Tribes of Midgard Next Major Update Explores the Depths of Niflheim
Jan. 17, 2023Tribes of Midgard Next Major Update Explores the Depths of Niflheim
Tribes of Midgard and the Witch Saga is the newest update to grace the Norse survival game. It includes new areas, enemies, and more!
In quite stark contrast to last year’s Inferno Saga is the next major update, The Witch Saga. Implemented yesterday, January 17th was the first large patch to the cel-shaded survival game from Norsfell and Gearbox Publishing. Major highlights include an entirely new biome, a new Ancient in the form of Hel herself, and evenCross-Play.
What’s nice about this round of changes is that a lot of these were actually community suggestions. It’s nice to hear whenever a developer listens to its community and actually implements their top ideas.
A new saga quest called Witch is the highlight of this update and is the sole reason for us poking our heads where they don’t belong. The Norse goddess of death, Hel, has taken Baldr prisoner in her icy realm of Niflheim. This is definitely not good for a variety of reasons, so it will be up to the player and their party to take the battle to Hel.
To reach the icy cold realm of the dead is a new Undergate portal somewhere in the land. Stepping through will lead into the new Biome, Nifelheim. It quite follows its reputation even here and is one of the harshest, most unforgiving areas in Tribes of Midgard. Though they will be rewarded by getting access to some quite unique crafting materials, which are highly likely to be powerful endgame stuff.
Aside from new enemies, such as the classic Draugr and Helthings, players will even face off against Hel Herself. She will be a proper and menacing boss fight that should definitely keep players on their toes.
Due to its distance from Yggdrasil, players must be sure that they are quite up to the challenges of Hel before even attempting to go through the Undergate.
To better brave the harsh realm of Niflheim, players must be sure to gather the strongest squad of Einherjar available. Thus developers Norsfell have now implemented cross-play between different networks and storefronts.
While this is limited to PC and Xbox for the moment, players’ horizons are sure to expand with this update to Tribes of Midgard. Players on Steam, Epic Games, and Xbox Live will all be able to group up and band together.
Cross-network play is going to be on by default. Players will have a little icon beside their name to represent which platform or storefront their account is tied to.
While on the topic of community and co-op, Tribes of Midgard is getting some QoL and other neat features to jumpstart the adventure. For example, Runes can now be dropped directly from players’ inventories, making it much easier to share them between players. A new Starter Kit item will also be available in both Saga and Survival Modes, allowing certain playstyles to become available immediately upon beginning a game.
Tribes of Midgard is definitely leaning into its farming roots likeHarvestellawith the Witch Saga Update. A new system called Shovels and Essences is being introduced. First off, Essences are basically magical seeds that players can find or earn through Personal Quests. Holes in the ground can be opened up with Shovels, and then filled up with Essence.
After planting, it’s all a matter of watching a timer count down for the Essences to fully mature and provide a bountiful harvest.
Some other new items in this Tribes of Midgard update include new meals, equipment, and more. Players will get recipes for things like Mana Sashimi, Speed Medley, or even Shell Stew.
In terms of Equipment, we will get two new sets that are perfectly in theme with the update. The Niflheim Armor set looks just as cold and unforgiving as the lands that they were named after. On the other hand, the Hel Armor set looks just like something that the ruler of the underworld would adorn on herself.
Introducing a smaller form of DotA, Defense of the Saplings. This new minigame will have players scrambling the realms in search of Saplings, which are essentially seeds of the world tree.
Saplings can be planted into the ground which will then make any Essences planted around bloom much quicker. This rise in power is so strong that it attracts evil and danger, much like the Yggdrasil tree itself.
Players can choose to start an invasion minigame that will have players defend their Saplings against hordes of monsters. Aside from fighting with sword and magic, players can also construct makeshift defenses to keep evil at bay. You can place down cannons, flamethrowers, walls, and watchtowers to ensure that your Saplings reach maturity.
This is just the tip of the world tree, as the developers outline a ton more changes on the official news update. Previously the game has seen updates such as theSurvival 2.0 updatewhich revamped the game’s main mode.
Auberon
Writer at Fextralife. I really like vanilla ice cream.
