| Bad North | |
| Developer: | Plausible Concept |
| Publisher: | Raw Fury |
| Platforms: | Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, iOS, Android |
| Genre: | Real-time strategy |
| Modes: | Single-player |
Bad North is a real-time strategy video game developed by Plausible Concept (a game studio in Malmö, Sweden, founded by Oskar Stålberg and Richard Meredith) and published by Raw Fury. The game was released on August 20, 2018, for the Nintendo Switch, then for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on August 28. A Microsoft Windows version was released on October 16, 2018. Versions for Android and iOS followed on October 16, 2019.[1]
Bad North focuses on real-time tactics gameplay. The main goals are to defend the player's kingdom from the attacking Viking invaders who killed the king and to guide the island's people to evacuate.[2] The procedurally generated islands are divided into multiple tiles and have houses with Vikings attacking from any corner, so the player's strategy must be well planned to get the opportunity to save the people from the enemy by protecting the houses. The Viking invaders will chuck torches into the houses, and if they burn completely the player will not earn coins for those houses. Coins are needed to get upgrades for units and level up commanders' defenses. The player can also pick up items (represented as question marks in the map) and add new commanders to the army.[3] [4]
The game offers Easy, Normal, and Hard difficulty options. A "Very Hard" option can be unlocked by completing the game on Hard.[5] A free expansion for Bad North called "Jotunn Edition" was released in July 2019.[6]
Bad North received "mixed or average reviews" according to Metacritic.[7] The game was nominated for "Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year" at the 22nd Annual D.I.C.E. Awards.[8]