This is a polished Viking-era RTS game that feels like a modern, much more feature-rich version of Northgard. It has a similar mechanic, with the fog of war obscuring most of the map, and as you explore you have interesting encounters and of course your AI adversaries to deal with. The game is different from Northgard in several key ways, in that you don't have predefined areas to take over, you can build wherever you like. There is also an interesting water/ship mechanic.
The graphics are also very sharp and add a lot to the gameplay. It has good voice acting as well, with your Viking grunting and yelling in some language that I can't understand but appreciate. :D
The range of units you can recruit is also broader, including siege engines.
You can also play just against AI, with no prestige victory, fight for domination ( wipe out all other viking settlements ). That is my preferred way to play and is the most exciting / challenging game mode.
Before I bought the game, I read that some players get confused by the game modes and find the game boring, slow or 'chill', because they don't play domination ( there is nothing chill about domination mode ). Setting up the game to play for domination is not intuitive like in Northgard, where there is a 'domination' selection. To play domination in Frozenheim, play single player and under conditions uncheck 'Ragnarok' and 'Fame'. Add in as many AI factions as you like ( the AI is well balanced, I find medium/hard the most fun, and usually play against 5-7 AI on a very large map ).
One of the things I enjoy is how you can use the terrain and tactics to deceive and defeat your enemies. In my most recent game, the AI had a settlement at the base of a cliff. I sent a scout to watch their village from the top of the cliff, then I positioned 10 archer units on the cliffs, hidden in the trees just south of the scout. I then sent in my Champion Sigrid with some elite shield units and formed a shield wall further south along the cliff band, visible from the enemy settlement. Sure enough, the AI sent their army south along the cliff band. My scout spotted them coming, then the archers ambushed them from the top of the cliff, causing huge casualties, and by the time the remnants got to Sigrid, she crushed them. The settlement fell with almost no casualities on my side.
There are some ways the game could be improved, I think. The happiness mechanic is a little opaque, and I've never been able to get to happiness level 9 ( which is pretty advanced, but prevents me from doing the highest level upgrades to my Viking lodge ). It would be nice to be able to hover over the happiness measure and what it consists of. Like, why is it stuck at 7.1? That's pretty happy, but not really happy! How do I get to really happy? =D
For a reference, I like the following similar games, with my hours played.
If you like the games listed below, you may enjoy this one.
Warhammer III Total War ( 264 hours )
Warhammer II Total War ( 1500 hours )
They are Billions ( 315 hours )
Northgard ( 351 hours )
Planetary Annihilation: Titans ( 300 hours )
Stellaris ( 137 hours )
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