'Survival tribe builder' Aska tasks you and your friends with building a Viking society

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Aska zooms out the survival genre, having you build and manage a village of NPCs.

Vikings are hot right now, with recent successes like God of War: Ragnarok and Valheim showing that everybody's horny for horned helmets. Romanian developer Sand Sailor is working on its own special twist on the Norse craze with Aska, a survival "tribe builder" with up to four-player co-op.

Aska's big innovation in the survival space is its tribe simulation, which tasks players with building a functioning village almost like they're observing an Age of Empires settlement from ground level. "This includes assigning jobs to villagers, constructing workshops, mines, farms and castles, exploring the world to discover hidden loot and resources, and fighting mythical enemies," Sand Sailor writes. "Together, you will not just build a village, but a functioning society that you are a part of."

You'll definitely want to build a resilient little village, as Aska's world embraces some darker aspects of Norse mythology. According to Sand Sailor, "building a strong and stable society will give you a better chance of survival when Dead Winter hits and your tribe faces not only the harshest elements, but the dark inhabitants of this world that have been lying in wait."

Sand Sailor revealed the game with a pre-rendered trailer at the PC Gaming Show, but will also be showing off a gameplay stream tomorrow, November 18 at 6 PM GMT/1 PM ET on its Twitch channel. The game's screenshots demonstrate some deliciously desolate Northern European landscapes, as well as some mean-looking glowy Leshen guys (presumably some of those "dark inhabitants" the developer mentioned).

Aska will go through several rounds of closed playtesting, with the first beginning November 24. If you're interested in checking Aska out early, you can sign up for the chance on the game's official website.

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a Viking sets sail in Aska
(Image credit: Sand Sailor Studio)
Ted Litchfield
Associate Editor

Ted has been thinking about PC games and bothering anyone who would listen with his thoughts on them ever since he booted up his sister's copy of Neverwinter Nights on the family computer. He is obsessed with all things CRPG and CRPG-adjacent, but has also covered esports, modding, and rare game collecting. When he's not playing or writing about games, you can find Ted lifting weights on his back porch. You can follow Ted on Bluesky.