Sons of Valhalla review - A war-time effort on a basic but effective foundation

Taking inspiration from the indie hit Kingdom Two Lands, Sons of Valhalla from developer Pixel Chest aims to deliver another medieval story, this time taking a page from Norse mythology. In this short pixel-art adventure, players conquer lands across England in a bid to save their loved one who has been abducted by corrupt forces.

Described as a combat and base-building game with a Viking Age setting, Sons of Valhalla aims to cater to fans of the Kingdom games - but will it appeal to non-fans or just newcomers to the tower defense, base-building, and strategy genres? Let's find out.

Stepping into the war-hardened soles of Thorald Olavson, a Viking warrior who must hunt down the Jarl that destroyed his village and kidnapped his wife Rayna. While he finds himself in Valhalla amidst the presence of the god Odin, he cannot yet pass away - for Thorald will stop at nothing to bring back his beloved.

As such, stepping down from the Bifrost with the All-Father's blessing, he must rebuild what was lost and march towards victory. Sons of Valhalla is a side-scroller with basic hack & slash elements. Players will construct bases and outposts, raise structures to sustain a militaristic village, and train soldiers to help their cause.

This is done by capturing enemies' encampments and making them friendly so more resources can be gathered.

To start, there are a few varied resources to keep track of:

The Mead Hall will be the HQ of the base, where most major town upgrades are situated. However, players will find themselves establishing a bit of every structure as each serves an important purpose. While Wood and Fish are resources obtained periodically, building Lumber sites and Fishing Huts grants increased resource flow and stock size.

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