Paradox have suddenly started talking about War of the Vikings, a new videogame in the vein of their War of the Roses, itself an open homage to the Paradox-published Mount and Blade, the love letter to centuries of Western horseback warfare.
That’s no skinny horse, mind – that’s the prow of a longboat.
Developed by Fatshark’s War of the Roses team and sculpted from a refined version of its tech, War of the Vikings is a standalone semi-sequel in which, say Paradox, “the intensity is greater and the beards are longer”.
“War of the Roses was a fantastic experience for us to launch, and as it’s evolved over time, eventually growing into its current Kingmaker edition, we’ve been inspired many times over by the possibilities of the close-combat genre,” said executive producer Gordon Van Dyke. “War of the Vikings is our next step in establishing Paradox and Fatshark as leaders in the art of online war.”
That’s 64-player online war, played out across the “authentically inspired” fields of 9th and 10th Century England as either invader or bewildered Saxon. Fatshark have retained the skill-driven mish-mash of swinging, blocking and dodging War of the Roses specialised in, and piled their ship high with in-depth squad features, shared buffs and customised facial hair. Yuck.
Both Paradox and Fatshark are Swedish, of course, making them de facto Vikings. Rubbish jokes aside, Van Dyke told VG247 that the team were leaning toward historical accuracy and a realistic portrayal of the perpetual invaders, who’ve become pop culture caricatures in the 1000+ years since they were last in the public eye.
War of the Vikings will be a full, finished thing you can play in the first bit of 2014, but you can sign up for an imminent alpha on the official site.
What’s your favourite historically inaccurate portrayal of a Viking?