Expeditions: Viking

I played Rome first. So, I am somewhat biased.
The Good:
I liked the story enough to enjoy the game despite it's flaws, and the fact that it's graphics and game-play are not as good as Rome.
The Bad:
The combat system - coming from Rome, I found it sub-par. In Rome, I was constantly using tactics. In Vikings, I found that messing around with supporting actions was not wise. The best way to win a battle was to just whack harder and more often than the other guy. Also - the start of combat sucked. Mostly, I got to do nothing but reposition, and wait for the other guys to get their free hits in. What was the point of giving me traps etc, if I could not prepare them? And what is the point of having actions like Baldur's Blessing, if you don't dare to waste your turn using them - you need to get in there and whack, before they do unto you.
The Ugly:
The Time-Limit - from day one I felt pressured. I don't know how anyone managed to succeed in the main quest, as well as complete all the side-quests. I didn't. I much preferred the lack of time-pressure in Rome.
Verdict:
Play Conquistadors first, Vikings second, Rome last. They're all good games. but the earlier ones are very much flawed. Which is why Rome is so good - the devs listened and improved.

I was in the fence about buying this game or not, and I'm so glad I did. Turn-based story-driven RPG about being a viking. I consider it one of the best viking games I've played: The Banner Saga is truly a voyage, full of great characters, epic and beautiful, but not a viking-simulator if you're looking for one. Warband's Viking Conquest is Mount and Blade, but with vikings, so win win there.
But this game is the closest I've been to feel like a real viking. Even though it's not 100% historically accurate, it's pretty decent in that aspect (way more accurate than more popular options like Assassin's Creed Valhalla or tv show Vikings). You create a character, gather a warband of decent characters (you'll end up knowing them, even though they're not pretty deep, they have their own stories and those stories are okay) and then you sail to England. To what purpose? That's up to you. You can beat the game being a trader, a diplomat or you can plunder England. Some characters will like you for your decissions, some will hate you (although I haven't been abandoned by anyone).
The combat is the bread and butter of the game though. And it's good. Not super deep either, but decent, satisfactory and with plenty of options. Some people may hate it, but it's what I was looking for. Dialogues are the other big part of the game, and it's standard RPG dialogues. It's not badly written this game, you have options, jokes and most of the time you can choose a dialogue option your character would say and don't feel railroaded like other RPG games (like Fallout 4, for example).
Graphics are okay (I don't think it's that important, but some people really mind bad graphics, I like how the game looks). The levels are rather bland after a while (although you can tell apart regions because of the architecture, they don't have anything special and you'll end up bored running from one place to another). The music is repetitive, that should change in the next Expeditions.
All and all, I liked this game a lot even if I may not show it that much in the review. I felt my money (and more important, my TIME) weren't wasted, I had a good time and I'm not that easy to satisfy. Expeditions: Viking is definetely a buy.

Somehow putting the likes of the bloated Assassin's Creed Valhalla to shame, this plucky RPG immerses the player in the Viking experience while not pulling its punches. You get to roleplay on either end of the moral spectrum, nihilistic pillager or modern humanist, though be aware that your choices ripple through the game, and your more bloodthirsty companions will lose morale (affecting their resistances in combat) if you keep showing compassion. Despite a relatively linear story, the game still gives you a surprising amount of freedom in how you resolve quests, bolstered by the fact that you can toggle non-lethal attacks during combat, sparing the lives of anyone you fight.
As far as tactical turn-based gameplay goes, it's the usual stuff you see in the genre, there's nothing particularly excellent or bad about it. The special abilities are mediocre for my liking, though one aspect that stands out is that injuries sustained in battle will only be healed via the camp by a healer, and will never lead to death within combat itself. It's a refreshing twist of the genre, losing fights or even big quests doesn't necessarily mean game over, the narrative continues affording you opportunity to heal up at a camp and try another mainline quest to bring salvation to your clan.
The camping mechanic is a nice bit of strategy that garnishes the gameplay loop that I quite enjoyed. You have to assign tasks for your companions every time you camp, from hunting for meat, preserving it, making medicine and crafting your own gear. Twelve hours pass each time you camp, which you'll need to keep in mind for time-sensitive tasks, the biggest of which is the looming deadline following you the entire game.
I write 'looming' though it's not really an issue as long as you're aware of it when you first begin the game. I've read of players being shocked when they get a 'game over' because they weren't even aware there was a deadline for the campaign. It's hard to sympathise with them considering there's a huge damn timeline at the top of the screen, and the narrative is constantly reminding you of it.
Don't worry readers, to lose an entire campaign because of missing a deadline is really difficult to do, you'd either have to try hard or be completely oblivious to it. The purpose of the timeline is not only to raise the narrative stakes, but to stop the player grinding endlessly on the campaign map. This isn't Final Fantasy, the maps aren't vast and populated with sites, and given its focus on story and character, grinding for xp to prepare for boss battles is not what this game is about.
Expeditions Viking is an underrated gem of an RPG, with a gorgeous soundtrack and genuinely decent writing (I didn't spot a single typo!) and likeable characters. It doesn't sugarcoat the era (like the Vikings of old, you too can massacre poor monasteries), and doesn't pretend to be something its not. There's no grand plot about saving the world or anything ridiculous, the scope of the narrative is realistically lowkey, but once you invest in the characters and their small world, the stakes become substantial. As a fan of history, I appreciated all the attention to detail, while also enjoying the compromises for the sake of enjoyable gameplay.
Some tips that the game doesn't clarify:
To get one of the endings, you just need to get either Prosperity or Power level to 100. So this informs what upgrades you should make to your homestead. And this also means you need to decide what kind of playthrough you're going to do: be a traditional Viking by taking the Orkney islands and then pillaging your way down the British isles. Or: focus on making allies with either the Picts or Northumbrians so they can help you fight your enemies back home. There's also the third option of making allies with one faction beating another, and then betraying your ally.
It's totally fine if you fail one of the main story quests, like I did by trying to ally Northumbria. I failed a big battle, and the Northumbrians basically abandoned me, and my reputation plummeted. Yet the narrative continued, there's no game over screen. Remember, the only thing that matters is what your Prosperity/Power score is at the end of the day. I ended up heading north and allied the Picts instead and eventually got revenge on Northumbria by helping the Picts defeat them.
Something the game failed to make clear to me, was that you can sail back to your homeland at any time, and if you do you can open up new dialogue with your companions and more importantly have access to traders (if you've unlocked them). The voyage only takes a few days, and the big deadline of the game spans several months. (seriously, I ended the game with months to spare, I don't understand how some people got a surprise game over)
There's a quest involving deciphering stone menhirs, which is unlocked once you encounter a Merlin-esque figure. However the only way to complete the quest (find all 7 menhirs) is if you go down the Power route, as a high Power level is a requirement to unlocking a new map. As I was concerned with Prosperity in my playthrough, I couldn't finish the quest fully. A shame.
All of your companions for some reason have a 'dialogue' skill upgrade. Yet you never play as them (only one time, very briefly for a combat scenario), so ignore that upgrade! But make sure to outfit and upgrade all your companions, there will come a crucial point where you will need to control every single character during an important battle. You don't want to be caught with your pants down having completely ignored giving characters any armour or skills when that climactic moment arrives.
Speaking of battle, I found success having at least two archers in the team. I tried going with only one, but battles were harder than they needed to be. Final composition I went with for most of the campaign: due-wielding (sword/axe) protagonist, axe/shield fighter, 2 archers (one who can heal), a dedicated healer with a sling/knife, and a spear fighter. Classic combo: shield lady has an ability to hook the enemy's shield away, giving my duelist opportunity to attack the vulnerable enemy. And the spear lady with her long reach can finish him off.
The 'disarm trap' ability is really inconsistent and barely works properly, so not sure it's worth putting xp into it. You can spot traps fine, but actually disarming them is random, sometimes it just doesn't work no matter what I tried. Just grin and bear the pain, with a healer nearby.
Lastly: wolves are the hardest enemies in the entire game. Fuck those guys.

A brilliant underrated gem that caught me by surprise. Expeditions viking is a party based CRPG that's set in a refreshing historically attentive, realistic setting without any fantasy elements of any kind. You lead a struggling clan of Danes in attempt to restore them to their past glory, by either forming alliances and growing your trade and prosperity with the kingdoms of Britain, or playing them against each other while amassing a powerful army to invade them. Either way, both playstyles are possible and have their own outcomes and endings.
A unique main storyline without any real heroes or villains, fantastic soundtrack, lots of choices and consequences, fun setting to explore in an RPG. All of that makes for a game that I fully recommend even if the combat system is a bit basic and the UI is counterintuitive at times, and you may encounter a couple annoying bugs.

I am very bad at writing reviews, but I'll say as a turn-based games fan, Expeditions: Viking was a fine game. I liked how your choices had MASSIVE impact and they DO MATTER. Games like this are hard to come by nowadays.
Definitively recommend.
As of writing this review, I have 36 hours played (most likely won't change). That's how long it took me carefully going through the campaign trying to explore everything. Maybe that'll help you in deciding whether it's worth a buy.

So I have finished all the expeditions games in the past 2 months, so now it is the time of the first sequel to Expedition Conquistador, Expeditions Vikings.
First of all I will say that I like way more this time period than its predecessor.
However this game is worst than Conquistador in nearly everything. The good thing is that it is still an excellent game, so being worst than the previous one does not mean it is bad, in fact it is really good. But now into the review itself.
Expeditions Vikings tell a story quite similar to its predecessor, you have to go to a foreign land where there is power struggle to conquer it. Sure you have your father's death as an excuse to do so this time. You will also struggle with a traitorous viking clan whose leader will try to get you kill.
The worst part of this game with absolutely not doubt is the overworld map. Is waaaaaaaaaaaaay worst than in Conquistador. Here, you don't really discover anything, because in order to be able to go to any place, you need a quest attached to it that will place it on the map for you, so you just click there and nothing new will happen, this is quite bad tbh. The 4 shifts in the campment really does not add anything to the game, so it is more tedious work especially at the beginning og the game. Story wise the game is not bad, but there is a huge drop of quality in the story as soon as you reach Britannia. Huge. Your companions, while having special faces and being more important than in the first game, do not do absolutely nothing after you reach Britannia again. They will very rarely speak their minds, only some of them have side-quests and those side-quests are short af.
This game basically is very very good before you set out to Britannia. It is in fact better than Conquistador in those hours, but the Britannia part is way longer than the first one. So basically the game starts dropping quality bit by bit.
The only thing that it is better than in Conquistador is the freedom of builds for your fighters and the fact that you actually control your character + companions in cities and different places. But anything else it's worst than Conquistador.
I would give this one a 7/10, which is still really good, just not as good as Conquistador.

Overall a very good historical cRPG.
Pros:
- Setting, story, writing
- Combat system - easy to learn, but provides a lot variety
- Many quests have multiple approaches and solutions
- Great opportunity for roleplay - you can be a bloodthirsty maniac, a peaceful trader or something in between
- Choices matter
- Nice graphics
- "Just right" amount of content - definitely more than enough to keep you entertained for several dozen hours without getting too repetitive
Cons:
- The camping mechanic can get in your way a bit too often
- No voice-acting (except a single line here and there) - not really a con for me, but may be for others