Dead In Vinland
Developer Ishtar Games
Dead in Vinland is a survival game developed by CCCP and published in 2018 by Dear Villagers. Players control a Viking family who shipwrecks on an island. A Nintendo Switch version was released in 2019. It was renamed to Dead in Vinland: True Viking Edition. From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
186 reactions from 2 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky) · newest Sep 22, 2026 · last updated Oct 8, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
116 positive · 65 negative
95% range 57–71%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 116 | 65 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 0 | 0 | 0 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
5 newer reactions are still waiting for a label.
What people are saying
Summary pending — the reactions are listed below.
Reactions
60 of 186 · most liked firstThe indictment of the game's design is very damning when you are already experiencing frustration within just the first hour of play, and it reveals to you pretty early on that it is going to be a rough ride to completion. Minus the woke tropes that exist (coming from France yet again), such as but not limited to: -An over-representation of alternative sexual identities (virtually every character is bisexual), -A critique of "toxic masculinity" embodied through a main character who is…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →After having played Dead in Vinland for a modest 120 hours since 2020—and with the season of the great Steam Sales once again upon us—I feel compelled to share my equally measured opinion of this game. TL;DR: this is one of those titles that really makes you wish Steam allowed a proper “mixed” review. Since it doesn’t, Dead in Vinland ends up with a negative one from me—also as feedback for the small developer team. Since there are very few games with truly comparable gameplay (at least for…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Worse RNG than Xcom, stay away if you value your inner peace.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I want to like this game SO badly. It has so much going for it: An incredible premise, amazing art/soundtrack, decent writing, some solid characters, and interesting mechanics...but it's all let down by some atrocious RNG. XCOM, Darkest Dungeon, and other infamously punishing games have NOTHING on Dead in Vinland. During my first playthrough using default settings and normal difficulty, I didn't even make it through my first week. Every time a dice roll was called for, I failed, or got the…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I was really enjoying this game until I discovered I had recruited a character that ends up killing another of your characters. No, I'm not putting a spoiler tag on that. People should know that this game will just delete one of your characters if you recruit a specific other character. Imagine doing everything in your power to keep your little clan alive and healthy, overcoming seemingly impossible tasks and winning battles you never thought you could win, only for the game to go "by the way…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Dead in Vinland is a management strategy game where you lead a Norse family that ends up shipwrecked on a mysterious island and help them survive the trials they face. The game has an excellent setting, and the story was set up to be a great journey from surviving on nothing to building a thriving new life on this distant land. Everything at first looks like a fine-tuned balancing act. There are rarely any options that are the outright "best" option for any situation. Every upgrade and action…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This week's #TurnBasedThursday host is the indie studio and publisher behind games like Dead in Vinland, The Last Spell, and Forgotten Mines. They love deep games that mix uncommon pairings. Come show some different sides of your game. Follow @ishtar.games for tomorrow's thread.
unlabelledView post →SAVE SCUM: THE GAME Play The Last Spell, instead--that's a great game. I can't recommend this game. I even tried with modified Custom difficulty settings and still just gave up. "Easy" mode, aka "Vacation Mode"--according to the developers--gives 10% bonus in general, and I set it to 20%, or what should be double Easy in most cases. It still wasn't fun. We're not even talking about "Get gud" as a solution--I'm saying IT'S JUST NOT FUN. That's a pretty big problem. It definitely…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Unbalanced and Frustrating Gameplay The power balance in this game is seriously off. As you progress, the difficulty spikes hard—even on easy mode with all settings in your favor. It becomes more frustrating than fun, and I still haven’t finished it because of how punishing it gets. Now they’re releasing another similar game with a sci-fi theme, but if they don’t fix the core balance issues, I can’t recommend it. Skip this one unless you enjoy hitting a wall.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I wanted to like this game, I genuinely did, on paper, it had everything I like, fantasy, mythology, strong characters, and a game-play loop based on resource management and town building. The problem rears its head at all the stuff that surrounds that. This game is difficult, but that alone isn't a bad thing, lots of games are difficult, there are games whose entire appeal is their difficulty. However, there is a stark difference between difficulty that makes me think "god I'm stupid, I…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Terrible, obnoxious writing... I kept playing out of spite because I couldn't return it. Eventually stopped after the nth "sweetie". The game reads like it's about a California family on meth larping as vikings.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Can't recommend this one. The margins of victory are far too slim and the RNG is terrible I lose well over half of 75% chance of success events. I've had characters lose 30 exhaustion from picking berries on a normal day and die, I've spent all my stone to get decent traps only to have all of them break in a single day. Going fishing increases stress! That last one should be a sin. Unwinnable without save scumming or a guide. Good intentioned game with some good art and design, but regrettably…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →yeah sure, people definitely just unalive themselves if it rains for 10 days also the dice roll is manipulated. you miss 6 times in a roll while enemies hit you like a truck
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Every action, that exist in this game contains RNG. No, I don't think I will. It's sad cause this game looks pretty cool and seems to offer a lot of content, but if I wanted to play slots I would have gone to the casino.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Too much RNG. Character traits are RNG. You can roll a character at the start with objectively bad traits on otherwise desired stats. Loot is RNG. Sometimes you get more, sometimes, less, it depends on the stat of the character doing the labor but even with two characters of the same stat can yield slightly different results. Levelling up is RNG. Every time you level up your character is presented with 5 random traits to pick from, which may range from useful to useless to straight up bad.…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I like the ideas, I like the survival aspect. But the game just gets really repetitive. You end up fast forwarding thru everything and there's doesn't feel like an actual purpose.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great comfy game on custom difficulty, not so much on the official difficulties lol. Can't imagine being masochistic enough to play on anything harder than the easiest official setting, but I'm also not great at pushing through and recovering from set backs. I'm the kinda player that wants a x2 surplus of all resources and bench characters if they have above 1/4 depression or exhaustion and that's just straight up not how you're supposed to play, but the game lets you change the settings enough…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I was absolutely loving the game until day 56 in and one of my guys murdered another. And on googling I learned this is unpreventable. And tbh it ruins the game. Like it royally pissed me off. I loved the characters and the story. And then the one I liked the most out of the side characters, was an axe murderer. And my previously pretty intelligent family wasn't smart enough to figure that out ?? like, they've heard him recount his backstory? hes covered in scars? shouldn't they have noticed…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I really want to like this game. It has charm, interesting characters, nice-looking art, and a lot of sticky survival mechanics to manage and progress through. Unfortunately, it's hard to appreciate the good when it's all marred by extremely punishing and rarely rewarding RNG. Randomness can be a good mechanism for creating tension or forcing interesting scenarios you must cleverly adapt from. Sadly, Dead In Vinland is riddled with randomness in every single layer of its design, defaulting to…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game definitely has qualities and there's no doubt it can be pleasing to the right audience, as the game mechanics are quite solid. However, if I really wanted to get punished I'd play X-COM or Darkest Dungeon. This game means to grind you down by RNGing you. When it eventually does and things go south hard, replayability becomes an issue, as the game is too linear to invite multiple playthroughs.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I tried really hard to like it. I don't like games that are luck based like this. A run can be destroyed in moments if you combo the wrong events together. It feels like the losses aren't earned, but even then the wins aren't either. It was only if the game decided you would survive or not. An example I would give is mead is a great depression reliever. But there is a chance to get sick, and through that get nothing. Well if you roll bad, then the resource is gone and the run is spent.…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A good game with an interesting plot, difficult in places and I didn't have enough patience to complete it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Sorry, 9 times in a row 0 damage, 0 misses my damage reduced to nothing.... excuse me?
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Stay away if you don't like RNG and hated that George R. R. Martin got your favorite characters killed in GoT. Otherwise: - Incredible art - Tense atmosphere - Lots of exploration and discovery - Nice turn based combat - plot twists (increases replayability -- "What if I did this differently?") - Choices matter... Decisions, decisions... - Challenging: Management of resources, time, character's mood and making lemonade with the lemons thrown at you.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Very unique game! The character interactions are the highlight of the game. A lot of reviews talk about bad RNG, but the game is a lot more forgiving then it seems. The RNG is totally fine and makes Dead in Vinland very interesting Not for everyone, but I found it incredible!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This could be a good management / turn based fighting game, if the game designer didn't hate all of the players!!! There are some really obnoxious game design decisions that makes most of the fights really unenjoyable. On the other hand all of the game's mechanics are heavily stablished on randomness, but somehow the game's algorithm (behind the screen) most of the time gives you the worst outcome. for instance if your character is supposed to deal 1-11 damage, 50% of the time it deals 1…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I LOVE IT Best story-driven survival basebuilder I've played in a long time. Edit: Apparently, some people complain about the excessive RNG in this game... *sigh* Yes, there are a lot of skill checks and other things determined with a dice roll behind the scenes, but you can influence almost everything with your character's abilities, careful planning, stockpiles of the right items etc... but an 80% chance will stay 80%, however, and not magically work like 100%, no matter how close the two…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game is good and I recommend it, the story the events and characters are entertaining and initially the survival aspect, but - it's grindy and repetitive - the rng can be pretty brutal, think xcom 90% multiple consecutive misses (id probably recommend turning on the merciful dice to fix this) - its quite long, and overstays its welcome - since it's always the same positions/seed there's not much in way of replayability, furthermore if you advance 1/6 of the game and decide to restart,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Random, unfair, survival nonsense with excellent characters.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →outdated rng stat checking system, 40% fail 5time, 50% fail 3time, 85% fail 4time, 75% fail 6time, this is what you get, proceed with caution.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Why is so much in the game random. And why are some things happening without me having a decision. My family is sitting in front of a live fire but they are eating raw fish and getting sick because of it... They start talking to each other and losing relationship score and getting depressed while I have zero intervention. I am just watching things fall apart. How is this gameplay?
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I actually like Death in Vinland quite a bit… which makes it even more frustrating to say this: the game is kind of held together by duct tape, hope, and a mild contempt for the player. I finished it on easy vacation mode (the only difficulty I could survive), and even there I ran into a fundamental design problem: random events that are not just unpredictable, but occasionally run the game off a cliff. You can end up in situations where you need a specific item to progress… and the game has…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Play the Last Spell instead. Same devs made an amazing game. Not this one.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →One of those "wish there was a meh button" but if I have to choose, its further into the negative. I picked this up as I loved The Pale Beyond and this was recommended based on that. As someone who enjoys random events, and really tough survival choices and management, this game is fun for the first ten hours. Then it dawns on you, that you're twenty hours in, clicking the same buttons, and you are only on day 30 in this latest run and it's *hours away* from any sort of resolution or change in…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The art style is nice. So are the characters. The survivors are a diverse bunch, and seeing them interact and learning their stories is fun. The villains are easy to hate. But the gameplay is terrible. Everything is based on chance. Even the traits you get offered as your survivors level up. A few days of bad weather can cripple your run, with no way of you being able to hedge against it. Every day/turn, you distribute your survivors among the available work stations based on skills and…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Worse RNG than Xcom, stay away if you value your inner peace.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Dead In Vinland makes Tharsis look like Game of the Year. Just cant recommend the game. Characters have over 6 stats to babysit. If any of them goes over a 100, they die and its a game over if its a family member. Problem is... Some of those stats grow over time way too fast. You are going to need the power of precognition, that means restarting the main campaign a couple of times, to figure out the developers order's construction of Stations (Chopping Wood, Healing, Crafting, etc.) and RNG…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Way too much RNG. A month or two into the game both characters got 2 bad diseases 2 days in a row, and nothing you can do about it other than reloading saves and trying again. In combat I miss 5 times in a row with a 93 percent hit chance. Then I search some item with a 87 percent success chance and fail 6 times in a row again... So I just reload previous save and try again and again. Reloading non stop and all that save/load spamming takes away from game experience, not to mention to story…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →On sale? Definitely get it. Otherwise, no. I can see what other reviewers meant by the dialogue; that and the art often feel amateur at worst and just rough draft version at best. I enjoyed Dead in Bermuda less than this, I'll give it that, and I enjoyed Banner Saga more; this is essentially a blend of the two. It really needs another pass from an experienced dialogue editor and character artist.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I am writing this review with 88.5 hours of playing, which i truly mostly enjoyed, but have not touched this game in a while. It is intriguing, it has a great setup, characters and plot twists. I really, really wanted to see the ending, but i was crushed by bad luck or small mistakes just too many times to keep going. Thus, i am conflicted - i do think the game is good, but my hand is not reaching for it any more. Recommend for stronger players
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →⣿⣿⡻⠿⣳⠸⢿⡇⢇⣿⡧⢹⠿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣾⣿⡇⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⡐⣯⠁ ⠄⠄ ⠟⣛⣽⡳⠼⠄⠈⣷⡾⣥⣱⠃⠣⣿⣿⣿⣯⣭⠽⡇⣿⣿⣿⣿⣟⢢⠏⠄ ⠄ ⢠⡿⠶⣮⣝⣿⠄⠄⠈⡥⢭⣥⠅⢌⣽⣿⣻⢶⣭⡿⠿⠜⢿⣿⣿⡿⠁⠄⠄ ⠄⣼⣧⠤⢌⣭⡇⠄⠄⠄⠭⠭⠭⠯⠴⣚⣉⣛⡢⠭⠵⢶⣾⣦⡍⠁⠄⠄⠄⠄ ⠄⣿⣷⣯⣭⡷⠄⠄⢀⣀⠩⠍⢉⣛⣛⠫⢏⣈⣭⣥⣶⣶⣦⣭⣛⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄ ⢀⣿⣿⣿⡿⠃⢀⣴⣿⣿⣿⣎⢩⠌⣡⣶⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣆⠄⠄⠄ ⢸⡿⢟⣽⠎⣰⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢀⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣦⠄⠄ ⣰⠯⣾⢅⣼⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡇⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡄⠄ ⢰⣄⡉⣼⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⠄ ⢯⣌⢹⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄ ⢸⣇⣽⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄ ⢸⣟⣧⡻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⡻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄ ⠈⢹⡧⣿⣸⠿⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⠗⣈⠻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡇⠄ ⠄⠘⢷⡳⣾⣷⣶⣶⣶⣶⣶⣾⣿⣿⢀⣶⣶⣶⣾⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠇⠄ ⠄⠄⠈⣵⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠄⠄ ⠄⠄⠄⠸⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠘⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠇⠄⠄
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →No. The game is intresting and sounds fun (i enjoyed my few hours in it) but the amount of RNG ruins it for me. Way too much skill checks. The game is hard i get it and i like that but being hard because of RNG is not a good thing because you can't do nothing about it. In a strategy game where you have to plan carefully a little RNG as taking the risk is good but as i said it's just too much. Think about it as you can't live and plan your life while you play one russian roulette each day untill…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've completed the game twice, once on normal, once on the highest difficulty a few years apart and have also done two 'half-way' games to learn the systems before restarting "for real". I really enjoy the game, but it can absolutely be brutal and boring for long stretches, as mentioned by several of the negative reviews. I absolutely can't disagree, but the game still has a "every thing you do matters for survival" element that most survival games just do not have that makes it stand out…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →So man was 75% tired, so he decide to go at nigth and kill him self by gattering wood. There was no way to decide for him to do or not do this. This game is just messy.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Mediocre - RNG sucks and probably wrongly coded. 79% success chance translates to 8 failed attempts out of 10. ffs! - All characters are childish and annoying. There is no depth to them, Writing is cheap - Asset flip. Many areas are replica from previous game, word to word. - Too many events that can not be influenced, driven by RNG - Instead of survival it feels like busy chaos. Effects popping up out of nowhere, negative statuses applied to your characters every night, every day from…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I survived 24 days, soon I ran out of food (had to give 30 anyways), and everybody died of depression or injury. Not sure what order I should have built my buildings but I couldn't get enough stone (so couldn't research fas enough)...anyways I'm in Hel now and wondering if I should suffer another play through.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Too RNG dependent. Makes your decisions feel meaningless if a coinflip can overwrite any strategic choice you made.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I remember getting a free copy of Dead in Bermuda and after playing it and really enjoying the concept. I thus decided to purchase Dead in Vinland along with all of it's DLC as I heard it was a superior version of the game. In Dead in Vinland, you're tasked with helping a viking family survive on an island while progressing through an story and also having fighting elements. The character romance options were the icing on the cake for me. One brief romance option had me shook for a while,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →After playing The Pale Beyond, I wanted to try a similar game and run into this 1, it is easier, so do I like that (has customizable difficulty if you want it harder) since in Pale Beyond my characters kept dying. But I can barely recommend this game. The reason is the dreadful writing and RNG. To start off with the writing, it feels so off for this game, it is way too modern, even pulling “that’s what she said” jokes at one point. Some dialogues are ok, but even more of them have no place in…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Dead in Vinland is one of my favorite games of all time: - It has great characters and a great story line - It has an awesome Colony Sim aspect - And it has Interesting fights based on a risk-reward system The characters and story line are probably the first thing you notice. You like some characters, you hate some, but I think they all have personality. And you will start to hate the main Antagonist and his Hunchmen sooo much. The colony Sim part is probably the best aspect of the game. I…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Crash land on an unknown island with family, lucky enough to find a warm shelter, food, woodlands, fresh water source etc... Characters resign from life on day 4 because rain and scavenging their boat made them sad. Seriously, one of the first structures you HAVE to build on your new home is a bar just for you and your family members to sit around and raise their moods. The game doesn't tell you you need to either, their moods just get worse and they die unless you have one.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I have the game set on the absolute easiest difficulty for battles, because I find them incredibly frustrating as opposed to enjoyable (-100% on battle difficulty). I have had to save a reload multiple times because I've lost all three fighters in one turn before I even have a chance to act. The game is incredibly unbalanced and highly dependent on RNGs. I don't mind struggles in games, or even high difficulty games, but they should be fair, reasonable, and a player should be able to overcome…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Did not expect this much fun to be honest. Liked Bermuda, but this is a lot better. Too bad there is no community voiceover pack, or innate voiceovers :/ CONTROLLER SUPPORT WOULD BE A MUST! Other than that, you will sink days into this and then tableflip...
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a hidden gem. I spent hours playing it, it has a lot of depth and progression to it, and also a lot of challenge. Overall a very unique game and one of a kind, I'd highly recommend giving it a try.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I guess its not for everyonr but it definitely is for me. I don't care much for survival management usually but enjoyed it hrre. What engaged me throughout was the conversations though. Unfortunately one DLC added so many of them that the convrrsations outlive the gameplay by many weeks. That should have been solved by having more conversations each night. How could the devs not see? I recommend anyway because I liked the game so much but it was a big problem in the last third.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is a real challenge when it comes to surviving on the island, and that challenge is what makes it so engaging. The randomness of whether something succeeds or fails in the forest adds even more tension and difficulty. The relationships between the characters, who likes whom and who doesn’t, are also an interesting part of the gameplay. A big plus for the DLCs as well, especially the one with the dog 🐶.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Good survival management game, close to Thea & Expeditions series. It gives you a lot of choice in a way you want to do things, also contains many interesting custom-written, not generic, characters who interact not only with the player but with other companions you recruit too. I recommend playing on Survival + True Viking (Ironman) difficulty always - only this way can you feel joy in games like this. I don't get people who are savescumming survival games, what is the fun in that?
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →- Compared to Bermuda, this game is easier, but more complex - Longer, but I let you be the judge if it's good or bad - Moooore characters around each with their perks and, of course, their flaws. - If you liked Bermuda, you you love Vinland A 3rd game in the series is already in development! Yay! If the negative reviews about the difficulty scare you, just play on easy; it will be actually easy. If you're looking for a challenge, well, you know what to do!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The tactical combat portion of the game is pretty dull, but don’t fool yourself, in reality this is mainly a management game, and a very good at that. Manage resources, relationships and character stats, and while doing it, solve a mystery involving the norse gods and find a way to beat a bully. If in doubt play dead in bermuda demo from the save developer, it’s the same recipe.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I like it, but I like games that have elements of randomness in them. While knowledge and skill can minimize the elements of chance in this game, the chance will always be there. If you don't mind some RNG in your game, it's great. If you hate RNG, it will frustrate you. In conclusion, I recommend it for players like me, but I do realize it isn't everyone's cup of tea.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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