Valhalla Hills

Odin’s not someone whose wrath you normally want to incur. He might be blind in one eye, but they still call him Allfather for a reason. Unfortunately, a certain band of Vikings who weren’t quite into reading or taking advice had no way to know and, now, they need a little bit of help with gaining enough honor so that Valhalla opens up her doors for them once more. That is the premise upon which Valhalla Hills, a Settlers/Cultures type of game that forfeits pre-made levels in favor of procedurally generated ones, is built.

Right from the start the game offers two modes: Normal and Open. Normal acts as an extended tutorial where building and enemy types are gradually introduced. While an interactive tutorial is preferable to walls of text, Normal mode tends to drag on for a very long time, although there aren’t that many production chains to be shown. The first maps offer virtually no challenge whatsoever, which is to be expected, but when the same thing happens around the 20^th level of Normal mode, the fun factor decreases gradually. Once the tutorial messages have been closed, there’s also no way of bringing them back. Open mode has everything unlocked and brings forth an increase in difficulty.

The gameplay is reminiscent of the titles it claims to draw inspiration from. Apart from the twist involving honor gathering, you have to reach the portal at the end of each map in order to proceed to another. You do this through setting up a settlement of sorts that relies on production chains. You need wood to create tools. You need planks to build certain buildings. Your workers need tools in order to be efficient. Buildings can only be placed in pre-determined spots around the map. The color of the ground, once the building is selected, shows how proper the location is for it. The less proper the location, the higher the construction cost.

Buildings operate within an area of effect, and, in the absence of couriers or depots, their AOEs must intersect in order for one to take advantage of the other’s resources. Connecting them via a road somewhat extends their area of effect. Most of this sounds familiar to those who’ve picked up a Settlers game at any point. Really, the core of the game is centered on managing the production chain puzzle so that every link of it is properly supplied, or, that would be the intention, in any case. Once you get close to the portal, there are two ways of dealing with it. You can offer resources as tribute to pacify its spirits or you could show them what Viking steel can do. This leads me to one of the biggest gripes I have with the game.

I mentioned the early maps being extremely easy. They’re easy because, it is incredibly convenient to set up a basic chain of production that gives your soldiers basic axes and then rush the portal. Doing this prevents them from starving and the one way you’ll win armed conflicts in Valhalla Hills is through sheer strength of numbers. If this is so easy to do on early to mid-game normal mode maps that it basically cancels out the core intention behind the gameplay, larger open mode maps do make it slightly harder for one to finish them in a couple of minutes. It is mostly because these maps are more expansive and have different levels of height. Ideally, you would need to create a base settlement which you’ll then gradually expand while linking the expansions to the home base via couriers or depots. In practice, it only seems to delay the moment when you can do the mighty military rush towards the portal.

A semi-functional village can be enough for you to win in most scenarios. While one could argue that you’re choosing the “wrong” approach in doing this, I would counter-argue that it’s so easily available that it feels very natural to do so. You need soldiers to clear your first settlement’s area of danger and by the time you’ve done that you’ll be able to simply move the camp closer and closer to the portal and from then, it’s all a matter of your Vikings hacking away at the portal’s protectors. In this, the essence of the game gets lost almost completely. One could also argue that rushes do not offer as much honor as clearing the map of enemies, however the honor system in itself offers no tangible reward. The context in Valhalla Hills is established solely through its intro cinematic, prior to having access to the menu. On top of that, procedurally generated levels don’t really help the game.

The problem of procedural generation is that while providing potentially endless map possibilities, the limits of placing buildings have to be much safer and controlled than when you’re dealing with pre-made levels. Valhalla Hills takes place exclusively on islands. Certainly, when you play an open game and crank the map size up, there are potential places to expand to, but ultimately it fails to ever feel like you’re building a sturdy settlement with lots of tiny satellites. It could be due to the fact that your island is constantly surrounded by water while in the distance you always see another island that seems to be much bigger than yours. The restrictions imposed on building don’t really add to the challenge either. They’re simply a nuisance as, many times, they force you into placing your woodcutter’s further away from a very rich forest because of a supposed lack of space that visually is not there.

Once you strip away these marring issues, what’s left is a game that has the lifeblood of the Settlers and Cultures games. The colorful, cartoony aesthetic is present as is the element of relaxation found in watching your villagers build their settlement up. The music does a good job at maintaining atmosphere. While you cannot control your Vikings directly, you can rename them, which would add a sense of attachment, were the honor system not underrepresented. There’s even the clumsy combat that lacks direct control and which can screw you over at any moment that’s typically found in the genre. There is nostalgic charm in Valhalla Hills. The developers’ passion, too, is evident. However, with the aforementioned issues and an honor system that is supposed to encourage exploration but ultimately seems to be nothing more than an afterthought, it’s hard to fully recommend the game.

MateÈ™ Bogdan Robert, NoobFeed
Facebook | Twitter