Frozenheim (PC) Review

Frozenheim does a few interesting things to the RTS genre, but largely feels derivative and really needed to be in development longer as it feels rushed out the door. Playing the role of a guiding figure of a small Norse tribe, players slowly build up a small village. Managing resources, attackers and defence, you must eventually take out the enemy to win.

On the face of it, the graphics are pretty good. Forests look nice, and it truly feels like the north with all the snow and heavy forests. There are seasons, and it's pretty cool to watch the transition. Small touches like seeing pathways in the snow belie some degree of detail the team put into the game. It is strange though, as some other parts need some serious work as they fail simple RTS conventions. For example, the simple act of moving the map is frustratingly hard. Placing the mouse at the edge of the map has far too long of a lag, and trying to drag the mini-map only works part of the time.

Given how important and rare certain resources are, not seeing them on the map feels like a simple oversight. Ultimately, just doing simple things takes too many clicks, or is buried behind too many menus. The simple act of gathering resources takes a specific building to be built then it has to be staffed. Then they have to mine, then you need to staff other guys to come pick up these resources, then you need other guys to staff the housing area that made the guys in the first place… it's all unnecessary. A couple of positives that are present in the game is the appearance of free random resources scattered across the map. These provide an impetus to get out there first. One other was the presence of seasons, and while they actually have a very small effect, they add a nice feeling of time and progress.

Fundamentally, this still feels like it needed to be in development longer. Simple stuff like only a few units types, the aforementioned problems with scrolling the map, complicated economies - all of it are small little knocks that combine to tear it down. Keep in mind this never was that good to begin with, and these things really just ruin it. The theme is a little interesting, but it doesn't feel any different or any better. Even consider Age of Mythology had the Norse in that, and it felt so much better… and that was almost 20 years ago.