Being a king in Norland | Review

Starting in the village

Strategy and planning genre games always show me that no matter how good my intentions are and how high my dedication is towards a goal, sometimes the lack of planning and knowledge about things speak louder and end up crumbling everything I tried to build during my gameplay, and with Norland it was no different, in fact something was different, it was a little faster than usual.

It's not that I'm a beginner player in this genre of games, it's just that this game deceives you at first, you choose the attributes of your king and some of the servants like brothers and spouse, something that is somewhat familiar, but initially you come in thinking it's going to be an easy game, especially because of the fun graphics the game has, but man, was I wrong.

The game is quite complex, your decisions can be very punitive, for example, I started my first run with my wife kidnapped in a bandit camp, after doing the basic things for the village's progress I decided to hire some mercenaries to help me rescue her, since I didn't have my own army yet.

And this part is very interesting because it introduces a bit of history in a very brief way. It's not anything too complex and doesn't have a big storyline, but it's nice to have that in the game because it gives meaning to things, it would be kind of strange if my wife had been taken just because and there was no explanation for it, so even though it's shallow, it's a very nice and somewhat uncommon detail in games like this, where things happen without this background plan.

By hiring them the mission was successful, I rescued the hostage and even got some spoils, but unfortunately at some point the bill comes due, and it came down heavily, a merchant regularly comes to your village who can trade or sell some goods, and he is also responsible for collecting some fees from the player, such as the mercenaries rent.

So besides having paid a very high hiring fee, I still had to maintain them, so I had to sell some of my resources to make up for this lack of money, but it turned into a snowball effect that was responsible for the end of my first run, but at least it was fun and enough for me to learn some game mechanics.

Managing is not for everyone

As mentioned in the previous paragraphs, concern for resources is very important, but it's not just them that you should worry about, there are other mechanics that can be a problem if you don't pay proper attention to them, such as the satisfaction and loyalty system of the members of your kingdom, be they slaves, commoners, or even your advisor and relatives.

This mechanic can have various influences, from the villagers not having any leisure activities like the tavern or religious altars, where they can distract themselves, they will end up losing efficiency in their work, producing less flour for example, and in turn generating less beer, and consequently with less drink for them to feed on and thus ending up in a crisis in the kingdom.

This also affects the most important and functional members like your relatives and advisors, where if you overload them with too many tasks, their satisfaction level drops drastically, and when they get angry, besides not performing their tasks quickly they can attempt to assassinate the king.

But solving the satisfaction problem is not very difficult, in the case of the villagers as mentioned, you just need to provide entertainment, while for the nobles you have some options, giving them money is one that doesn't have negative consequences besides losing a bit of wealth, or another option that greatly increases their loyalty but generates a "fear" debuff on them, which is the threat, where you can intimidate them so they don't attempt to assassinate and remain loyal, but generating this debuff delays the natural satisfaction gain.

Other important points to be observed are the geopolitical status of the map, the other kingdoms around yours have their own activities, entering into combat, being in opportune moments for marriages with descendants of kings, and they also have their level of friendship with your kingdom, which is influenced by your decisions and also when a representative of theirs visits your village.
Which path should we take?

In the end, the game has several interesting mechanics, the daily bulletins that tell you about the weather, production, and the state of other nations, the marriage system, heirs, and bastard children, which is something very interesting and helps justify a larger population besides the people who move to the city.

Some differences from games of the genre were visible here, besides having some elements that differentiate it, not only speaking of the aesthetic part of the game, but also for some mechanics, which make the game much more complex and complete in a way, moving away from casual gameplay and leaning towards a more serious side and approaching more of a simulator.

And speaking of graphics, as much as they deceive initially making the game seem silly, in the end they fit very well, because they fulfill their role of being pleasing to the eyes and integrate well into the game's universe, but they don't steal the scene or take away from the main focus, which is the gameplay.

The sound part is also very similar to the graphics, it was well produced and helps to immerse you, but it is far from being the main focus, it does the basics very well, which is great because we're not here for great audiovisual works, but rather for a gameplay worthy of a king, and that's what we get here.

For all these reasons, I believe Norland is a very good game and highly recommended for fans of the management and strategy genre, as it presents a fun and challenging gameplay, but it may not be a good choice for new players who are not used to dealing with so much information.

We thank Hooded Horse for providing the game key in advance and making this content possible.