Norland: Preview
RimWorld is a survival simulator on a distant planet, inspired by Dwarf Fortress . Some developers who wanted to repeat the success Ludeon Studios, they moved the place and time of action either to the Scottish Middle Ages (Clanfolk), or on board a spaceship (Stardeus), while willy-nilly repeating the laconic but pleasant visual style of the project Tynan Sylvester (Tynan Sylvester).
Don’t meet by clothes
However, it begins Norland almost the same as RimWorld, — with random generation of characters in your settlement. Even the hero creation window is identical: each of your three wards, who form a noble family, has a set of skills (manners, trade, persuasion, intelligence, management, teaching, combat and command) and personality traits that influence the behavior of the lords and the attitude of other NPCs towards them. For example, the owner of the “handsome” trait will find it easier to communicate with other people, while the “anxious” person will always wake up when his home is invaded at night.
After a suitable option for the royal family has been found, we are briefly introduced to the history of the world and set free to swim: here, as is customary in the genre, there is no linear plot, because the game itself is a plot generator. And again it seems as if in front of us RimWorld in a medieval wrapper: if you are familiar with it, you will immediately understand what to do, without any prompts. Here we mark a place for fields for growing crops, here we build houses, there will be a warehouse, here it is better to put a library where the characters will study books (this is what the local analogue of technology research looks like) – typical starting gameplay of a typical city-planning simulator.
Boring? Not at all. Ten minutes later you realize that in front of us there is no RimWorld, but a completely different game that requires a different approach, and there are so many original finds here that you can’t keep track of everything at once.
This is not a royal matter
One of the main features is that our characters are not supposed to do menial work due to their status: well, where has it been seen that a noble lord planted and harvested crops, worked on a construction site or felled a forest? This is what the peasants are meant for – the various rabble that flock to our settlement from the surrounding area, attracted by rumors about the emergence of a new village. It is the peasants who work hard, spending the night in barracks for a dozen people and eating rutabaga stew, while the nobles are supposedly just having fun.
However, this impression is deceptive: the nobles also do not sit idle. Every productive place, be it a field, a tavern, a sawmill, or even a scaffold, needs a leader, whose role is played by one of the lords. The player chooses who will manage specific affairs: the operation of each building requires periodic visits from the authorities, otherwise the peasants will not even think of rolling up their sleeves. It is not such an easy task to command: given the gradually increasing number of industries that need an authoritative hand, some lords can run from one building to another all day, giving instructions.
The contemplative element, which https://spincity-casino.co.uk/games/ is very important for the genre, is fully present here: it’s nice to watch a village working like clockwork, but just as interesting is the village withering due to the sluggishness of the nobility, where even the king cannot feel safe at night.
The nobility has other concerns too. Firstly, lords may have personal matters – hunting, eating, traveling, talking, sleeping, in the end. Secondly, the character has a set of thoughts, statuses and other features that influence his behavior. There are often cases when an alcoholic king prefers to drink wine in the company of friends instead of attending to his duties.
Sometimes, however, you need to entrust your wards with other actions yourself, if the same king is mopey and shirks due to a bad mood. Let him have fun – for example, play dice with a friend or have fun with a pretty peasant girl. The main thing is that the legal spouse does not notice, otherwise you will have to think about how to cheer her up.
Do not forget that ordinary residents may remain “pawns” with sets of properties, thoughts and skills, but they cannot be controlled in any way at all: all interaction occurs only with the help of lords. It turned out, in my opinion, interesting: a village full of peasants looks alive, and we have the opportunity to focus on several characters. Moreover, there is already enough microcontrol here – it is with it, more precisely with the visualization of control and informing the player, in Norland most problems.
It was in vain that I had a fight with the neighboring ruler – his army is many times stronger than mine, so we will definitely lose this battle.
Pot, don’t cook
There are so many features here that it’s not at all easy to understand this wealth. At the same time, it cannot be said that they are poorly developed – on the contrary, each one is important. The weakest point is the battle: for now it’s just crowd-on-crowd fights, where the lords act as commanders. But, according to the developers, it is battles that they are working on at the moment – most likely, there will be formations, a greater impact on morale, long-range weapons and other features.
Other mechanics are fine with depth. Take religion for example. Sinful actions burn the soul, requiring confession from the bishop, and without daily prayer life is not sweet. However, you shouldn’t overdo it either – there is a risk of turning residents into fanatics. Those who are seized with religious ecstasy do not care about any pain – it even brings pleasure. However, if the fanatics are unhappy for any other reason, there will be a riot. The local bishop, although he belongs to the noble class, does not belong to your family, so you should not quarrel with him: the Inquisition will definitely come to the defense of the clergyman, and he is closer to religious commoners than the overlord.
As for the economy, here we have a full-fledged simulation of a closed system. Your residents receive money and buy food and other goods in markets where the player controls prices. Moreover, the only source of gold is a trade caravan that regularly visits the settlement. You have to monitor not only the debit and credit of your faction, but also to ensure that every peasant has money for food at least: poverty leads to a bad mood, and that, in turn, is synonymous with crime. You don’t want the village to turn into a haven for thugs who will steal all the valuables from the treasury?
Don’t forget that your settlement is far from the only one on the world map. There are not only small villages suitable only for collecting tribute, but also cities of other noble families, and the possibilities of interaction with them are reminiscent of Crusader Kings . You can go on a trip for different purposes: just to visit (a heart-to-heart chat will improve your mood and help improve relationships); in search of a bride or groom for the growing offspring; to conclude a trade deal or bribe one of the lords. Neighbors are also trying to interact in a similar way, both with each other and with our faction – the world looks alive.
For lovers of complexity, the developers have prepared a special surprise: after some time, the Unholy Horde appears on the border of the map, sweeping away everything in its path – the confrontation with it should become the final challenge for the player and a test of the strength of the kingdom he has built.
Sometimes it seems that Norland overloaded with features, but for me this is even a plus – I like to learn something new, opening up opportunities as I progress. The problem is that the learning curve here is too steep – everything falls on you at once. Now, of course, this no longer interferes, but at first it’s easy to get lost in learning the mechanics. There is, apparently, no other way – only with this approach can one achieve a simulation of the life not of an individual hero or a handful of colonists, but of an entire settlement in an ever-changing world.
As often happens, the wealth of opportunities comes with technical challenges. If you don’t have to pay much attention to bugs, then the attractive interface in terms of functionality clearly does not keep up with the abundance of features: it’s easy to miss an important detail here. This aspect primarily requires polishing, and in some places – serious changes. Otherwise, it will be quite difficult to play – the barrier to entry here is quite high.
However, the project is very, very promising: it seems that in the full version we will have the same Story Generating Strategy that the developers promise.
