Bad North is a stylised strategy fighting game. You control an army defending an island and must train and develop your forces efficiently. The simple visuals and knife-edge Viking combat along with the jeopardy of losing precious troops make this a lot of fun.

As the game proceeds and you win the simple early battles you can choose to upgrade your swordsmen, archers, pikemen and so on. This gives you better combat statistics. However, you must take care to position your troops effectively as once they are dead you don't get them back.

It's a simple take on a war-strategy game that combines puzzle elements with the combat. It soon builds into a rhythm of attack, defend, upgrade and then on to a new island. It's easy enough for most ages to be able to play, although to do well you need to work hard to manage your resources and protect your units.