Nordhold: Origins
- August 30, 2024
- StunForge
- 10h median play time
Get on SteamNordhold: Origins is a tower defense game designed for strategy enthusiasts seeking high replayability with endless combinations. Immerse yourself in managing a medieval Nordic village while enjoying deep tactical gameplay that's accessible yet challenging. 20 Waves of ChallengesExperience a unique version of Nordhold with 20 waves of relentless enemies. Build, strategize, and defend Nordhold thr…
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Reviews
- Nordhold: Origins combines tower defense with city-building and roguelite elements, creating a unique and engaging gameplay experience.
- The game features a variety of towers and upgrades, allowing for diverse strategies and high replayability.
- Players appreciate the balance between resource management and defense, making each run feel rewarding and challenging.
- Some players find the game overly difficult, particularly with certain bosses, leading to frustration and repeated runs.
- The user interface can be inconvenient, with upgrade menus obscuring important tower information during gameplay.
- There are concerns about the game's balance and progression, with some feeling that it requires excessive grinding to unlock upgrades.
- gameplay32 mentions
- 41 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 9 % negative mentions
The gameplay has been praised for its addictive mechanics and innovative blend of tower defense with economic elements, offering a variety of strategies and engaging loops that encourage players to improve over time. However, some users noted issues with repetitiveness and a lack of depth in the demo, alongside suggestions for additional features to enhance castle defense and strategic options. Overall, while the game shows great potential, it could benefit from refinements in mechanics and user interface to elevate the experience further.
“I loved this tower defense game's mechanics; it brought many familiar elements with some interesting wrinkles.”
“The gameplay is simple, yet really addictive, and you always want 'just one more run'.”
“The unusual way that Nordhold combines tower defense and rogue-like gameplay has immediately won me over.”
“But the info on the game is lacking and the gameplay in this demo is a bit too monotonous for me to give a better rating.”
“This game has great potential, but suffers from the same bad game mechanic that is ruining many games: it is not about skill or strategy but how long you play.”
“So it will be the gameplay loop by design: lose, get better, lose, get better, lose, get better,.................. win.”
- replayability10 mentions
- 60 % positive mentions
- 30 % neutral mentions
- 10 % negative mentions
Overall, the game is praised for its high replayability, with many players enjoying the variety of tower combinations, procedural maps, and meta progression that enhance each playthrough. However, some users express concerns about repetitiveness in runs and map design, suggesting that while the game is engaging, it may need further development to maintain long-term replay value.
“A fun and detailed tower defense game with a lot of replayability.”
“Fun and cozy roguelite tower defense with cool tower combinations, great meta progression, high replayability, and quite some depth.”
“Being able to change your economy and tower builds for each run gives a huge amount of replayability.”
“I look forward to seeing what you plan for the late game since replayability is the main issue at the moment, in my humble opinion.”
- graphics10 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 30 % neutral mentions
- 20 % negative mentions
The graphics in the game are generally praised for their beauty and stability, featuring a clean and friendly interface with a pleasing art style. However, some users noted that while the graphics are appealing, they can appear bland or muddy at times, and there is potential for further optimization. Overall, the game strikes a balance between aesthetic appeal and performance, contributing positively to the gameplay experience.
“Some of the best graphics in a tower defense game I've played.”
“The graphics are pretty and the game runs stable.”
“Clean graphics with smooth running and replayability.”
“Given that the graphics aren’t very demanding, it seems like there’s still significant room for optimization.”
“The aesthetic here is bland and muddy.”
- music3 mentions
- 67 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 33 % negative mentions
The music in the game is noted for being both unnerving and unsettling during gameplay, enhancing the overall atmosphere. Additionally, players appreciate the meaningful integration of music with run-changing upgrades, making it a standout feature in the tower defense genre. Overall, the music has received positive feedback for its impact on the gaming experience.
“Music, and meaningful run-changing upgrades make Nordhold a tower defense game to watch for.”
“I really like the music!”
“The music and sound effects during waves are very unnerving and unsettling.”
- optimization2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game currently faces optimization issues, particularly with memory leaks that can lead to crashes after extended playtime, despite its relatively undemanding graphics. There is potential for improvement in this area.
“Given that the graphics aren’t very demanding, it seems like there’s still significant room for optimization.”
“It does suffer from some problems with optimization at the moment, mainly memory leaks (it reached about 4GB usage after 6 hours, after which it crashed).”
- grinding2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect somewhat tedious due to the repetitive back-and-forth movement between the mouse and the homebase, though it remains enjoyable as they learn and unlock bonuses. Some suggest that using keyboard shortcuts could alleviate the monotony.
“If I had to say something bad: the back and forth with the mouse to your TD area and the home base is a bit tedious after a while. However, I play it only via mouse; you could press a key that is defined for that.”
“Grinding can be fun to learn, but it becomes repetitive when trying to unlock all the bonuses.”
