Tribes of Midgard Season 2: Serpent Saga review - Jormungandr arrives in the realms of Midgard

Tribes of Midgard's latest season, the Serpent Saga, is releasing on December 14 and is bringing a boatload of new content to the base game. Dropping right at the beginning of the holiday season, the Serpent Saga will re-imagine the world of Midgard with a holiday theme, along with new challenges, enemies, and saga boss.

Recently, Norsfell Games, the developers behind Tribes of Midgard, announced that they have had more than one million copies sold. The tremendous number of Einherjars in the realm of Midgard showcases the popularity of Tribes of Midgard and the Wolf Saga. The second season is set to build upon the success and expand on the Viking experience already present in Tribes of Midgard.

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Tribes of Midgard: "You are an Einherjar, chosen by the Gods for this very moment."

The Nordic cooperative survival RPG was launched on July 27 earlier this year. The game allows up to ten players to form a Viking band to fight against enemies such as Helthings, giants, trolls, and dark elves. The procedurally generated world allows players to collect resources for crafting.

Players can go out during the day to gather resources. At night, enemies will spawn around the village and attack the settlement to try and destroy the seed of Yggdrasil. Players have to protect the seed from these spawns. The difficulty of this increases as the days pass.

The Jotnar, or giants, in Tribes of Midgard slowly lumbers from one point on the map towards the player's settlement. The player is alerted the moment it spawns. The best option is to chip away its health before it gets to the settlement. Players are also advised to learn about the terrain or the path the giant is taking to plan accordingly.

There are two modes for players to engage in - Saga mode and the Survival mode. In the former, the players have to complete a number of quests to unlock the final boss of the selected saga. In the latter, the players simply have to survive against hordes of enemies while defending the seed of Yggdrasil.

The arrival of the World Serpent

Jormungandr, the World Serpent in Norse mythology arrives as the new Saga Boss. He joins his sibling, Fenrir, in the realm of Midgard. The final arena where Jormugandr arrives, an unfinished stone platform with a hole in the middle, is visually striking in creating the appropriate awe around the boss.

A clever nod to the mythos (Image via Sportskeeda)

Norsfell has also made several nods to the existing lore around Jormugandr by introducing a bait, called Thor's bait in the game, that is required to be dropped to summon him. The poison-spitting boss has unique lines that he utters during the fight. There's also a scaled tail that the player has to be wary of.

Sailing, swimming, and new features

With the Serpent Saga, the Shipyard, located on the Ash Beach biome, will have the option to be rebuilt. Once done, the players can use their resources to craft boat kits and sail into the seas. There are three types of boats available at the moment - Faering, Karve and Drakkar.

Three types of boats (Image via Tribes of Midgard)

The ships are controlled via toggling the sails open or close. One has to be careful about the shallow reefs that one can crash into and the enemies on the reefs that keep on firing arrows at the ship.

Exploration via sea is a mythical aspect of any Viking experience, and it is lovely to see this be introduced to the world of Tribes of Midgard. The developers have done a mighty job in creating a realistic experience of the open seas accompanied by appropriate music.

With the open seas now a beckoning prospect, players can also find merchants and new beacon camps. Norsfell states:

The expanded map allows you to discover new lands full of resources, enemies, and loot. However, there is also a greater challenge, as you will have to traverse this expanded world to unlock and defeat the Saga Boss before Fimbulwinter.

With the new update, players will also have the option to swim. This was missing in the first season as the dire nature of water became a meme for the Tribes of Midgard community. Water was ranked higher than the Giants and even Fenrir on a list of the toughest enemies in the game.

Julian Maroda, CEO and Creative Director of Norsfell, explained that they were aware of the issue and have changed that with the new saga. Swimming will help anyone who has accidentally fallen into water or who needs to make a short trip across. Swimming depletes the stamina gauge, though.

Once the stamina is exhausted, players will start taking damage. This is an interesting aspect of Tribes of Midgard because, during that time, players can drink potions for buffs and regenerations.

Although the game is still significantly harder to play solo, the developers have added fortifications to the village right from the get-go. This allows for some respite during the first few nights to deal with the hordes of spawns.

Performance and graphics

Tribes of Midgard Season 2: Serpent Saga was played on PC that had the following system specifications:

Processor: Intel Core i5-9400F
RAM: 8 GB DDR4
GPU: Nvidia GeForce 1060 OC 6GB
Hard Drive Space: 1 TB + 240 GB SSD

Tribes of Midgard is an absolute visual delight for the players to jump into. The distinct nature of the world is carefully depicted with varying biomes and characters from Norse mythology.

Conclusion

The session-based nature of the game makes it an interesting adventure for a group of players. On top of that, the vivid esthetics of the game coupled with its immersive use of Norse mythology makes it a must-pick for any player interested in the genre.

A Viking party (Image via Tribes of Midgard)

The new saga does an excellent job at further building on the inculcation of the Norse mythos into the world-building of Tribes of Midgard. The addition of the World Serpent will be a welcome move considering the present interest of players in games dealing with Norse mythology.

The fast-paced rogue-like combat of the game plays out seamlessly with the plethora of weapons, armors and runes available at the disposal of the players once they have enough resources. Season 2 is bringing new weapons, armor and five new runes to bring the game's total to 40 runes.

The primary concern in the game is the difficulty of solo-playing in Tribes of Midgard. Although things like difficulty and the HP of the giants are scaled according to the number of players present in a session, the solo-player experience is nevertheless significantly harder with the pace the game sets.

Irrespective of that, the world of Tribes of Midgard is an exhilarating experience for any fan of Norse mythology to hack and slash in. Their mechanics make it a refreshing take on the genre, and with each update, they realize more and more of their dream of creating the 'ultimate Viking sandbox.'

Tribes of Midgard Season 2: Serpent Saga

Reviewed on: PC (Review Code provided by Norsfell Games).

Platform: Windows, Playstation 4, Playstation 5.

Developer: Norsfell Games.

Publisher: Gearbox Publishing.

About the author

Angshuman is an Assistant Content Manager, Gaming, at Sportskeeda with a specialized focus on Pokemon. While completing his Master's degree in English Literature, Angshuman's research topics primarily included the many facets of game studies. That, along with his love for the medium which he believes to be the pinnacle of storytelling, led him to become a writer in the genre.

Angshuman prefers both solo and multiplayer titles on PC and PS5. His love for gaming stemmed from playing Bounce and God of War on mobile phones, and on to Age of Empires and Zoo Tycoon on PC. If he ever wished to convert a gaming cynic into a admirer, he would recommend indie games because of their versatility and their ability to be unaffected by genre-stifling publisher expectations.

Angshuman has interviewed several indie game developers in his career, spoken at many conferences, and contributed to book chapters. In his capacity to create highly accurate content, he thoroughly researches a topic, tracks citations until he finds the original source, and ensures his content doesn't misrepresent, misquote, or appropriate information.

In his spare time, Angshuman enjoys story writing, shooting landscapes and short films, reading, and painting.

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Edited by Yasho Amonkar