Bad North

January 22, 2019

I’m not sure when I first heard of the game Bad North – but I know it was on Twitter. I remember coming across
Oskar Stålberg somehow, and then seeing some early posts from him about the development process for the game. And from then on, as I saw more screenshots and video snippets… I thought “This game looks pretty awesome.”

Last weekend, I found the game on Steam and gave it a whirl. And promptly lost a good deal of time on Sunday/Monday to this.

The initial learning curve is pretty easy to handle, and I got the swing of things right out of the gate. I didn’t get very far on my first attempt, but I’ve gotten further along with each subsequent session.

The sound is great, the mechanics are fun, and the timing feels pretty solid in terms of pacing. I haven’t purchased a game in a long while, and I’m happy to find that this game runs just fine on my older Mac laptop (though the fans are a-blowin’ while I play).

Is it appropriate to call this game a roguelike? That’s what it feels to me, but perhaps there’s a definite end to the game that I haven’t reached yet (you do get a “% completed” number at the close of every game). So maybe not officially a roguelike, and it’s just me dying repeatedly?

The one issue I have (and it’s a small one) is that the early stages of the game seem slower now, the more I play it. While it’s still pleasureable, I’m finding myself feeling like I’m grinding through the first 5 islands, just to get to a point where the game gets interesting/challenging. But it’s a small criticism, as the whole of the game is really fantastic, and well worth your money to buy.

Also? I approve of their character name selection. I guess this game really was made for me after all.