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Nords: Heroes of the North

Genre Type: F2P MMORTS
Platform Accessibility: Facebook / Web Browser
Development By: Plarium

A perfect blend of humor, strategy and combat, Nords: Heroes of the North is a tactical base building strategy MMO where users stand in the shoes of a Nordic Marshal, charged with rebuilding their own stronghold and rising up an army that can take on the undead that rise from their icy graves all over the kingdom. The game can be accessed either by web browser or as a Facebook game, with no client to download and being completely free to play.

When starting out players are introduced to the lands of Shingård, guided by King Björn the Awesome (voiced by Patrick Warburton who does the voice of Joe Swanson from Family Guy) you are tasked as a Marshal to build up your Nordic stronghold, gather resources, make Blood Pacts and train up a powerful army that can both defend against the rising undead army and actively seek it out. With a variety of quests players are constantly tasked with constructing new buildings, training new units and taking out key AI targets for King Björn, but in doing so they will rise in experience and be rewarded for their efforts.

Managing your own stronghold takes time and patience; gathering resources players have a finite amount of space where they can place down new buildings to help improve their land as well as spending said resources trying to train up units. Units come in both defensive and offensive types, from Spearmen, Shield Maidens, Elven Mages and even Dragons, players will have to make Blood Pacts (a research technology tree), but must meet a number of criteria before they can access it such as level or specific building requirements.

As well as managing assets players must also actively manage their time; every action in the game can take anything from minutes, hours to even day to perform, whether upgrading a building, opening up a new Blood Pact or sending troops across the map to fight distant enemies. Combat is completely automated and victory or defeat is determined by the makeup of both armies and how their offense and defense compare. Armies aren’t in it alone though, each player is in charge of their own Hero, either Northman, Orc or Elf, who are able to improve their skills and stats to make them more proficient leaders as well as acquiring legendary gear and equipment to boost their stats.

Fighting over legendary items and resources are the key motivators in end game where players typically focus more on fighting, particularly the formed Clans who can fight against each other and gain rank and status as they climb the ladder as well as the rewards that come with it. Many high level rewards in the game reward the player with Emeralds premium currency, a powerful currency that can be spent to buy resources, rush production, buy unique units or even revive old ones instead of training up new ones. Emeralds can be earned in game or purchased with real money.

Nords: Heroes of the North screenshot: