Berserker: A Viking Board Game

Me and my friend originally bought this as a joke because of the title, but the game is actually fun. I thought it might be a paid version of a free game online, but a quick google search implied that if it is, I would not be able to find it. It is definitely less expensive than a physical copy of any board game, unless you're at a yard sale. The game itself offers no instruction on how to play, because in reality it's not needed. It is a simple game that's difficulty is solely based on the strategic acumen of your opponent, and how much they're paying attention. It's a quick in and out game. Play a few games with your friend, and then hop off. It's a fun game that I find to be worth the 5 dollar price point.

Disclaimer: I know the developer of the game. This is a fun little board game that offers two game modes which each requires individual strategic thinking. Instructions for both modes are included in the game. The training mode is basically single player against the CPU. The difficulty cannot be set but it feels right for beginners to get a feeling for the game rules and to learn avoiding dumb beginner mistakes :) Since it's a 2 player board game, the main aspect is of cause playing aginst a human opponent, which can be done locally of via an online lobby. Currently you can't expect to find random opponents in the lobby though, ask a friend instead. Online play has some latency, wich is not a deal breaker due to the type of game. If you're low on budget of want to test the game first, you can get a free version in the Android Play Store (search for "Berserker Skull Crew Studios"). The Steam version recently received update v0.99 (currently not available on Android) wich adds music (single atmospheric track that is kind of hilarious, knowing the developer) and the Jarl game mode that requires different strategies than the classic mode. Steam/Andoird cross play works in spite of the version differences, though make soure you don't create a Jarl mode game if you want to play against Android players. The game works natively on the Steam Deck (touch screen controls), with the minor inconvenience of having to manually opening the on-screen-keyboard once to enter your name.

This is a fun game to play with a friend or family. I played this game for an hour with my brother on Christmas Eve, and we were really enjoying the gameplay quickly. The two game modes and list of map configurations give a lot of variety. I expect to play this game many more times. The graphics are nice. The sounds are satisfying. The game never showed any problems for me playing only locally. I played on the Steam Deck and used the touchscreen to just tap where to place stones. Me and my competitor were face-to-face thanks to the flipped split-screen function.