After wowing me in Steam Next Fest, Baldur's Gate 3 style Viking RPG Norse confirms there's not long to wait

The most recent Steam Next Fest threw quite a few winners my way, but none that I was so immediately eager to play more of than Norse: Oath of Blood. The best turn-based RPGs, from Clair Obscur Expedition 33 to Baldur's Gate 3, strike that beautiful balance between serious storytelling, intense combat, and light-hearted banter among party members. Arctic Hazard's new medieval adventure immediately shoulder-barged its way into my heart with a mix of tactical battle systems and all the bawdy charm of Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, and we've not long to wait until the full thing arrives.

Narrative director Philip Stevens gives us a rundown of exactly what to expect from the story of Norse: Oath of Blood. Forced to flee when their Viking chieftain father is betrayed and killed, twins Gunnar Gripsson and Sigrid Gripdottir are on a quest to amass enough power to take revenge on the vicious Steinarr Far-Spear. "The approach for us was to create a cinematic experience, a kind of playable historic epic," Stevens explains, "something that players would remember as much for the storyline as for the gameplay."

The demo I played didn't really get enough into the narrative to confirm whether that's accurate (although it did elicit a few hearty chuckles from me), but if it manages to pull that off then I'll be very pleased. The gameplay certainly delivered; you can read me waxing lyrical about it in more detail if you like, but the general gist is that it combines the squad-based tactics seen in Baldur's Gate 3 and XCOM 2 with plenty of strategic possibilities.

In particular, I'm most enamored with the movement abilities, which let you slam and toss your foes across the battlefield in the manner of Into The Breach. I've long been a sucker for any systems that let you reposition opponents to put them at a disadvantage, and the physicality of the skills certainly captures that Viking vibe it's going for. On top of that is the ability to grow your settlement from a small village into a full-scale stronghold as you amass followers and expand your retinue.

On the narrative side of things, Arctic Hazard is using similar motion capture tech to Expedition 33, and we know how well that worked out in bringing Sandfall Interactive's characterization to life. "Norse is an archetypal Viking story of revenge and honor," writer Giles Kristian says, "we're not trying to reinvent the wheel but we're trying to [capture] the human aspects of the Viking world.

"We wanted to really play with the idea of our young hero striving to take his revenge on the man who betrayed his father, becoming a war leader in his own right, seeing his confidence grow as the story progresses," Kristian concludes. That gradual rise from the bottom was fundamental to Kingdom Come Deliverance lead Henry's appeal, and Kristian's former work as a novelist on the likes of Viking coming-of-age trilogy the Raven Saga should hopefully pay dividends there.

While I thought we might have a longer wait on our hands to play the full thing, we'll actually be able to jump in right at the start of February 2026, meaning we're only a little over two months out. If you can't wait until then and haven't tried the free demo, it's still available on Steam, and I'd certainly recommend giving it a shot. I wasn't sure what to expect going in, but I found myself exclaiming in anguish when the taster came to an end, desperate to continue.

The Norse: Oath of Blood release date is Tuesday February 3, 2026, and it'll launch on PC via Steam. You can wishlist it now or download the free demo to get a sample of what's on offer, although you might find yourself hoping the winter months fly by if you do.