The Lost Vikings Roll Out In Heroes Of The Storm
From ye olde days of Blizzard
Blizzard are continuing to bounce merrily around their history with crossover throwdown MOBA Heroes of the Storm [official site], this time digging up a new character from before their 16-year stretch of Diablo, Warcraft, and StarCraft. Or characters, I should say. Sorta. But not. Kinda. The latest addition, see, is The Lost Vikings from ye olde puzzle-platformer of the same name, and they're technically one single 'hero' but you can control all three independently.
Choosing The Lost Vikings as your hero will give you three units - tanky Olaf, splash-damaging Baleog, and zippy Erik. They can all round around by themselves, fight by themselves, and die by themselves, with their own health bars, respawn times and whatnot. You have three units. Do you see? That's the point: you get the lot of them. Three. There are three of them. Am I over-explaining this? THREE (3). THREE MEN. THREE. Wait, three men and a boat - as bringing 'em all together lets you use their heroic skill of hopping in a longboat to spew cannonballs and mortar bombs.
I'm a Doter not a Stormer (defs real words) so this is a bit alien to me, but still pretty interesting. The Lost Vikings look to me like a permanent Brewmaster ultimate with extra combining powers, which which be mighty and terrifying in the hands of a skilled-enough player. Blizzard pitch The Lost Vikings as a difficult hero for skilled players, obviously.
Here, hit this announcement and this description for more info.
The Lost Vikings aren't in the current free hero rotation, so they'll cost you £7.49 (sez Eurogamer) if you want a go now. It sounds pricey to me, but I'm spoiled by Dota mostly selling wizard hats that I can pick up for pennies on the Steam Community Market. The £30 charge to buy your way into the beta is fairly typical for Dote 'em ups, but the hero unlocks are a bit oof. Still, Rich Stanton had a bash and enjoyed it as a way into the MOBA world.