ASKA

ASKA is a Viking themed survival/management style game that is hitting early access as I write this. The reason I am talking about this game today is that I have a friend who is super excited about this and we have basically arranged it so that a group of us are going to get in on this and form our own Viking war party as we try and pillage this dark fantasy land. I am really liking what I am seeing so far. It also looks like the kind of game I could get addicted to playing on my own, but I am most excited to get in here and play it with my buddies.

Preparing For War In Times Of Peace

I am not exactly sure about how story driven ASKA is going to be, but it does have a cool setting and premise. Taking place in a dark fantasy world, we are either a solo Viking warrior who is leading their people to survival and maybe even prosperity. Or, we can be part of a clan with our friends as we fight and survive together. There is a dark and evil force in the land and that is always a constant threat and what we are basically working towards fighting off.

Building Your Viking Village

The construction part and the building and expansion of your Viking village is one of the things that I am most interested in with ASKA. The idea is that you start small, but you eventually want to build up to having a much larger village. We are talking about constructing things like housing for your villagers, mines to get resources, farms to ensure people have food, and of course, strong defenses to protect against the dark forces that are always a threat. The early part of the game will result in you having to be very careful with what you decide to build, but you are always going to be working towards making your village better and stronger.

It Takes A Village!

There is a lot to the gameplay in ASKA, it does have a combat system where you will have to get out there and fight these creatures. However, a strong defense is also required to protect your village and villagers. Speaking of villagers, you get to assign them various jobs. You can have some villagers who are explorers who will head out to find valuable resources that you can use to craft items and grow food. Have them take care of the village and other interesting things. Even if you are playing this with a group of friends, you will have to think about what you want your villagers to do. My friends and I are really excited about this and think that we will be great as a team… until we fall out and decide to go our own ways of course!

A Viking Dark Fantasy

At first glance, I will be honest and say that visually, ASKA does not capture your attention. However, the more I have looked into this game and the more footage I have experienced, I think that the style of the game is great. It is a mixture of dark fantasy and Viking lore and the game has a dynamic weather system which can change things significantly. I think that they have taken inspiration from stuff like Game of Thrones and the recent God of War games, but it all works and this is a world that I think is very cool and I cannot wait to explore.

Pros:

• The dark fantasy Viking world is really cool
• Managing your villagers is fun and adds a lot of strategy
• The multiplayer component here is great
• The game is both challenging and fun

Cons:

• It may be the kind of game that takes a little while to get into
• I do wonder how good the overall story will be