Code provided with thanks to Oddiko
Meadgard – Tavern Management and Adventure
Running a tavern sounds like a fairly pleasant way to earn a living. You welcome customers, pour a few drinks, serve some food and hopefully make enough money to keep the lights on. Of course, if you’re running a Viking tavern in a world full of mythical creatures and grumpy Norse gods, things are probably going to get a little more complicated.
Enter Meadgard, a colourful co-op adventure that mixes tavern management with exploration, resource gathering and combat. During the day, you head out into the wilderness to collect ingredients and fight strange creatures. Come evening, it’s time to open the doors, serve your customers and try to stop the place from descending into complete chaos. I recently had the opportunity to try the demo, and while it only offers a small taste of what’s planned for the full game, I’ve come away feeling quite positive about its potential.
Under New Ownership
The story behind Meadgard is suitably silly. The previous tavern master apparently made the terrible mistake of offering Odin wine instead of beer, which naturally resulted in him losing his job. Honestly, you’d think a god would be a little more understanding, but I suppose divine customer service standards are rather high. That leaves you in charge of the establishment, with the unenviable task of turning it into a tavern worthy of the gods.
Your working day is split into two distinct activities. During the day, you venture out to explore islands, gather resources, defeat enemies and complete requests from the locals. Once evening arrives, you return to the tavern and get ready to serve your increasingly impatient customers. It’s a nice combination of activities, as there’s more to do than simply stand behind a counter pouring drinks. You’re gradually collecting the materials and money needed to improve your establishment, while meeting characters who have their own requests for you to fulfil. The demo only scratches the surface of these systems, but there’s already a good sense of progression.
Last Orders! And Try Not To Panic
The tavern management is where Meadgard really embraces its chaotic side. Customers arrive and need to be seated before placing their orders. At this stage of the demo, your main responsibilities involve serving beer, food or entertaining them with a musical performance. Playing a tune is straightforward enough: grab your little lute, strum away for a moment and collect your payment.
Serving beer requires a few more steps. You’ll need to grab an empty mug, fill it at the dispenser and deliver it to the waiting customer. Easy enough, you might think. Unfortunately, your customers aren’t particularly patient, and they’ll gradually become more annoyed if you take too long. Leave them waiting for too long and they’ll start attacking you, which is certainly one way to leave a negative review. Then there are the goblins, who seem to have developed a rather questionable interest in your earnings. Customers throw their coins onto the floor when you serve them, so you’ll need to collect your money before these little thieves get their grubby hands on it. There’s a lot to keep track of, and I can imagine it becoming wonderfully chaotic with a group of friends.
A Little Too Much For One Viking?
Here’s where I have a few reservations. Meadgard supports solo play as well as co-op for up to four players, but based on the demo, I found the tavern management quite demanding when playing alone. There are several jobs to juggle: customers to serve, drinks to prepare and money to collect. Making beer is particularly time-consuming, especially when you run out and have to replenish the dispenser. I did discover that placing an additional dispenser strategically can make things a little easier, but it still felt like I was constantly rushing from one task to another. The problem isn’t necessarily that the management is difficult. It’s that the workload feels better suited to several players sharing the responsibilities. Now, this may well improve as the game develops, and the demo doesn’t necessarily represent the final balance. But I’d love to see solo play given a little extra attention, whether through more generous customer timers, additional assistance or other adjustments to make running the tavern less overwhelming. I don’t expect a game about chaotic co-op to be completely stress-free, of course. That would rather defeat the point. However, there’s a difference between enjoyable chaos and feeling as though you need three extra pairs of hands.
Time To Explore The Wilds
Thankfully, there’s more to Meadgard than keeping your customers happy. When your shift ends, you can explore the surrounding islands, gather crafting materials, hunt creatures and search for treasure. You’ll also meet local characters who offer requests, giving you reasons to venture out and collect particular resources. The exploration sections provide a welcome change of pace from the tavern. You might be searching for scrap to help with a request, collecting ingredients for cooking or simply exploring to see what you can find. There are enemies to fight, too, although combat is still a little clunky and rough around the edges in the demo. Your weapon of choice, after all, is a fish. Being defeated also means losing a portion of the resources you’ve collected, so there’s an incentive to make it back home safely. I suspect combat and exploration will become more interesting as you unlock additional equipment and abilities. For now, though, they’re promising foundations rather than the strongest part of the experience.
Plenty Of Room To Grow
Visually, Meadgard has a lovely cartoon-inspired, low-poly style. The starting town looks particularly good, with attractive buildings and a setting that feels appropriate for its Norse-inspired world. The islands offer a different flavour, with strange creatures, goblin-like enemies and even deadly mushroom-camouflaged hedgehogs. I’d recommend keeping your distance. There’s also the promise of plenty more tavern customisation, recipes, weapons, upgrades and activities in the full game. Looking at the wider feature set, it seems there’s considerably more depth waiting beyond the small slice available in the demo. That’s what makes me curious to see where things go next. The mixture of exploration, crafting, tavern management and progression could give Meadgard a satisfying gameplay loop, particularly when everything is shared between friends.
Final Thoughts
After playing the demo, I think Meadgard has plenty of potential. I like the mixture of activities, the silly premise and the colourful presentation. Going out to gather resources before returning to run a busy tavern gives the game a nice rhythm, and I can imagine the whole experience becoming wonderfully chaotic when played with friends. My biggest concern is solo play. I enjoyed parts of the tavern management, but juggling everything alone could become overwhelming, and the combat still needs a little polish. Of course, this is only a demo, and it feels like a relatively small glimpse of what the developers have planned. There’s plenty more to discover, and I’d be interested to see how the progression systems, customisation and additional activities develop.
For now, Meadgard has left me feeling optimistic. I suspect this is the sort of game that will really come alive when you have friends alongside you, whether you’re working together to keep the customers happy or shouting at one another because everything has gone horribly wrong. Just remember: if Odin asks for a drink, perhaps don’t offer him wine.
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