Trolls, Gather Round!

Whey! Trolls vs Vikings Reborn is now out, and we’re moving into the post-launch period. We plan to keep updating the game as we move forward and hope you’ll join us on that journey.

The First Week – A Wild Ride

It’s been an eventful week (it’s never quiet at an indie games studio!). We’ve been closely following the general chatter, reviews, and feedback around the game while running ads, sending out keys to curators, influencers, and press, and generally doing PR while trying to understand what’s been working—and what hasn’t—during this first week of Reborn.

On the positive side, we got some really strong feedback, and some of it has been genuinely encouraging to read (we made a video with some of the curator quotes—check it out!). True, we didn’t get a lot of sales (we’re in the hundreds of players, not thousands, so a looong way to go), but… baby steps. As a game developer, you always dream of big numbers, but reality is often different.

Still, our key goal with Reborn was to make a strong premium version of the game while pushing it into a much more hardcore gamer vein. I think we succeeded with our own quality goals—but commercially, we’ve fallen short. As expected, but not as wanted.

Why This Matters

A key motivation for us has been learning how to properly run a game on Steam—keeping it updated, working with players, and supporting it through thick and thin. Personally, I’ve worked on a lot of games over the years, and it’s often about the long haul when you have great core mechanics.

One of them, Anarchy Online, I worked on for 11 years —and it’s still doing well as it turns 24 this year. Trolls is now 11, and hey, wouldn’t it be fun if we made a 20-year anniversary for it one day? We’ll see. But what we do know is that we plan to support it moving forward!

That said, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows—we’re standing in the rainy part of the valley, watching those. 😆

What Needs Fixing?

1 Bugs.

We haven’t really seen game-breaking bugs so far—nothing stopping you from playing. And, well… some things reported are even working as intended (the classic “it’s not a bug, it’s a feature” he he).

That said, we have found and are fixing a few things—primarily localization issues, where we simply weren’t sharp enough in testing every language to bits. Thanks for pointing those out! We’ve also had a report on an achievement not triggering, so we’re looking into that. A few more things popped up during the week that we’re also checking.

All in all, we haven’t come across any “blocker” bugs—meaning stuff that completely stops you from playing. But there are more of you than us, so if you do come across something weird, let us know so we can fix it for the next player!

• 2 Game Balance.

Every morning and afternoon, I bike 11 km along the Oslo fjord to and from work. I listen to music, watch the scenery, and think about game balance. And, well, let’s talk about it.

Right now, most players seem to be judging the game based on Normal mode —and the general feedback is:

✔ Too easy. ✔ Too similar to a certain plant-based game (much due to that, too).

Why is that? Well, the truth is that Normal doesn’t really fight back. You don’t need to hunker down in deep strategy, manage resources carefully, or react on the fly—it mostly kind of just breezes. Is that even a problem? Well, where we’ve really pushed to make Trolls unique is in its strategic and action gameplay. But if Normal doesn’t ask you to engage on a “fight for your life” level, many players never experience that depth. That’s what makes this tricky—it’s not a visual thing, it’s a player experience thing.

During development, we discussed calling Normal mode “Easy” since the new upgrade system and added spells made it easier than before. Looking at the feedback, we’re seriously considering:

✅ 1) Raising the difficulty of Normal so that players actually experience what Trolls is about. ✅ 2) Adding a fourth difficulty – Normal becomes Easy and a new Normal is made (less likely)

For the record, Hard and Brutal mode has gotten a lot of solid feedback, so that’s working as intended!

1. Requests & Wishlist.

We’ve seen quite a few requests for more mini-games. Our philosophy has been to build special challenges as part of special missions rather than casual, side mini-games. But we hear you.

If we were to expand on this, it wouldn’t just be for the sake of adding "more"—it would need to really fit within the game and enhance the experience. Right now, our focus is still on special missions, but we’re keeping this on our radar. If we see traction, more engagement, and more people joining the Trolls community, this is something we’d love to explore further.

What’s Next?

We’re already diving into our first post-launch update, which will include:

🔥 Bug fixes & polish – localization fixes, achievement issues, and more. 🔥 Rebalancing – tweaking Normal mode (or renaming it Easy?) to better reflect the game. 🔥 New content update – a brand-new special mission, coming soon!

Beyond that? More balancing, more content, and continued support to push Reborn to a wider audience.

So let us know what you think! Your feedback helps us shape the game, and we’re here to keep improving.

All the best, Jørgen Tharaldsen Game Director, Trolls vs Vikings