REX Posted September 21, 2023 Share Posted September 21, 2023 even agree to become a more powerful kingdom's vassal. Probably don't do what I did, when I got so angry with another king for trying to blackmail me that I decided to capture him. Three kingdoms declared war straight away, and then a few minutes later the king simply ran away because I'm a total idiot and didn't construct a building to hold prisoners. Bandits and booze My squad of hired heroes performed admirably, cutting down the bandits and rescuing the queen. They even managed to get their hands on some loot. My king did get a bit banged up, though, but quickly cheered up when he got back home to find a new brewery and tavern had been erected. He wasn't the only one who was stoked about the booze. Everyone partied far too hard, and the next morning was an unmitigated disaster. There were a lot of green faces, and while all of my diligent villagers showed up for work, they also brought with them plenty of stomach bile, which they promptly vomited up all over the place. The fields became a swamp of foul-smelling ichor. It was awful. The kingdom's primary boozehound turned out to be the wife of the king's brother. She was the daughter of a neighbouring monarch and her stats suggested she'd be a real boon to the dynasty. And she was very effective, until she got some drink in her. There were snide remarks, fights, and at one point she burst into the library where her husband and brother-in-law were researching new farming techniques, shouted at them and then spewed up all over them. Then she left. People getting vomited on in Norland At the same time, the queen was being bribed by another monarch, reducing her loyalty to the throne. Bribery, blackmail, kidnapping, murder—all the classic Crusader Kings activities are here. It's enough to make you question the concept of marriage, but just like Crusader Kings, heirs are one of the most important resources in the game, so you just have to put up with the risk of betrayal so you can spawn some little goblins to carry on the dynasty. Speaking of which, I felt very embarrassed when I spotted the king and queen getting up to some pixelated hanky panky one evening, complete with Sims-like censoring. I couldn't look them in the eye the next morning. Bribery, blackmail, kidnapping, murder—all the classic Crusader Kings activities are here. Throughout all of this, I was getting news from abroad. A new cult was creating problems, and an army dedicated to evil was marauding through the realms. Larger threats exist to inspire teamwork, where you set aside your grudges and work together with other rulers to take out existential threats. My kingdom never faced a full invasion, but one of my neighbours got completely wiped out, making the threat feel very real. An intimate moment in Norland After 15 in-game days, my time was unfortunately up. I managed to achieve a fair amount in that short space of time, though, and my settlement generated a truly vast amount of vomit. I'm gonna call it a success. I'm itching to see more of Norland. There's a huge amount I still want to dig into, like full-blown wars, peasant revolts and the relationship between kingdoms and the church, which exerts a great deal of control over the world. My own kingdom got its very own bishop near the end of the demo, and he didn't seem to get along with anyone, so I expect that relationship to generate lots of lovely drama—and like Crusader Kings and RimWorld, drama is at the very heart of Norland. It is primarily an emergent storytelling device, and from what I've seen so far, it's shaping up to be a very good one. https://www.pcgamer.com/in-this-mashup-of-crusader-kings-and-rimworld-i-spent-a-huge-amount-of-time-watching-people-vomiting-on-each-other/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts