Northgard

I love this game. Found it on PlayStation 5, and played 120 hours in less than 3 weeks. Learning there was more available online, I finally downloaded Steam just to play more Northgard. I do wish they would continue supporting the PlayStation version though, I did find it easier to play on there.

really fun with a lot of replayability. blends strategy and resource management without much stress like a lot of other RTS games which i find make them unenjoyable for the most part. ascetics and UI make it really easy to follow whats going on and super user friendly.

I've been playing this game with my fiancee for a couple of years, and it's the kind of game you can just keep coming back to. It's a real-time strategy game, but less fast-paced than something like Age of Empires. The core loop of building up during the summer and hunkering down for the winter is so compelling. The DLCs also add a lot to the game and are reasonably priced. Overall, a great game for cooperative or competitive multiplayer!

FUN game, just hard to recommend to anyone who wants to play this competitively. Clans are horribly imbalanced and RNG is very inconsistent and causes early game losses that cant be helped. Only buy clans that you intend on actually playing.

Overall, it’s a good game, but it’s repetitive. Almost all clans have the same build, the same strategy, and the same perk tree. If I’m not mistaken, there are only two clans that have a few different mechanics, but nothing that will spark enthusiasm to play.
I can’t recommend this game because it’s become a DLC farmer. The developers release a new DLC (a new clan) every eight months, but again, it’s just the same old thing. They’ve just released the roadmap for 2025, and guess what? A new clan is arriving in the summer.
If you want to buy it, wait for a promotion.

Overall this game is fun. Had an eye on it and grabbed it with the recent sale. Its a new experience for me although I've played RTS games a fair amount. none of them are like this one before. The story is great at showing you how the game works so you have a general understanding on how the different clans work and such.

Overall I like it. If you like RTS games and haven't explored this specific form of RTS, try it. It is 1000% worth the cost.

Good RTS game with different ways to win with each class. Actually difficult due to the nature of the game and the map weather and special conditions make every match annoying(but in a good way) in some way.

Overall a very fun game. Occasionally a weird in game hiccup but never something consistent. Would highly recommend

All in all a nice coop game.
Medium quality, quite some jank.

No FPS limiter, so the game renders in 500fps+.
Graphics are medium poly, effects are simple.

Some nice variety with different skill trees across factions. A couple of slightly different game modes.

Logic happens in tiles. If you chase enemy units you need to spam mouse clicks so they keep attacking.

Factions seem to be rather imbalanced. Some are much stronger than others

Paired with the fact that you can buy faction for about 5$ each this leaves a bad taste.
Negative review due to excessive DLCs with a touch of pay to win.

A very successful and fun game that combines both the fun and exploration of an RTS type game with the competitive spirit against other players! (most in high level divisions abusing some clans that are far above others)

The base game is good and interesting, and the creators of the game still manage to bring interesting updates and DLC to the game, so as a buyer you can count on more content to be added and the developers to listen to the complaints of the players as much as possible. (Not entirely, but let's be realistic, hardly any company does that these days)

One of Northgard's strongest points is the variety of clans, each offering a different playstyle, strengths, and weaknesses. Whether you prefer the aggressive and fast-paced raids of the Wolf Clan, the economic powerhouse of the Stag Clan, or the defensive resilience of the Bear Clan, the game offers a lot of depth for both casual and competitive players. The seasonal mechanics and random map generation add another layer of strategy, requiring players to adapt and plan ahead. Surviving the harsh winters while expanding your influence makes every match feel dynamic and engaging.

One of my personal favorite aspects of Northgard is the Serpent Clan ( Sváfnir ). Unlike traditional clans that focus on economy, honor, or territory expansion, the Serpent Clan thrives on deception, raids, and guerrilla warfare. The ability to ignore territory control and sneak into enemy lands to disrupt their economy adds a completely different layer of strategy that I find incredibly satisfying. Their playstyle rewards constant aggression and adaptability, and for someone who enjoys fast, unpredictable tactics, this clan is just perfect. While it may not be the easiest to master, nothing feels better than striking from the shadows and dismantling an opponent’s empire before they even realize what’s happening!

Overall, Northgard is a fantastic RTS with a unique Viking twist, offering a mix of exploration, survival, and competitive strategy. Whether you're looking for a game to play casually with friends or a challenging, skill-based RTS, this game delivers. If you're a fan of deep strategy, Norse mythology, and constantly evolving gameplay, Northgard is definitely worth checking out! ( + good job shiro games keep it up and the game will remain a success for a very long time )

i read the review but personally i didnt find it enjoyable. The gameplay loop is just not satisfying, and doesn't feel rewarding.

Northgard is a fantastic blend of real-time strategy and city-building, set in a rich Viking-inspired world. The game strikes a great balance between resource management, exploration, and combat, making every match feel unique. Each clan has distinct abilities, encouraging different playstyles and strategies. The campaign is well-crafted, and the multiplayer adds plenty of replay value with its competitive and cooperative modes. With beautiful visuals, deep mechanics, and regular updates, Northgard is a must-play for strategy fans.

Such a well designed and thought out RTS. The dev's are great about adding new clans to play, which is always great to see. There are so many strategies, so many ways to go about victory, and with the amount of clans you can always learn something new. Highly recommend if you like RTS games, and are looking for something that always has a new twist to it.

The Bifrost mode is, in my opinion, the single best group play co-op strategy game experience I have seen. I truly hope the developers continue to pour effort into this mode, as it really is something special.

Fun RTS game :)
I love that all the factions/clans are quite unique and they've all be really fun to play.
The game modes that Northgard offers is soo great! As it offers single player story, co-op 2~4 players, multiplayer PvP and MORE! So, whether you have people to play with or not, you can always play the game!

Some things to note about the game:
The factions/clans costs quite a bit of money $...
I don't know how often they go on sale and how cheap they get. I don't mind the cost of each factions/clans too much, as it gives me a reason to play what I currently have until I understand it. And it also makes me save up to get a faction that I want to play as a way to reward myself.

The combat is tile based.
The tile based combat can make combat a bit tricky. Attacking with ranged units might be a bit difficult since all units needs to be inside the tile before being able to attack, so ranged units are great for defending, but not sure about attacking.

Some of the win conditions might be a bit sleeper.
The trade win condition has been a bit boring to win with as there's not much contesting a player can do and there's no big red warning that tells you when a person is about to win the game with things like trade, so sometimes, it might feel like the game just randomly ended. Good thing is that, if you're playing multiplayer with friends, you can disable whichever win condition you want during game setup.

Came back to this game after a few months away and updated to the "Trade & Prestige" patch.

Since updating to this new patch performance in the single player custom game is utterly unplayable in the later stages in terms of jerkiness, screen lag and pauses. The game starts off fine, but towards the end when I've got a fair few regions under my belt it always starts to slow down. I have even tried a medium map with just one player on easy - same issue. Have tried reducing the graphic settings in the game, no difference. Devs, please fix this, it didn't happen to me on the previous version. Wish I had never updated :( The game is unplayable now because it is so hard to enjoy the later stages of a game. I've seen a lot of other people have raised performance issues so this is perhaps not new.

Used to be a great game, I'm cranky that I spent money on this game and it is now literally unplayable because I can't finish a game it runs so slow towards the end.

its polished and well made rts, needs more interesting single player content

A truly excellent and well-designed RTS game. The base game is great on its own, with the DLC adding new and interesting ways to play. My one complaint is the Southern Kingdoms and their playstyle aren't nearly as well developed or supported as the viking tribes.

Game had potential but has taken the paradox model for the purpose of GREED. DO NOT BUY.

I enjoy city builders and civilization-like games, and north guard is a very nice addition to my collection. First I will talk about the positives of the game. Combat, making an army is very fun, and hiring different leaders is just plain cool. Another positive is the replayblity, especialy early on in a game, different factions feel very diffrent and fresh. Now the bad, While the game is very replayable I find the late game to very repetitive and mindless, ushualy just running around with massive armies, or mindlessly doing other things to reach the winning goals. On the winning terms, some ways to win are just objectivly easier that others, and I often have to turn them off just to make the game fun. Another issue I have is that, while the different factions are fun and keep the game fresh, most of the intresting ones are locked behind paywalls, I would apreciate some way to unlock a faction for free.

TL:DR- Good game, combat and early game is fun with different factions keeping the game fresh, however, late game can feel repetive and boring, and some of the win conditions are to easy to get.

This real-time strategy game depicts Viking-themed battles strung together with some well written mythology. It introduced game concepts over time and kept switching up parameters to keep things fresh. I played it for 28 hours and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Visually and mechanically a decent game, yet AI is a worst peice of shit I ever seen in RTS. If you ever played StarCraft or Warcraft series please dont touch this cheating brainless hot mess.
DLCs are a freaking joke, no way a different race for same game should cost as standart game.

The game feels incredibly unbalanced in single-player. While you struggle to keep a balance of all your resources, rival clans often invade you with numbers you could only dream of, This game is beautiful and has great game-play loop, it unfortunately is just so unforgiving that it is not capable of leaving you with a feeling of positive progression.

In conclusion: Lots of potential for fun game-play but in its current state to unforgiving leaving you with a sour taste in your mouth.

After 1,300+ hours, I finally completed all the achievements in this game! 🎉
I’d like to share my experience with you:

Story Mode:
Rig’s Saga – A fantastic introduction to the game. A must-play for beginners.
Cross of Vidar – A challenging story mode. Not recommended for inexperienced players.
Overall – Both storylines have solid lore and satisfying endings.

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Conquest Mode (a.k.a. The Grind Zone):
This is where 90% of the grind happens—50 wins with each clan! Here’s my take on them:

Favorite Clan: Horse 🐎
Why? Two heroes that cost no iron, can be upgraded multiple times, and even craft their own gear.
Bonus: No need to waste villagers on blacksmithing.
Result: Max upgrades within 3 years + Altar of Kings.

Easiest Clan: Stag 🦌
Why? Starts with extra resources, and Skalds generate both Happiness and Gold.
Verdict: Easily the most beginner-friendly clan.

Hardest Clan: Hounds 🐺
Why? I just couldn’t figure them out. Even with upgraded brawlers and a mixed army, I kept getting wrecked.
Verdict: If someone has tips, I’m all ears!

Weakest Clan: Goat 🐐
Why? I think we all know why…

Most Boring Clan: Rat 🐀
Why? Mid-game becomes a chore. Managing shamans on every tile for healing, then scrambling to reposition them during enemy attacks—over and over again.
Bonus Frustration: AI armies magically respawn like they have infinite gold, leading to 3-4 full-strength invasions per year.
Result: I often saved and quit out of pure exhaustion.

Most Overpowered Clan: Turtle 🐢
Why? Caravans gather resources without buildings.
Double harvesting from farms, fishing, and hunting.
Villagers can be bought with food, making population growth effortless.
Gold production is a higher —100+ food production within 5 years is easy.
Verdict: I wouldn’t be surprised if they get nerfed soon.

Most Unique/Weird Clan: Owl 🦉
Why? No wood, buildings are constructed with Lore, completely unique tech tree, and a “boss” unit.
Verdict: Very different playstyle, takes some getting used to.

The Other Clans:
Pretty well-balanced overall, each with its pros and cons.

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Bifrost Mode:
First attempts? Brutal. Even on the easiest difficulty, it felt nearly impossible.
After multiple tries? You start understanding the mechanics and making better choices.
Verdict: Tough learning curve, but once mastered, it’s extremely satisfying to win.

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Multiplayer Experience:
Why I didn’t play MP much: 90% of games are just Snake Clan rushing in 801.
Biggest issue: Finding matches where people actually develop their clans instead of speed-running aggression is rare.
Verdict: I’d rather play other RTS games for a more strategic multiplayer experience.
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Final Thoughts:

If you made it this far, thanks for reading! 😊
Hope you enjoy this game as much as I did! =D

Bought the game to defeat my friends. Lost to a noob with less than 1h of gameplay. Game is rigged...

0/10, would not recommend

This has to be one of the more annoying games i have played.
Even on easy setting rivals clans seem to progress much faster than i do. I would have thought on easy setting the progression of rival clans would be tied into the development of the player clan , to allow people to learn the game rather than be given a hiding by an AI that knows what it is doing.
When you start building a new building sometimes a builder is automatically assigned and sometimes a builder is not assigned and you have to do it manually. Why ?
Sometimes when you select a villager to do another job it picks a villager who was doing nothing (i.e. sensible) and sometimes it picks a villager who was already busy, very annoying.
When you do select a villager to go to a building ,the game tells you they were already assigned to do that job. NO they were not i have only just assigned the guy , he was not already doing that.
It costs to train a Military guy say a shield bearer, but the game happily lets you convert a shield bearer into a woodcutter , without warning you (see previous comment on random selection of villagers) and you lose your trained guy and would then need to spend resources to convert him back.
When you get into losing situations there is no reset , the game just keeps on hammering you with more mercenary ship raids and more attacks by local clans, but never quite enough to kill you off completely, its like a slow lingering death.

Really enjoyed bothering others as a raven clan :D slower paced strategy, but so much fun!

Really interesting, and a lot of fun. I used to love Warcraft III, Age of Empires 2 and other RTS games. Now that I'm a bit older, I no longer enjoy fast paced clickathons. This game gives a good mix of relaxed basebuilding, exploration and fights at a more casual pace.
Don't get me wrong, you can still play this Starcraft 2 style and micromanage your units. But you don't have to. Game modes are varied and interesting. The devs are still at it with new updates, so definitely worth it.

Super fun multi player game, with enough challenge to keep you invested in the game. I am really enjoying this game. Good solo too!!!

This is a fun RTS civ builder. I enjoy playing with friends. I didn't like the cartooney style at first, but it grew on me. The story mode is short and fine. It offers a good tutorial on the base clans. But the skirmish/battle mode is where the fun lives for me. If you like this style of game and find it on sale, especially with one of the bundles that have most of the clans in it, it is totally worth it.

There is one complaint I have with it, which it pretty good overall for a game these days.

The only way to differentiate teams in the field is by color. As a person with a color vision deficiency I want other ways to differentiate the people running around. The color vision settings do not provide enough contrast and I can't understand colors that are close together, like orange and yellow, or blue and other blue. Optional icons would be the most helpful.

The only bug I've run into is players being disconnected while in the lobby. It doesn't happen all the time, but it does happen enough that we have a running joke about it. When it happens we frequently have to restart the game and open a new lobby to get everyone in cleanly. And if we spend too much time sitting in the lobby (like more than 4 or 5 minutes) then someone gets booted at least 50% of the time.

Overall this is a fun game and I keep playing it.

Extremely stupid ai that will just repeatedly sit outside your borders but refuse to take your main building even if you purposefully kill all your own people to give them the best odds. Also just keeps on releasing clans for a high price when you think about much it would take to actually get the full experience.

Pretty fun game, it requires resources like Against the storm and soldiers are more expensive than other similar rts games but the diversity of the clans with each of them having multiple playstyle with the technology tree made it more complex and allow more creativity in gameplay

Fun game, one of the best RTS ive played. Multiplayer super toxic do not play if you havent spent hours practicing

Northgard is a really fun strategy game with a Viking theme. It’s got a good mix of city-building and RTS, and every clan plays differently, which keeps things interesting. The gameplay is pretty smooth, and the art style is nice too. Definitely worth checking out if you’re into strategy games.

The game is very well done. Extremely fun to play.

However, even after the original 30 dollars I paid for this game, around 66% of the games content was locked behind more individual paywalls.

At the start of a game, you choose which "Clan" you play as, and originally you get like 6 to choose from. There is a total of like ~20, each with their own price tag you have to buy after purchase. With each being around 5 dollars, that adds on an additional 60 dollars of content to a 30 dollar game.

Each clan gets their own individual perks, some get buildings, some get units. There is no explicit need to purchase them to win, but to put in perspective, a minimum wage worker would have to put in 3-4 hours of work to just buy the game. And they only get to experience a fraction of it. Absurd.

Keep crashing on the Victory Screen. Never in a game felt so annoying to win a campaign.
Otherwise could be a great game, now this makes it unplayable

Fun if you like RTS games (especially at first), but latest patch has broken the game so you cannot continue playing after winning a game (trade, fame, etc). DLC is underwhelming. 7/10 before latest patch, 4/10 after. Put in the time and work to build up your clan only to lose it all to a crash.

Decent game when it works, currently crashes on any game/story completion.

Annoying DLC achievements are part of base game and very long to get (50 wins on each clan!?!?

crashes when playing the campaign it freezes after the victory screen. Refunded because of this

quick update : guess what , the game also like to crash a lot in the single player mods

first the Ai is trash , and let's continue


i like the game but the devs are trying not to make it good
=========== i am writing this because i want it to improve ===================

1. why the hell the clans is dlcs ,, i bought the game , then i open it and you find most of the clans are locked , and you play against players that have them .... then i want to open the clans but then you see that you need to buy them from the dlcs , and every clan for 3 $ wtf do you want me to spend 36$ to open the clans ???????

2.the navigation and the controlling of your villagers and fighter get so much harder when you conolaize more lands , making me very lost.

3. the natural disasters is so groundbreaking they can literally but you in a spot that you will get annihilated sometimes even if you are the strongest in the match

4. in online , the match takes so long so so long so so long one match may take 4 hours . and you can't go even 20 sec without a disasters . so you can't pee or do anything.

5. in offline matches it's so bad , the AI in this game is so bad , when you put 1 hour or 45 minutes in the match it's programmed to make you lose your mind . the AI and the bots should be programmed to simulate a real players, and real players have their own problems too to deal with , and they don't know every feet that I take . but this game AI and bots is like playing chess , you alone against 10 people playing together if someone attacked me and I sent my military to protect the land then the other AI clan will attack me from the land that I left ,then I split my military to protect the land I lift , then another AI clan will attack from the sea , then you lose that lands and you lose 100% of your military , then you think smart you rebuild your military and colonize that lands again, then bc you are smart you build a defense Tower ,,,,,,,,, no no no the AI knows that you build a defense Tower , then the game says it's time for earthquakes ,rats ,ghosts, wolves and another 10 Clans attacking you from every land you have.


6.when you play against a clan that can send a mercenary ships , congratulations you will have the worst time in your life , every 30 seconds a ships will attack your Shores All the match , and you can't do anything about it if you kill them they will send again two ships this time, if you build a defense Tower they destroy your defense Tower in 1 second , if you put warriors , another clan will attack your borders then in the same time the ships will attack your Shores ............. wtf .

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and after 3 hours of your life you lose like you are nothing and you did nothing , you didn't even had a chance from the beginning

If youre planning to play Conquest (coop) i cant recommend it.
Im not a Pro in those type of games, but even on lowest difficulty, easy, the AI straight up cheats.
We hurry like crazy, need to wait for new People and Ressources and 1 Moment later you got 10 Enemies in your Base.
Or it straight crashes and you can NOT save in Conquest.

Really looking forward to this game, however I've requested a refund because the game crashes when I try to click 'continue' after completing the first mission. I tried both DirectX and OpenGL, I tried windowed mode and full screen and nothing allows me to prevent it from crashing. Maybe I'll try again in a few months if it ever goes on sale again.

I cannot move past chapter 6 of story mode, because on the victory screen, when i press continue the game crashes. It is really annoying, in a relatively great game. I will change my review, when they actually fix the crash bugs.

Game is good, but the expansions are expensive and don't add much value, they should have been included within the game.

Prior to Northgard's new bifrost Mode Battling waves of enemies each winter the game was great and completely worthwhile to play. It has its issues, all games do. It has cheating AI like most RTS games do but they take it a step further. The game is worth playing if you never intend to touch bifrost. as I personally enjoy playing solo doing Conquest. |

This game is not worthwhile CURRENTLY if you intend to play the Bifrost as a leading factor to buying the game. at discount I can understand purchasing it. But until the developers fix more bugs with the mode it is nearly unplayable in co-op (Bugs in singleplayer still occur). From glitched out UI / Disconnects mid games / corrupting game files making it impossible to continue a current run / Mobs beginning to race back and forth in a zone like they are confused on if they want to run or jump into the fight until you defeat them / Ghosts just...chilling in the ocean nuking your happiness / Mobs becoming invisible due to a ui glitch from events (Like Meteors that spawn golems, Or the LITERAL Winter Invasions) | Now mind you this is not a constant and every game is a roll of the dice if you obtain a bug and it forces you to restart (Each session can take up to 30 minutes - 1 hour per map dependent on your efficiency) The last One hundred hours of gameplay done was in bifrost and we have only managed to get one bugless game run completed. (Failed several because Skill issues too) |

IF you plan to play solo it seems to work out for plenty of people on youtube. But I have seen quite a amount of issues while playing. Fresh installs / restarting / Conceding and restarting the map/ Alt tabbing does not fix any of these issues posted as ui issues.

Simply put. Until they make fixes the game is currently not in a state to play bifrost safely in, other game modes have worked great for me.
The game devs have worked hard and have made a great game. I hope they continue to do so as this game is worthwhile with a few Desperately needed Patches...

PS. where is the Literal only kitten clan? Gotta give all those weak clans the PAWS. Kitten council will rise on the shores of northgard someday.

Grabbed this on sale. I have regrets. Really enjoyed this game at first the intro levels are just balanced enough to get you past the refund point. Graphics and sound are lovely. After the refund point has passed the game turns to garbage there is little to no choice in the game you are basically forced to play the game exactly the way they want you to for each level or you are harshly punished (i.e you will lose). There is some interesting mechanics here for the tribes etc and some great ideas about how to make game play more interesting its just implemented wrong. Each tribe has like one special building unique to them all the other buildings are the same 12 buildings for every tribe. Each tribe has a couple of unique skills that you pretty much must use or you will lose. Focus seems to be more on multiplayer and rankings with very strong focus on needing to buy one of the many DLC clans to get ahead in the multiplayer or rankings. Having played RTS for decades this has sadly dissapointed me after such a promising start. I would not recommend this to anyone as a RTS unless they love Multiplayer games and love paying for DLC that should have been in the game in the first place as part of the release or added later to the game for free. Would refund it if I could however as mentioned they very cleverly made it good enough to get past the 2 hours before you notice how bad it truly is as a game.

My first time playing a RTS game, I really enjoyed the campaign for singleplayer.

Bought it during a sale. Game kept failing to load my saved games. I tried giving it a chance, saving it in a different slot, when I found discussions on Steam about others having the same issue I realized it was not me.
Refunded for myself and those I gifted it to.

The game is promising. The different flavours of clans feel like an interesting idea and reminds of the time when there was more than just RTS grounded in real-life history. Different win conditions are also present. It does feel a bit weird to play with a tile system where you have to claim each piece of the land or f.e. that one military building can only produce two warriors, 3 if upgraded. But that is just me being used to old RTS games probably.

Them going hard on releasing each clan as a separate DLC is questionable to me too. I understand, they gotta eat and keep developing but I personally would rather pay a bit more to buy the game in full, all in one place from the get go.

Loved this game at first. It's just way too imbalanced now. On Normal difficulty the AI cheats for resources and units so if you get the Swamp biome you're toast. There's a bug on Extreme difficult that the AI is actually easier because they don't cheat for soldiers. So all ppl playing on Extreme think the game is easy, hilarious. Normal should be a comp stomp if you're decent at managing economy. I'm getting stomped every time now and stuck on a level that's unbeatable because the AI get's free resources and units. Devs are greedy AF.

I bought Northgard on sale because I like strategy games and it seemed interesting. Unfortunately, my experience has been frustrating. The user interface is incredibly small and doesn’t adjust to fit the screen, making it hard to see or use. I spent hours playing yesterday, saved my game, and returned to find an error message about a corrupted save. When I continued, my game was frozen and completely glitched. All my progress was lost. Between the tiny UI and the instability, this game is difficult to enjoy. Even on sale, I regret buying it.