Norland
PREVIEW
42
Youstartwith a misfit noble family.
Getting to customise their skills,
personality traits, andappearance is a
given, with othercharacter attributes “still
in development”, Glaznev tells me.As your
family grows, they’ll pass on the “talents
and curses” of their lineage,
assuming theylive long enough.
Your family represents themost
direct control you’llhave in Norland.
In order to get things done,you’ll
have to give ordersto eachmember,
sending them offto different parts of your
realm. They can managebuilding projects,
train troops, writebooks, and more. Each
lower tierof character becomes more
abstracted, with warriors controlled as
part of an army or set toguard things, and
peasants only influencedby wages.
When it comes to your kingdom,
Norlandfocuses more onthe macro, with
prefab buildings. “Since we have a
city-builder atour core, we can’t
customise buildings,” Glaznev explained.
“You have to recognise them quickly.
Therefore, buildingsare only
supplemented with details as they are
upgraded.” Expect the usual city builderroutines – production, controlling prices,
and trying to keep your peasants’
oppression and happiness balanced.
Your peasants’ morale and protection
are critical, butjust like youthey’re one
fish in thebigger pond.On thelarger world
map, other kingdoms are a constant
threat – and opportunity – for you todeal
with. It looks like you’ll be spending your
time on the largermap making decisions
on different events,from plagues to
disasters,as well asdiscovering chances
to interact withother leaders –whether
making war, diplomacy, or quietly
assassinating them.IN THE KNOW
My favourite partof colony sims isthe
struggle for progress –straining for a
certain resource or tech only to have a fire,
boar attack, orillnessset youback. When
I askedGlaznevabout technology, I
learned Norlandwill be less linear, “We
decided not to makea hierarchical tree of
technology, but rather a network system
more characteristic of the early middle
ages. Knowledge is contained in books or
in the minds of characters. When a
character accumulates certain skills,
he can write a new book, which can
be sold or rewritten. Also, one can
buy and rewrite books written by
other authors, gainingnew
knowledge. Knowledgecan also be lost.”
The idea of Norlandsimulating the
possibilityof things like a dark age, orthe
theft of important schematics,is an
excitingone – plenty of potential for
shennanigans and lamentable screw-ups.
At the centre of every memorable
empire ordynastyI’ve hadin a game is a
collection of funny and tragic stories, ones
that unfoldedfrom themisadventures of
my characters. Glaznev is alreadyfinding
those stories in the current build of
Norland. He tellsme about a playthrough
where akind wife of the abusive king
snapped andmurdered him in the night,
before running off tothe temple to pray –
and thenhaving to bring her back to her
senses to not alienate the rest of the
family wholiked her.
The heartof Norlandis sure to be how
these narrativesunfold – if it can live upto
Glaznev’s ambitions, it’ll bea wonderful
place towrite new histories.
Philip PalmerT
his clever sim lets you manage a
medieval kingdom through a royal family
of avatars. What has me intrigued is all
the stories it can create – the medieval
setting is a messy sandbox for catty rivalries
between clans and nobles, and the more I spoke
with developer Dmitry Glaznev, the more excited
at the possibilities I became.
Keeping medieval management
all in the family
NORLAND
OTHER KINGDOMS ARE A
THREAT – AND OPPORTUNITY
– FOR YOU TO DEAL WITH
RELEASE
Autumn
DEVELOPER
Long JauntPUBLISHER
In-houseLINK
norlandgame.com