When entering the territory of real-time strategy games, the genre can appear quite overwhelming. Many come with an overstimulating amount of things to keep track of, as well as clunky UI and the occasional wily AI. There are plenty of fun options, however, like the popular Age of Empires or Clash of Clans.

A lot of RTS games have similar theming, usually revolving around military factions or versing space creatures. However, Landnama, developed by Sonderland, takes an alternate approach. Certainly on the nonviolent side of things, Landnama could be a great introduction to this genre while serving as a way to entertainingly pass the time.

Landnama can be played on PC, Steam, Android, the PlayStation 5, the Xbox Series X/S, and the Nintendo Switch.

No guest shall stay in one place forever

The game begins with a simplified historical tale set in the 9th century: Norse Vikings sailed the seas to reach the remote, “uninhabited wilds” of Iceland, fostering new settlements and turning over a new leaf. “Some found success in their new home, while others succumbed to the punishing winter.” The fates of these settlers were recorded in the “great book of Landnama” in which the player is enacting.

There will be a variety of different clans to play as during a “saga.” This includes Snorri (the Craftsmen) and Grimur (the Wise), who are renowned for their building capabilities. Avangur (the Devout) are considerably spiritual and can build Gothi anywhere but the glaciers. Sigbjorn (the Stewards) are “careful and deliberate” and have bonuses related to resource production. Hrosskell (the Iceborn) are more equipped to deal with harsh winters. Sigridur (the Bulls) have a “high risk and high reward” mentality. Orlygur (the Rangers) traverse lands efficiently and Dufthakur (the Curious) also enjoy exploration. Finally, Helga (the Bears) have a low-risk mentality and prefer security, but players have to begin their saga with Helga before unlocking others.

At the start, players get to select a region to venture within Iceland. Each region has its own type of biome, difficulty, and their landmarks will have a certain saga effect. For example, the wetland region Faxafloi is supposedly the easiest. Each landmark there offers +1 explorer, meaning a bit less travel time. On the contrary, the Hornafjordur black-sand beach region is a glacier biome and has the most vicious winter toll. Succeed in all six regions to complete a saga.

Winter is coming . . .

Landnama is considered a roguelike, survival strategy game, in which the map will be constantly different each time you play. Players want to make sure that their settlement survives the years that go by, because if at least three clans die out, the entire saga fails.

The game is not complicated and features a simple economy system. The only resource you must keep track of is heart. Heart is used for everything, from exploring to building to production to even survival.

If you are not a fan of being cooked by raids and attacks, do not fret: Landnama features no combat. Clans are simply there to exist and thrive . . . well, aside from having to face the rush of the notorious Icelandic winters.

The game constantly runs on the clock. Once the season hits winter, it will take its toll. With each passing year, the winter’s toll expands, and more of your settlement’s hearts will be taken. It is difficult to prevent these effects: certain clan types may mitigate this better, or players could use the scarce Vegvisir stave. Really, just make sure to stock up on hearts. Use them wisely, but do not waste in excess amounts either.

Settlers of Sudurland

Landnama‘s map are tiles. Players click these tiles to explore them which can turn out to be new kinds of geography, such as forests, glaciers, and bogs. The land piece will allow players to build from a certain set of structures suitable for that biome. For example, longships can be built on sea tiles and sacred hallow groves can be constructed in forests. Most importantly, “home” sites will increase heart capacity. However, building more and more houses can become quite expensive.

Revealing new tiles also unlocks events, curiosities, or landmarks. Landmarks grant clan-specific bonuses, and the events can be positive or negative. The harder the difficulty, the increased chance of “cursed” or negative effects. This can hinder production, destory buildings, or make the winter toll worse.

What Landnama is lacking is more diversity in the stakes. Only a couple of events can honestly happen, and they are not too difficult to recover from. Since hearts are the lone investment, it does not seem to matter what kinds of buildings the player decides to construct. Most structures provide the same harvest, and while some have individual benefits (e.g., tanner production causes a 25% reduction in exploration time), it is kind of negligible in the grand scheme of things. When a building burns down, I never wished that I decided to build something else. I could just say, “oh well,” and leave it destroyed, or just make the same structure. My decisions felt inconsequential.

Overall, in order to complete a saga, a clan has to get their main farmstead to transform into a great hall. Once players figure out how to achieve this, the process pretty much repeats itself, regardless of the region and/or clan you chose.

Cold and distant

The aesthetic is ambient but bland, both audibly and visually. To be frank, Landnama appears to have the same sort of art style akin to a lot of simple Scandinavian-based games. The music is soothing, but gives off a cold, lonesome vibe at the same time. The game does run smoothly and looks fine for what it is, but I think that Landnama could have had more artistic potential. Another wish would be to actually see little settlers roaming around. Players cannot look at the members of the clan they chose, only buildings and geography. A cool mechanic could have been watching the clan do the work, walk and talk, or have any semblance of personhood.

To be concise, Landnama feels a bit empty.

It is fortunate to be favored

Landnama features five different difficulty settings, called “Hagalaz.” Hagalaz 4 is the most challenging, with a 100% chance for events to be negative, and loads of hearts are needed for resources and survival. However, the game overall is not that difficult. Even within confusion on my first playthrough, on the Hagalaz 1 setting, I got by easily. It is one of those games where “harder” means winning is up to chance.

Like a lot of RTS games, the gameplay becomes repetitive and stagnant. There is only so much one can do. Landnama is really fun and chill at first, blasting through your first several clans and claiming success at each Icelandic region. But, once you figure out the process, you’ve figured it out. Despite clan strengths and weaknesses, the effects are negligible due to chance events and the lack of a need to prioritize certain resources. It may have helped if each clan was limited on certain means of gathering harvest. The game becomes predictable despite its roguelike genre, or having a new layout every time.

To unlock Raudur (the Cartographers), players have to complete 20 sagas. That is way to much for a game lacking surprises.

Final thoughts

Landnama is clean, and fortunately has a tolerable UI and simple mechanics. It is a fair strategy game for those looking to wind down. The only stress that is thrown the player’s way is the winter’s toll . . . truly only a sliver of excitement after you have explored the whole map several times.

I can appreciate its simplicity, and I love a good Norse theme, but Landnama could benefit from more variety and innovation.