In my short time with Tribes of Midgard, I trekked through some of the procedurally generated world which sports a handful of biomes. I also came across a curious golden egg rune, which didn’t do anything at the time, but I’m sure there’s a small mystery waiting to be solved with it.

While I found all my runes out in the world, the golden horns you receive from defeating Jötnar allow you to buy some when beginning a Saga to give your Einherjar a little head start. I was lucky on this run because after I picked my class, I started coming across Runes which increased my damage when attacking from afar. Runes are items you pick up to give modifications to your character and are a natural companion to classes. Shooting a bow allowed me to safely launch volleys of arrows at my enemies, but because I was attacking at such a fast rate, my bows would break very quickly, making the reduced degradation skills a must-have. The Ranger class specializes in using a bow and arrow to dispatch of enemies, opening a path to perks that decrease weapon degradation, increase moving speed, and allow for arrows to pierce through multiple enemies. For the purpose of this demo, we were only given access to the Warrior and Ranger classes, of which I chose the latter to level up. These fights will put your skills to the test, and if you’re playing with a group, you’ll need as many swords, bows, and hammers you can get to take it down before it reaches the village.Įinherjar have eight classes to choose from in each run, which you can unlock by achieving certain feats throughout the Saga Mode. We elected scouts to go out and find out what kind of threat we were facing, and were greeted with Jarnsaxa, a Jötnar who controls orbs of electricity and transforms into an imposing air elemental. When one of these enormous giants appear, an icon appears on your minimap reminding you of its looming presence. Out in the world we fought the likes of goblin encampments and savage animals, but the lumbering threat slowly making its way across the map was our greatest challenge: the mighty Jötnar. As the days go on, nights get longer and longer as the endless winter and darkness approaches. At night, however, you’re drawn back to protect the settlement from the demonic Helthings. Each day you venture further out to collect minerals, wood, and other materials to build new weapons, armor, and fortifications for the settlement. Luckily, you never start far from the village, your main hub in the world where townsfolk can craft new items and equipment from the spoils you find while adventuring. When we first began our journey in Tribes of Midgard, our characters spawned mostly naked in the middle of the forest where scavenging for twigs and stones was necessary to create simple tools a familiar loop for survivalists. The idea is for players to hop in, last as long as you’re able, hopefully slay a giant or three, and leave with some persistent rewards to enhance your future runs. In this mode, up to ten players fight to survive during Ragnorok as Eiherjar against massive giants known as Jötnar and hordes of Helthings are bent on destroying the Seed of Yggdrasil which lies in your village. Sagas are designed to last a handful of hours, making it a manageable experience for friends to get together for an evening and make some progress on their seasonal reward track. My time with Tribes of Midgard spanned the first two hours of its Saga mode. Cooperative survival is a refreshing concept for me, especially after the past year where virtual get-togethers with friends to play Among Us or Rust were wrought with treachery and trolling. He and his team are aiming to mold a new genre of more approachable and cooperative kind of survival game where people don’t have to worry about having their back stabbed by another player. Earlier this week, I was able to go hands on with the upcoming Tribes of Midgard, with Creative Director and Norsfell CEO, Julian Maroda.

Tribes of midgard initial release date