Valhalla Hills is a civilization builder where Vikings must build their way to Valhalla. Only those with great deeds will make it to the glorious afterlife.
In many ways the game can be quite relaxing and calming after you finish your village.
Breathtaking Landscapes Abound in Valhalla Hills
Sometimes it’s enjoyable just to sit back and watch the landscape in this game. Animals are always roaming the area and the day-night cycle creates some truly impressive vistas.
Your Viking settlers must create a civilization, defeat enemies and finally make their way through the gates of Valhalla after earning enough “Honor”.
Valhalla Hills and Classic Simulation Mechanics
For the most part the game plays quite a bit like old titles such as Populous, with a touch of the Civilization series. As you might expect this means that the game has some very solid core gameplay.
Randomly generated map features keep each game interesting.
All of the normal requirements are there such as food, shelter and equipment. Vikings can starve or fall in combat so you really must keep an eye on your resources to create the perfect village.
Valhalla Hills and the Hands-Off Approach
Depending on how you like to play strategy games you’ll either love or hate the system in this game. You build the buildings and infrastructure but your Vikings do the work.
Creating a fully-functioning village and watching it come alive is tremendously fun.
As such it’s up to them to feed and protect themselves. It can be amazing to watch in action for many players (us included) but isn’t direct enough for all RTS players.
It just feels good to unlock new levels of depth for the game every time you play.
Constant Unlocks, Consistent Improvement
For us the most enjoyable part of the game would have to be the constant unlocks. New areas, new technology and even new hazards become available with each successful mission. It really feels like you make constant progress in this game.
Time Lapse Bravery
Valhalla Hills acts as a tiny time-lapse terrarium. Dozens of Vikings go about their daily business in real time as you play the game. In larger settlements this creates an amazing time-lapse scene when you turn the speed up.
Final Verdict 4/5 – Great – As simulation games go few can match Valhalla Hills for the sheer number of interesting things happening at once. Hunting, defending the town from ice guardians and crafting new items all go on at once (sometimes in the same part of town). It combines all the best parts of other simulation games into one great package. Only the fact that it sticks mostly to the normal simulation formula keeps it from being perfect. Despite this it’s a great buy a $23.99 during the Autumn Sale. While the game is finished some small tweaks are coming up and the full edition will be available on December 2nd.
