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Vikings a Perfect Fit for Xbox One and the Games Industry

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In the late 8th to the late 11th century, Vikings raided and traded from their Northern European homeland across a wide expanse of northern, eastern, central and western Europe. With their unparalleled skills in battle, sailing and their expansive religion filled with violent and colorful rites, Vikings have become steeped in myth and legend which has spawned a great variety of modern recreations in their image.

We have seen comic book characters, movies, television series, plenty of video games that feature Vikings in all their glory. Recently, stand out Viking properties like the History Channel’s hugely popular Vikings, following the exploits of the legendary Ragnar Lothbrok and his kin, and the animated Dreamworks movies “How to Train your Dragon” have helped kickstart a craze for Viking related stories in every sort of media.

Geeks of Doom

As with most other pop culture phenomenons, Vikings popularity guaranteed they made their way into the gaming world. PC game developers have created multiple hit titles such as Volgarr the Viking and Viking: Battle for Asgard and Jotun. iGaming developers have also adopted Viking culture into multiple online games including Viking Runecraft and Vikings Go Berzerk, even resulting in online casino’s that are completely Viking themed. Finally, consoles have also made sure to provide a robust offering for fans of all things Viking, with Xbox offering several standout titles.

To be fair, their portrayal in these games is often inaccurate and doesn’t paint the complete picture of what Viking culture gave to the world, but controlling a Viking as you run amuck across the land in one of the many Xbox One games to feature the Nordic warriors sure is fun.

Viking games have become a mainstay on Microsoft’s marquee console and this looks set to continue as the new real time strategy game Ancestors Legacy is set to be released in May 2018. This game allows the player to take control of a tribe and conquer a landscape using tactics, resource management and strength in numbers. Vikings play the role of aggressors in the game, attacking their foes using ambush tactics.

Another game that brings Vikings to life in a beautifully rendered, open world environment is Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. This game not only brings to life the Vikings as warriors but also borrows a lot of from Nordic culture. The game is set in the kingdom of Cyrodil and Skyrim is a northern region, home to the Nords. They are a race based on Northern Europeans and dress in a similar manner to Vikings and even arguably speak with a Scandinavian accent. Xbox One allows the graphics of this game to flourish and the open world environment lets the player walk across the world for literally hours. You can buy a house, become a mercenary, start a war all while completing the main mission by slaying dragons to fulfil your destiny as the Dragonborn – although many players also choose to play Skyrim as a sandbox of sorts, focusing on exploring and character creation rather than the plot.

For Honor is another game, released in February 2017, which has Vikings featured heavily within the character choices. The game allows players to take control of one of three ancient warriors in an action fighting game set in the medieval period. You can control knights, samurai or Vikings, and the idea is that you battle it out against your foe while trying to exploit the weaknesses of your enemies. Each faction has a different class of warriors that in turn have a different set of unique skills. The assassin, for example, is very quick but their attacks do very little damage while the Vanguard class is well balanced with very good attack and defence. The game won the People’s Choice Award for “Best Fighting Game” in IGN’s Best of 2017 awards.

Geeks of Doom

Vikings are likely to remain a mainstay of the video game industry because they have such a rich history to draw upon. The fact that these warrior and seafarers are famed for their vicious nature and violent actions lends them perfectly to an industry always looking for inspiration to tell the next great story, and lucky for us the video game world has taken notice and given us the chance to reproduce their glorious exploits.

TXH
TXH
TXH loves nothing more than kicking back at the end of the day, controller in hand, shooting the hell out of strangers via Xbox Live.

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