In addition to the similar games listed above, which have been linked to this game specifically in the database, you may find games with a similar theme to Bad North in the following lists:
Video games where you adventure into a harsh setting, try your hardest to survive and slowly develop your abilities but then inevitably die are often called Rogue-likes. This is because one of the first games that offered this style of play was called Rogue.
These are interesting games for families, not only because their difficult nature leads to shorter sessions, but also because they foster perseverance and coping with losing. After dying you are sent back to some sort of central village where you can choose upgrades for your next attempt. The incentive to play again once you have been killed is usually that you start with some more equipment or skills.
In this way, by belligerence and a slowly learned understanding of how the game world works and how best to survive, you incrementally get a bit further each time you play. Here are some really good roguelike games for families:
Chess is a game that has stood the test of time. It's the ultimate test of strategy, forward planning and cunning. While there are some games that offer a computer chess experience, more interesting are games that use chess as inspiration.
These games use the familiar movement of the pieces, the ability to plan ahead and the standard grid layout as part of their video game challenge. Although this may sound like a bad idea (why not just play proper chess) many offer a nuanced and intriguing experience. They also have the benefit of being an on-ramp to the world of chess that can be unapproachable.
The games in this list all have chess-like elements, are turn-based and usually played in a grid playfield.
Video games are sometimes criticised for pillaged historical cultural contexts as places to pitch their shooting battles. Many games do treat historic periods or military battles to embellish the visuals with a realism.
There are, however, all sorts of games that use history as more than window dressing. This might be something as simple as accurately creating period-appropriate weapons and uniforms, like in
War Thunder or
Enlisted. This might also be offering the player to experience battles not from the perspective of the victors. Or, like in
This War of Mine, what is was like for those caught up in conflict as civilians.
Beyond warfare, games offer a wide array of accurate depictions of different civilisations and eras.
Through the Darkest of Times is a strategy game that conveys the sombre mood of the dark period of history between January 1933 and May 1945.
The Forgotten City is a mystery adventure set in the final days of a cursed Roman city.
Treasures of the Aegean is a Tin Tin-style tomb raiding adventure game with a surprisingly accurate bronze age Aegean civilisation.
There are other games that introduce historical techniques and tools. In
Heaven’s Vault you play an archaeologist translating an ancient alien language whose decrypting weaves through an unfolding drama. In
Return of the Obra Dinn you revisit the moment of death of 60 sailors on an ancient ship and use evidence to piece together their identity and what happened.
Other game recreate a time periods' architecture and culture so you can explore it first hand.
Discovery Tour is a special mode that uses the worlds created for the main Assassin’s Creed games to offer an historical exploration experience. Discovery Tour: Viking Age is set in Britain and Norway, around 870 AD. It sheds light on the Viking era and allows players to discover more about the history and traditions of the time.
Raji: An Ancient Epic is a running and jumping puzzle game drawing on Hindu and Balinese history. Taking inspiration from tales like Mahabharata and Ramayana you play a young girl named Raji who is chosen by the gods to defend the human race.
There are even games that help players appreciate the scale of history and time.
Deep Time Walk is a game where you go for a walk as you listen to a history of the earth that's tied to each step. The game calculates your speed and distance to match your real-world progress and translates it to a journey across 4.6bn years of time, taking in every key evolutionary event as they occur.
In this series, we are learning how different aspects of video games work by playing games that offer an easy introduction to this one concept. This is designed for people new to gaming, and aims to identify games with the least barriers. In this entry we are looking at
Fighting games.
Fighting video games involve close combat between characters. Usually, in some arena, the player uses attacks, and combinations of moves to overpower and outwit his opponent. Different playable characters and computer-controlled enemies have different abilities that offer a tactical challenge.
These games are often harder to learn and play, requiring fast reactions and memorisation of combinations of buttons. These pure fighting games sit alongside brawling and beat-em-up games where fights are simpler and against large numbers of enemies.
These games are
Action focused, but mainly in respect of the fighting. This is sometimes expanded by games that combine the fighting with
Adventure,
Role-Playing,
Narrative and other elements.
Other games include Fighting, but remove the player from direct control, focusing instead on the
Strategy or
Simulation of combat. This can be taken further away from the heat of battle in
Turn-Based games.
In this series, we are learning how different aspects of video games work by playing games that offer an easy introduction to this one concept. This is designed for people new to gaming, and aims to identify games with the least barriers. In this entry we are looking at
Strategy games.
Strategy games may include other aspects but the main focus is on collecting materials and making careful decisions about how you use to generate and deploy resources. Build armies before heading in for an offensive, planting a farm to generate the best crops, planning a network of roads or laying out an amusement park.
Strategy games have in common the focus on making premeditated decisions to gain the outcome you need. These games are further divided between those that are turn-based and allow the player as much time as they need to make decisions, or real-time where you have to make decisions with limited delay.
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