Tribes of Midgard Season 3: Inferno Saga launches on August 16 with a completely revamped Survival Mode!
Our goal is to create the ultimate Viking sandbox that blends our combined love for ARPGs, Survival games, and Norse mythology. Fans of both the quicker, Rogue-lite-inspired Surthrival gameplay of Saga Mode, as well as the slower, more exploratory pace of Survival Mode will feel equally served in updates moving forward.
Survival Mode has been fully rebuilt from the ground up to transform it into a more relaxed but equally exciting Tribes of Midgard experience. Some of the more time-pressure elements of Saga Mode have been stripped away. Say goodbye to the Endless Winter and Nightly Defenses, and say hiló to a variety of Helthings and monsters to hack and slash through in the wild!
The Survival 2.0 update now begins in a time before the Seed of Yggdrasil had a fully fleshed-out Village to call home. The Einherjar start off in the Sanctuary in a World without any Village, Walls, Constructions, or friendly Villagers to craft for you. Veteran Einherjar, Eira Foot-Crushed, is around to provide initial guidance (and protection!) on what you need to do - with help from some furry little friends along the way– see Catorials below!
We also had the absolute pleasure of being able to create an animated trailer to celebrate the new Survival Mode updates - check out our collaboration with Titmouse here!
So what does an Einherjar without a Village do? They start building! The Construction system was massively overhauled to allow players to create the exact homes they want. Not only in terms of features, with new capabilities like camera rotation and new Build Menu, but also in terms of content, with new Stairs, Doors, Pillars, Decorations, etc. as well as a wide variety of Crafting Stations for all the Builder Vikings out there.
This update to Survival Mode, as well as all content from previous Seasons, will also be included for free in the Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch versions when Tribes of Midgard releases on those platforms on August 16.
It will also feature a number of changes to core gameplay, including:
Choose Your Own Adventure
Survival 2.0 is designed so you can play Tribes of Midgard at your own pace. There are many new features to accommodate this change in Survival Mode…but the biggest? There will no longer be a Village to defend every night! What else?
- Days will last longer at 20 minutes each to give ample time before the night. Note that seasons will keep on alternating between summer and winter.
- Helthings will spawn sporadically throughout the environment at night but will not attack the Seed of Yggdrasil. They are still tough to take down but offer dark Materials and XP when defeated. Make sure you’re prepared if taking a night-time stroll!
- Each of the Jötnar have set spawn points located within enclosed Arenas that have to be entered in order to defeat them in open combat. This can be done at any time, and can be repeated with a greater challenge, provided you’re up for the task.
Crafting System
The crafting system in Survival has been entirely reinvented.
With no Village or Villager vendors, you’ll need to rely on yourself and the trusty Allforge—a magical little Dwarven invention accessed from the Build Menu and placed anywhere, free of any Material costs—to progress and survive. The Allforge lets you repair Equipment for a standard Souls cost, and more importantly, instantly build as many Constructions, Crafting Stations, and Decorations as you can, anywhere on the map. Each player can only have one Allforge out at once, so simply craft it again to redeploy to a new position.
Once a Crafting Station has been built from the Allforge, it will show up in your Build Menu inventory. Use the Build Menu again to place the Crafting Station wherever you’d like and get crafting.
- Need Tools to start chopping wood and mining iron? Use the Allforge to build a Tool Grinder and craft some Tools!
- Are wolves getting a little too close for comfort? Use the Allforge to build a Weapon Furnace and fight them off!
- Hurt yourself trying to sneak into a Dökkálfar Camp? Use the Allforge to craft a Meal Cauldron and get cooking with all new recipes to heal and buff your character!
Crafting Stations can be upgraded to unlock more powerful recipes and even entirely new Stations. They can be placed anywhere, including on the higher floors/stories built in your base. Once you get going, it’s only a matter of time before you have a Village of your own.
Saga Quests
Saga Quests act as overarching objectives for players to progress towards. The first several Saga Quests will have you hunting down the Jötnar in their Arenas. Upon their defeat, they will reward players' Materials to further progress in the World by unlocking powerful Crafting Stations, such as the Boat Dock, that will allow you to sail to new lands, loot better Materials, and take on greater challenges (even the Ancients themselves).
Ancients (formerly known as Saga Bosses) are the almighty bosses that are introduced in each new Saga. There are powerful rewards for taking down the Ancients:
- Sindri’s Foundry: Defeating Fenrir rewards players with a unique Construction that consumes unwanted Equipment and Runes for Souls. Invincible to damage and can be re-deployed at will like the Allforge.
- Freyr’s Ship: Defeating Jörmungandr rewards players with the fabled Skíðblaðnir, a unique Drakkar ship. Invincible to damage, can be re-deployed at will, and is the fastest ship in the game.
- Heimdallr’s Tower: Defeating the Inferno Ancient (name unknown… for now!) rewards players with a mighty Watchtower and garrisoned Archer. Just like a standard Watchtower, the Archer can be equipped with more powerful arrows. Unlike standard Watchtowers, however, this Archer is stronger by default, the tower is invincible to damage, and can be re-deployed at will.
Blessing Tree and Level Progression
With the Survival Update, Einherjar will choose their skills through an entirely new Blessing Tree. The Blessing Tree is unique to this game mode and allows for more freedom to pick and choose from the 90 Blessings available. With this change, the max Character Level is increased to 50 to give more skill combinations during the increased playtime per World.
Shared Character XP for upgrading Stations or activating Portals has been changed in favor of personal Character XP gains for exploring and continual building. Players will work together to build a community and adventure through the land of Midgard.
While playing Survival, your Viking will come across Season XP loot. Season XP has a chance to drop from any activity that will also net you Character XP, such as defeating enemies and harvesting resources. Some methods guarantee large amounts of Season XP to drop, like defeating powerful enemies or raiding Camps.
Season XP is automatically attributed to your Account Profile in real time and contributes to your Season progression, no need to turn it in or Abandon your World.
The World
The Worlds generated in Survival 2.0 are larger than anything seen previously and have been custom-tailored to the game mode. Players start on a large, central continent and will be able to explore the Open Seas as they progress through the early steps of their adventure.
Due to the increased player agency over exploration and means of travel, managing where your base is located will be key. There are a number of options to safely expand your dominion via crafting at the Allforge:
- Beds: Beds can be claimed to serve as Respawn points, which will come handy when facing your demise (being an Einherjar does not make you invincible!)
- Bonfires: Bonfires will help keep you warm in cold climates so long as you deposit Branches to keep the fires alive. Very useful when landing on a cool Ash Beach in the dead of night.
- Shrines: Shrines act as Fast Travel points, allowing you and your Tribe to build your own travel network throughout Midgard!
Construction 2.0
We’ve reworked the Construction inventory to be more modular and significantly more flexible. Everything is scaled to fit a 1x1x1 area for increased interconnectivity. In addition to Grounds, Fences, and Ramps, new Construction pieces are available including Walls, Pillars, Roofs, and Doors, among many others. Each Construction comes in three tiers with different levels of strength and material requirements, ranging from twig/thatch and wood to slate/stone.
The camera is able to be rotated while in the Build mode, allowing the careful placement of Constructions while crafting your perfect mead hall! Pieces are able to be placed along the Z-axis for up to four levels, allowing for some cozy building while the threats are kept at bay.
Upset with where you’ve placed a particular Construction? Deconstruct freely with more accuracy with the Mallet. The Mallet is now triggered by default when in Build mode and simply highlighting a Construction will allow you to dismantle it. Deconstructing your Stations will return the Materials used to build them if you ever feel you want to entirely pack up and build out somewhere new. Further, this Mallet mode also gives the option to repair said Constructions. What a magical Mallet.
Tutorial Cats (Catorials?)
Freyja’s chatty cats from the Tutorial, Sóleyra and Mániklo, make a triumphant return in the update on August 16!
To help guide you through a number of introductory systems in Survival 2.0, one of Freyja’s cats, changing depending on the context, will spawn when you interact with certain triggers in the environment, providing further context and even some tips as you get started on your adventure. They may be cheerful and snarky, but they're talking cats!
That’s all for now, Vikings - we appreciate your continued support and are looking forward to bringing this update to all of you in just one week from now! :D
Seil seil, and talk again very soon,
The Norsfell team
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