Viking Squad preview

The PAX Prime 2015 Indie Megabooth didn’t disappoint again this year, I guess it never does, or never has anyways. This year I found plenty of fantastic indies, some of which got our “Market Fresh Indies” stamp of approval, and the highlight this post is Slick Entertainment‘s brawler, .

Viking Squad is a three person co-op brawler with emphasis on lanes, move sets, and pillaging. Choose between four vikings who have very different and useful skill sets ranging from shields for blocking and sliding for attacking or escaping.

The combat in Viking Squad is lane based, making hectic combat that many brawlers are known for easier to navigate. Especially when that combat is filled with three giant vikings along with a ridiculous amounts of enemies.

Any game with viking’s isn’t complete without pillaging, and Viking Squad is also centered around that concept. In each game the player is given a procedural generated world where they travel to neighboring lands to pillage treasures. Because the world is procedural you’ll end up fighting new foes and finding new treasure to level up your viking.

One thing that makes Viking Squad immediately stand out and what originally drew me to it was it’s art style. Jesse Turner who I speak with in the interview is the main designer, who’s in charge of making all the viking’s you see look sharp and brutal. Enemies and treasure also have a unique look giving the game it’s own distinct style.

It’s difficult to not compare any brawlers to Castle Crashers, in fact, in some ways it does the other game a disservice since Castle Crashers is in some ways in a league of its own, the game is arguably the best brawler since The Simpsons Arcade and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Arcade. But in Viking Squad’s case, who cares if we compare it to one of the greatest brawlers ever, we need more Castle Crashers, and if the brawler that fills that void happens to be fun and full of viking sweat, well so be it.

Viking Squad from Slick Entertainment will be available for PC and PS4 hopefully as early as spring of 2016.

vikingsquadgame.com