They're all the rage at the moment, those vikingr. Whether it's in celebration of their rich mythology involving the Nine Realms, Fenrir, Thor, the Jötunn, Dwarves or even Odin and the inevitable Ragnarok, or their conquest of lands beyond the icy tundra they call home. There's just something, somewhere, creators can reliably draw upon where viking culture is concerned.

And today we can share thoughts on a new entry into the viking videogame halls, by way of Frozenheim.

Survival games, action-RPGs and more have all found their viking niche, or ways in which to blend viking ideas and culture within gaming frameworks, but one that's close to videogame hearts when you stack the very real history of viking culture against that of fantasy and even high fantasy, is in city-building. And in Frozenheim, we get a game that feels like it's on a precipice of where such a game with such a foundation should be, but maybe just isn't quite there yet.

Here's a snippet from our review-in-progress, from the fingertips of AusGamers newcomer but industry veteran, David Wildgoose:

So, Frozenheim should not be confused for a complete game. At launch it contains three modes, none of which are fully-featured. The Campaign features just two missions that serve as little more than a tutorial. Skirmish pits you against one or two AI opponents on one of a trio of hand-crafted maps. And the New Game option launches a continuous mode where the focus seems to be on maintaining your settlement, but it quickly runs out of steam once you’ve exhausted the tiny tech tree. All told, there isn’t very much in the way of capital-c Content at the moment.

But despite the lack of substance, Frozenheim does manage to stake a claim to being a promising game. The basics appear to be there, and they seem to be at least gesturing in the right direction. Whatever its failings, it does a reasonable job of painting a picture of what it could be in the future.

Click here for our Frozenheim review-in-progress.