Your home is under attack. The king is dead at the hands of Viking invaders. Hope is a distant glimmer in the fog, fading fast with every passing moment. As you rise to take your father’s place as ruler, it will fall to you to stage your defenses. But make no mistake – this is no fight for victory, but a desperate grasp for survival.
Bad North is a charming but brutal real-time tactics roguelite. Defend your idyllic island kingdom against a horde of Viking invaders, as you lead the desperate exodus of your people. Command your loyal subjects to take full tactical advantage of the unique shape of each island. Everything is at stake: fail, and watch the blood of your subjects stain the ground red.
It’s charmingly brutal, with beautiful procedurally-generated islands and adorable soldiers juxtaposed against the blood-stained realities of war. You control the broad strokes of the battle, giving high level commands to your soldiers who try their best to carry them out in the heat of the moment. It’s accessibly deep, with simple player inputs masking a dynamic combat simulation that make it inviting to new players while challenging veterans.
Keep fighting, warriors. Not for power or riches or glory, but for hope of peace to come once again in the harsh lands of the Bad North.
Key Features
REAL-TIME TACTICS ROGUELITE: Position and relocate your troops to fend off the Vikings, who each have their own counters to the threats you pose. Pick your battles and plan your evacuations carefully! Lose a commander and they’re gone forever; lose everything, and it’s game over!
INTELLIGENT UNIT CONTROLS: You command the broad strokes of your defenses and monitor positioning — your soldiers do the rest, navigating and engaging intuitively in response to the situation at hand.
PROCEDURALLY-GENERATED ISLANDS: Each island is both stylistically charming and unique in its layout. Plan your strategies around every nook and cranny, for you only get one chance to save them from the enemy invasion.
UNLOCKABLE UPGRADES: A stronger, smarter defense leads to greater rewards. Use these to develop your subjects from a ragtag militia into seasoned warriors.
Bad North just got BIGGER with the new Bad North: Jotunn Edition update.
UPGRADES/META PROGRESSION
- Added 4 new Items – Mines, Jabena, Philosopher’s Stone & Holy Grail
- Added Hero Traits – unique buffs for commanders
- Unlock Items and Traits to equip your Starting Commanders
- View details of all upgrades seen in the game in the new Codex view
- Rebalanced all abilities that launch units (bomb, Warhammer etc.)
- Nerfed the Warhammer, tweaked it’s targeting and added a 3rd upgrade level
- Plunge attack is buffed and scales with Infantry level (veteran / elite)
- When losing an Item Island you can see which Item you would have won
CAMPAIGN
- See enemy types you will face before playing a level
- Number of enemy types correlates to total enemy numbers
- Movement of the Viking Frontier is more controlled & moves faster in harder difficulties
- Jabena Item allows one Commander to deploy on two Islands per Campaign Turn
- Optionally allow restarting of levels, as an option when starting a campaign
- Added checkpoint islands that provide a fixed point you can return to, rather than restarting your campaign
- Very Hard difficulty is unlocked after completing Hard
- Ability to delete old campaign saves
ECONOMY
- Gold is now deposited in a shared Gold Bank, rather than distributed to commanders
- Total Gold in a campaign is more controlled, less RNG
- Some rare Islands will have a high gold count, but corresponding threat level
- Philosopher’s Stone Item adds additional Gold into the economy
COMBAT
- Replaced the old red-shielded enemies with a new enemy type
- Most enemies (including those with shields) can be knocked off of ships
- Your archers are slightly more likely to target non-shielded troops
- All archers (except brutes) are more likely to target stunned troops
- Enemy archers are more likely to target shielded troops
- Axe-throwers are more likely to target shielded troops with axes
- Infantry are more responsive when ordered to retreat from enemies
- Pikes are more able to form up near stunned enemies
- Archers are better at targeting when close to terrain
- Units are less likely to get stuck on sharp corners of terrain
- Longships landing now do significant stun damage, instead of knockback
COMMANDERS
- Choose the look and loadout (item + trait) of your starting Commanders
- See stats for kills and losses in the Upgrade screen
- See home and death islands in the Upgrade screen
- View dead Commanders in the Upgrade screen
- Holy Grail Item allows you to resurrect one Dead Commander
- Banner Icons altered to give visual representation of Commander Traits
- Additional facial features, including new hair styles and gray streaks
CONTROLS
- Updated Camera controls for mouse / touch to improve responsiveness
- Added alternate mouse behaviours for single button mice and touchscreens
- Added alternate gamepad mapping
VISUALS
- New UI for all Island Rewards and Won Game
- Updated unit outlines to be much crisper, especially with MSAA
- Less visual clipping between shadows, tiles, longships and land
- Tweaked coloration of the islands
- Updated graphical effects for fire and smoke
- Updated effects for bomb explosions