7 Viking Games to Hold You Over Until Assassin’s Creed Valhalla

You’ll need plenty of warpaint

Ah, Vikings. The mention of the word probably generates a similar image for most people: big, bearded Scandinavian men and strong, fierce women wielding huge circular shields and battle axes, covered in fur, leather, and war paint.

Many of us have wondered what it would be like to be one of these warriors of yore, and because of this we have been walking in the virtual boots of Viking jǫru-fægir for nearly four decades, with 1984 seeing the release of Viking Raiders for the ZX Spectrum 48k. Fast forward 36 years, and we have the upcoming Ubisoft epic RPG Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. Establishing a reason pertaining to why we love embodying our Scandinavian ancestors is difficult. It could be the hundreds of years of exploration and expansion the many Viking tribes partook in. Perhaps it’s the animalistic nature of their reputation, the brutality of their warriors and their rituals being the thing of legends. From berserkers to blood eagles, the savagery of the Northmen proved severe enough to stand the test of history’s time. Maybe it’s the Viking god pantheon, the fabled Æsir and Ásynjur spread out through the cosmos and the nine realms, keeping Frost Giants at bay and preparing for Ragnarok. Norse mythology is rife with elements of great storytelling: love…