In these times of intense heat, we need freshness. That's why I offer you the intense and cruel cold of Frozenheim, a unique adventure that will make you embody Vikings. Ready? Grab your down jacket and let's go!
History
After your brother's betrayal, you must flee and rebuild your clan from scratch with all the losses from the storm that has come upon you to overwhelm you further. But what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, and that will be all the more true the more cruel and ferocious your revenge will be.
My opinion: the proposed story is really interesting and offers us something powerful, wild that will push you to really continue again and again. A real plus for me.
Graphics & atmosphere
Graphically, the game shows us clean and well-stocked environments, which go hand in hand with the atmosphere of the game. We really feel the seasons and the climate that emanates from them. At the level of the constructions, we remain in something simple, but coherent in relation to the people and the period concerned. It's quite nice and, despite some slightly ridiculous sounds, it's still far from bad.
Gameplay
After a tutorial that shows you the main part of the game, you'll find yourself wanting to do the campaign that starts out strong. You will have to start small and quickly build what it takes to survive in this hostile environment. To do this, you will conventionally have to evolve your buildings to obtain others that will be useful for better units, improvements and, after a while, your clan. This clan offers you to choose from four that will give you significant bonuses and will guide your gameplay accordingly.
But that won't necessarily help you if you don't take into account the environment around you and the resource management that goes with it. Trees don't grow back (except with Freya's blessing), stone doesn't respawn, neither does metal. Animals will be more present in certain seasons than in others and this will require planning. Because many are the producer buildings which will cease their activities in winter, just like the warriors who will suffer from the cold. So you'll have to deal with the hunger, the discontent, because when your soldiers die, if you don't have a mound, you're going to have to keep the bodies at home... and nobody likes that, I think. You will have to calm the people, feed their faith and, for the recalcitrant, offer feasts based on barbaque and mead.
It's quite interesting to see that the season system will really impact the gameplay and make the already complicated games difficult and will only get worse at times. The resource system will require a bit of adaptation because, as in some games, the addition is not immediate to your stock. Indeed, once cut, the wood for example must be brought back and will depend on the number of people you have assigned to your building. Your many combat units such as lumberjacks, spearmen, archers or even scouts among many others will allow you to fight, handle siege weapons or even navigate with your powerful longships and perform grandiose naval battles. Note that a blessing from the temple will grant you the power to cast Ragnarök... even if I haven't dared to do so yet.
In the event of an attack, your village can defend itself with the soldiers... or with an improvised militia which will have to limit the damage. In addition to this, it will be necessary to take into account the fires which will sometimes be started with arrows or siege weapons. But don't worry, if you put people in the wells, it will be possible to stem them. But the only way to really live in peace will obviously be to finish your objectives. It is possible to create custom games to train for the campaign, or to face other players. I personally created a game with an average ally and a weak enemy to introduce myself to the techniques of the game.
Summary
Between the story, the interesting gameplay and the really good atmosphere, I find that Frozenheim is a game that has its charm and, for my part, I have a little crush. Although it does not revolutionize the genre and it is far from the tenors and not as complete as a Tropico for example, it remains a safe bet for fans of the genre who want to get started in this type of game. he will take you to shivering lands, he will surely not leave you cold...
