On the one side you have games like Call of Duty, where the control systems are now so finely honed and deeply ingrained that almost any gamer can just pick up and play them. Then there’s the other side, where games like Surgeon Simulator 2013 and QWOP take something so beautifully succinct and crafting a challenge out of it by removing what muscle memory you might have, twisting it into something unrecognisable. War of the Vikings, I feel, is somewhere between those two extremes.
On the surface, the game’s controls are perfectly simple. You move with the WASD keys, as with practically any first or third person game on PC, aim with the mouse, and then click to attack. However, underneath this veneer is a system so devilishly precise that such simplistic controls mask a quite tricky learning curve. The controls are simplistic, the game is simplistic, but the end result is so very, very difficult.
A lot of that inevitably comes from the players who you’ll be facing off against. War of the Vikings went into Early Access at the start of last week, following on from Alpha testing at the end of the summer, and this has naturally attracted fans from War of The Roses or those eager to test their mettle against the rest.
For the first few hours of play, I simply didn’t get a look in. The Saxon-Viking war raged, but I was busy trying out each of the three existing, fixed classes. The Thane, a fairly light and nippy soldier with a sword and shield, the Huscarl with his heavy axe and the Hirdman with bow and arrow each have their various ups and downs.
All three have both close melee and ranged options, but with no aim assist and absolute precision for shots, I simply suck as an archer. I’ll leave that class to those who can handle the pressure and lead their targets. The throwing blades and axes of the Thane and Huscarl similarly get little use from me, though I do enjoy the very occasional kill with them – usually if I happen upon someone healing themselves or get very lucky.
The real meat of the game is the close-quarter melee, and it’s here that the simplicity and precision of the control scheme mix for something quite unique. One-on-one combat descends into a nimble and circular dance, as you both try to hit each other, block attacks and generally gain the upper hand. It’s not as simple as just mashing the attack and block buttons, though.
You also need to direct their angle, so that if you want to hit a man from one side, you click and hold the left mouse button with a little nudge to the left in the process, before letting go to slash at your opponent. You’ll have to be aware of your surroundings, because your weapon can hit world objects, and you will also deal damage to your friends. Avoiding wide sweeping motions when you have allies alongside, and keeping your sword raised to the side so it won’t just smack a wall are both key.
Blocking incoming attacks is similar, with the stance of nearby enemies highlighted on screen, so that you know where an attack could be coming from. Right click and a gentle swipe to that side will block attacks with the handle of the Huscarl’s axe, but you need only hold your shield in front and point it for the Thane.
Much as with landing a blow at all, blocking an attack requires precision, awareness and skill. It’s something which I really only got the hang of after a good few hours of play. My first 5 or 6 matches saw me in a perpetual state of death, but then everything started to slot into the place. I began to successfully block attacks, getting my own in as I followed up. Switching from the heavier Huscarl, where I had early moments of successful damage dealing, to the Thane also helped me to improve.
However, it still took a match or two from getting hits in to taking down enemies, and my methods in combat still lack nuance. Even though I’m starting to get kill streaks of 3 or 4, I too often find myself getting drawn in and chopped down too regularly – one moment saw my head lopped right off, which had me laughing for a good two or three minutes! – so I need to be much more cautious, and have yet to learn how best to use the dodge ability and the special lunge attacks properly.
There’s plenty of time for that, as the game continues through the Early Access process. The current content is deliberately pared back to an almost absolute minimum, in order to help really focus the feedback that is received, so there are just two maps, in small and large configurations, and the three fixed classes.
It’s still a long way off from being a finished product, but it has that kernel already solidified at the core. It will gradually evolve over the coming months, but that central style of gameplay will remain as maps arrive, customisable axe heads appear and you get to choose your character’s style of beard.
Yes, beards.