significant changes made post-release in response to negative reviews. This suggests that the initial release state was not fully polished or well-received.
- Sequel potential, future updates (weight 0.03): The game's ending sets up a potential sequel, and reviewers expressed interest in future updates and new stories. However, the feasibility of a sequel is uncertain due to the game's mixed reception.
- Improve army management, automation (weight 0.03): Reviewers are requesting improvements to army management UI and settlement helper mechanics.  Specifically, they want better ways to manage units and desire automated support for resource gathering and soldier deployment, potentially through a paid system for stronger units.
- Need better silver acquisition (weight 0.01): The reviewer wants a new building to acquire silver coins. This suggests a need for more diverse or efficient resource generation methods.
- More Райя missions wanted (weight 0.01): The reviewer wants more missions for the character Райя and the opportunity to fight as her. This suggests a desire for more diverse character options and storylines.
- Game is relatively short (weight 0.01): The game's short length was noted. This could be a positive or negative depending on player expectations, but it's a factor in the overall experience.
- Title unrelated to content (weight 0.01): The title "Sons of Valhalla" is unrelated to the game's content. This could be misleading to potential players.
- Music is fitting, unmemorable (weight 0.01): The music is fitting medieval fantasy but not particularly memorable. This suggests that while the soundtrack is appropriate, it doesn't stand out as a highlight of the game.
- Dogs can be petted (weight 0.01): The game features dogs that can be petted, including 'magic god-dogs'. This is a minor but potentially appealing feature for some players.

Emotions:
No emotions}