History VideoGame / BadNorth

Once upon a time, there was a chain of small islands ruled by a king, until one day, the Viking invaders came and slew him. His heir prepares to repel the invasion in spite of badly outnumbered, needing not just a single victory, but a series of them against an unrelenting foe that'll gladly take over whatever you are not able to defend with your limited troops.

That is the basic idea of ''Bad North'', a minimalist {{Roguelike}} [=/=] RealTimeStrategy hybrid that was developed in UsefulNotes/{{Unity}} by Plausible Concept, and released for UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch on August 20th, 2018. It was then ported to UsefulNotes/PS4, UsefulNotes/XboxOne and for [[UsefulNotes/IBMPersonalComputer PC]] through Platform/{{Steam}} on August 28th, 2018. ''Bad North: [[UpdatedRerelease Jotunn Edition]]'' followed on October 15th, 2019; that version was also ported to [[UsefulNotes/IOSGames iOS]] and UsefulNotes/{{Android|Games}} on the same day.

!!Tropes used in Bad North:

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Each unit's commanders are much tougher than the warriors under their command.
* CheckPoint: Every randomly generated map has a few special islands on it. Going there results in a tough battle, but succeeding saves your progress, and allows you to replay the game from immediately after that battle instead of simply re-rolling the entire campaign.

* EliteMook: The Vikings with teardrop yellow shields have no weaknesses: They can shield themselves from arrows, throw axes to break up pike lines, and can hold their own against infantry. Only pincer maneouvres or special abilities are particularly effective against them.

* GlassCannon: The [[DualWielding double sworded]] vikings don't have any protection, so your archers can slaughter them with impunity as they sail in. You'll want to do this, because if they manage to get to your infantry they'll wreak merry hell on them.

* HollywoodTactics: The Vikings always have a numerical advantage over your warriors, but they don't always capitalize on it during the battles, and will often just send out their ships separately from each other, allowing you to outnumber and slaughter the raiding parties.

* RapePillageAndBurn: Sometimes, the Vikings will ignore your troops and just straight-up head for the houses on the island to torch them. Every house they manage to burn down reduces the gold yield from controlling that island, so it's possible to win a PyrrhicVictory where you are stuck with a useless island.
** It can work the other way around too - if your troops are clearly about to get overwhelmed by the Viking hordes, you can get into the leftover boats from the earlier waves you slaughtered, and flee in them to fight another day. By that point, the Vikings are likely to be too consumed with torching everything to pay you much attention.

* DemonicSpiders: ''Giant archers''. Typically only appearing in the later half of a game, these guys will give you an aneurysm every time they show up. In addition to the extra health of their much more manageable melee cousins, they pack a wallop of a ranged attack with enough range to start sniping you almost as soon as their ship comes into view. More akin to a ballista than a bow, their shots can pierce multiple unshielded men, carry enough knockback to send even a shielded soldier flying off a cliff or into the water and even have a chance of just killing a soldier through his shield! Their shots have a very flat trajectory, however, so your best chance is to hide your troops behind whatever cover they can and bum rush them with sword and boarders as soon as they hit the shore.

That is the basic idea of ''Bad North'', a minimalist {{Roguelike}} [=/=] RealTimeStrategy hybrid that was developed in UsefulNotes/{{Unity}} by Plausible Concept, and released for UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch on August 20th, 2018. It was then ported to UsefulNotes/PS4, UsefulNotes/XboxOne and for [[UsefulNotes/IBMPersonalComputer PC]] through UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} on August 28th, 2018. ''Bad North: [[UpdatedRerelease Jotunn Edition]]'' followed on October 15th, 2019; that version was also ported to [[UsefulNotes/IOSGames iOS]] and UsefulNotes/{{Android|Games}} on the same day.

* BladeOnAStick: The Pikemen, who possess great advantage over basic fighters and infantry due to the great reach of their weapons, but are highly vulnerable to archers since they are unable to block their arrows. Moreover, they cannot attack on the move (unless you use up their precious "Charge!" skill), so once you pick a direction for them to defend, you better hope they don't suddenly get flanked by another squad of Infantry.

That is the basic idea of ''Bad North'', a minimalist {{Roguelike}} [=/=] RealTimeStrategy hybrid that was developed in UsefulNotes/{{Unity}} by Plausible Concept, and released for UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch on August 20th, 2018. It was then ported to UsefulNotes/PS4, UsefulNotes/XboxOne and for [[UsefulNotes/IBMPersonalComputer PC]] through UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} on August 28th, 2018. ''Bad North: [[UpdatedRerelease Jotunn Edition]]'' followed on October 15th, 2019; that version was also ported to [[UsefulNotes/IOSGames iOS]] and [[AndroidGames Android]] on the same day.

* KnightlySwordAndShield: The Infantry. They are extremely effective point-blank, but may have trouble getting there, as they are outranged by both archers and even Pikemen. While the latter aren't very scary because of the shields' protection, the pikemen will always defeat the swordsmen with all else being equal.

* GiantMook: The Vikings have some fighters who are visibly larger than the standard units of their type, and have correspondingly greater health and damage to boot.

* HollywoodTactics: The Vikings pretty always have a numerical advantage over your warriors, but they don't always capitalize on it during the battles, and will often just send out their ships separately from each other, allowing you to outnumber and slaughter the raiding parties.

The king of the land is dead at the hands of Viking invaders. You rise up to take your father’s place as ruler and prepare yourself to defend against further attack.

That is the basic idea of ''Bad North'', a {{Roguelike}} AdventureGame for UsefulNotes/PlayStation4, UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, UsefulNotes/XboxOne, UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}, iPhone, and Android released in summer 2018. The game has players planning strategically to take down Viking Invaders without a loss of their own personal army.
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!!Tropes used in ''Bad North'':

* LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe: Shield-wielding Infantry can block arrows from Archer units.
* RainOfArrows: "Volley", the basic skill for the Archer class, bombards a targeted section of the map with arrows.

The king of the land is dead at the hands of Viking invaders. You rise up to take your father’s place as ruler and prepare yourself to defend against further attack. That is the basic idea of ''Bad North'', a {{Roguelike}} AdventureGame for UsefulNotes/PlayStation4, UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, UsefulNotes/XboxOne, UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}, iPhone, and Android released in summer 2018. The game has players planning strategically to take down Viking Invaders without a loss of their own personal army.

* RainOfArrows: "Volley", the basic skill for the Archer class, bombards a targeted section of the map with arrows.

The king of the land is dead at the hands of Viking invaders. You rise up to take your father’s place as ruler and prepare yourself to defend against further attack. That is the basic idea of ''Bad North'', a {{Roguelike}} Adventure Game for UsefulNotes/PlayStation4, UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, UsefulNotes/XboxOne, UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}, iPhone, and Android released in summer 2018. The game has players planning strategically to take down Viking Invaders without a loss of their own personal army.

The king of the land is dead at the hands of Viking invaders. You rise up to take your father’s place as ruler and prepare yourself to defend against further attack. That is the basic idea of ''Bad North'', a roguelike adventure game for UsefulNotes/PlayStation4, UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, UsefulNotes/XboxOne, UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}, iPhone, and Android released in summer 2018. The game has players planning strategically to take down Viking Invaders without a loss of their own personal army.

The king of the land is dead at the hands of Viking invaders. You rise up to take your father’s place as ruler and prepare yourself to defend against further attack. That is the basic idea of ''Bad North'', a rougelike adventure game for UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}, iPhone, and Android released in summer 2018. The game has players planning strategically to take down Viking Invaders without a loss of their own personal army.

The king of the land is dead at the hands of Viking invaders. You rise up to take your father’s place as ruler and prepare yourself to defend against further attack. That is the basic idea of ''Bad North'', a rougelike adventure game for UsefulNotesNintendoSwitch, UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}, UsefulNotes/iPhone, and UsefulNotes/Android released in summer 2018. The game has players planning strategically to take down Viking Invaders without a loss of their own personal army.