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Bad North overhauls its campaign in today's free update

Bloody Norsemen. They don't know how good they have it, up there on those tiny frozen islands. Here I am, sticking another water bottle in the freezer and they're still up there bashing each other into a bloody pulp over a pile of snow. Typical. It's about time someone went up and gave them a good shake-up. Things might be grim up north, but Bad North is selling a convincing pitch to head back - and we haven't even talked about today's big update.

Plausible Concept must be onto something, timing a return to Bad North at the height of summer. Convince me it's chilly, please. Today's free Jotunn Edition update isn't so much an avalanche of new content, but a light snowfall of adjustments to the main campaign.

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Alice Bee was a fan of the minimal strategy bloodshed in her Bad North review, but figured it could do with some tinkering. It looks like Jotunn must've had a peek, and the list of changes includes some fundamental shifts to how Bad North plays out.

You can now kick off runs with commanders, loaded out with selectable hero traits and new items. There's a new enemy type, and you can see what baddies you'll be battering on each island before setting sail. Units can now share gold, and checkpoint islands mean you don't have to sink back to square one after a fudged-up battle.

There might be enough small quality-of-life tweaks to tip the game's difficulty down a bit. In compensation, Jotunn Edition adds a "Very Hard" difficulty that makes the campaign, you know. Does what it says on the tin. Check out all the changes over on the official patch notes.

Bad North - Jotunn Edition is out today. Coincidentally, Bad North itself has had its price slashed 25% on Steam, GOG and the Humble Store.

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