Late last year, developer Plausible Concept released its fiendish Viking-themed real-time strategy oddity Bad North, a game that impressed Eurogamer enough to earn it a big old Recommended badge. And now, the studio is back with a “giant” free expansion, titled, appropriately enough, the Jotunn Edition, and it’s available now on PC and Mac.
Bad North, despite its rather serene, somewhat minimalist good looks, is a surprisingly punishing affair, coughing up ever-more-difficult bite-sized challenges as players moved from island to island in the main campaign.
The goal each time never wavers, however; players must command their small army into position around an island in order to fend off attacking forces and protect as many buildings as possible. Armies are colour-coded into distinct units – specialising in melee attacks, archery for long-range assaults, and so on – and must be thoughtfully positioned, in time-honoured rock-paper-scissors fashion, to best deal with incoming marauders.
Bad North: Jotunn Edition PC Launch Trailer Watch on YouTube
Adding a few additional wrinkles, there’s a levelling system, new classes to unlock, and the ever-looming doom of rogue-like permadeath (although this is less of a concern in the new expansion). And while Bad North is simple, its stream-lined strategy is smart enough, and energetic enough, to remain compelling.