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We Want Vikings…and We Want Them Now!

We Want Vikings…and We Want Them Now!

Popular culture is incredibly fluid, and it’s ever-changing. While vampires and werewolves may have enjoyed the most recent surge of popularity, they weren’t always at the top of the ladder. Pirates and ninjas used to be some of the most popular subjects of films and other media. Other popular tropes have included cowboys, soldiers, and knights. One of the more current trends seems to go even further back. I’m talking about Vikings.

Vikings have been included in video games fairly frequently over time, but it seems they might finally be having their major moment in the sun. For Honor is the best and most recent example of this, as vikings are one of the original hero classes in the game. Who doesn’t want to be an epic viking smashing in the skulls of samurai and knights in metal armor? Another recent, but not as highly regarded, game that featured the Norse muscle men and women is Vikings: Wolves of Midgard . To a degree, you could even say that Horizon Zero Dawn has had some viking influences. Prior to all of these there was the popular Banner Saga series. Vikings have also of course been very popular in film and television in recent years. The biggest example being the History Channel series Vikings . Even children’s films include vikings, like How to Tame Your Dragon .

There’s an upcoming game created by the people who gave us Heavenly Sword and DmC: Devil May Cry . They’re calling it an “independent AAA” game. Reason being, it’s made by experienced industry professionals and the video quality at least looks comparable to the upcoming Death Stranding . Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, from Ninja Theory, is a stunning looking game with a female viking as the main character. With this, it’s clear that the Viking popularity is going nowhere anytime soon.

If Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is received widely and positively it could spark another surge of viking-themed video games. It’s a type of people that have not gotten super wide coverage in the video game sphere. Just little dabblings here and there continually. And yet, this is the type of character that I want to see really take off. They were a strong people, a commanding people, and yet we haven’t taken advantage of that to the fullest in video games.

We Want Vikings…and We Want Them Now!

While video game adaptations of films and television shows usually turn out badly, I’d still love to see a developer take a crack at making one based on the History Channel Vikings ‘ show. There’s enough there that it could turn out fantastic. Make it an open-world role-playing game based in the Vikings ‘ universe where you can visit Kattegat and the main characters of the show. With the right people behind it, it could be a huge success.

At the least let’s keep making games like For Honor that include vikings as playable characters. We’ve done knights and samurai and ninjas and pirates almost to death, it’s time for vikings to have their day in the sun. I want to fight and die honorably for Valhalla and I know I’m certainly not the only one. Raise your axes and hammers high my fellow viking warriors and let’s tell those developers what we want!

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