Hail, einherjar!
This is the first development diary of Runes of Midgard, a Norse-themed idle ARPG. The idea behind the game fits in a single sentence: your warrior fights on his own; you take care of everything that makes him stronger. He marches down the trail, picks his targets and uses his powers by himself. You choose his gear, socket his gems, spend his talents and, whenever you like, force a power with keys 1 to 4.
Over the last few weeks the project has taken a leap: from a single-level demo to a beta with full progression. Here’s what changed.
Valhalla, Odin’s hall
The game now begins and ends in Valhalla. After creating your character (up to four per player), you arrive at the hall of fallen heroes — banquet tables, long hearths, einherjar at their seats and Odin on his throne, with Geri and Freki at his feet.
Each resident of the hall has a role:
- Heimdall opens the Bifröst and sets the region and difficulty of your expedition.
- Brokkr, the dwarven smith, reforges affixes, polishes values and crafts masterworks up to +10.
- Andvari, keeper of the treasure, opens sockets and fuses gems.
- The Völva keeps the Codex of Power and awakens runewords.
- The Valkyrie tends the talent tree and the training grounds.
- Mímir remembers every enemy slain and brews the Cauldron of combinations.
- The Merchant and the Vault round out the hall.
Click the ground to walk, click an NPC to go to them, and the sidebar takes you straight to each one.
From level 1 to 60
The hero now goes all the way to level 60, with an experience curve that doesn’t grow exponentially. Difficulties have become level ranges: Normal (1–15), Heroic (15–30), Mythic (30–45) and Ragnarök (45–60). After level 60 come the Ragnarök Expeditions, with endless tiers — each tier makes the monsters stronger and the loot more generous.
Loot that feels like an ARPG
This was the hardest part — and the most fun:
- 13 equipment slots, including an amulet, two rings and the off-hand (shield or second sword).
- Seven rarities, from Common to Ancestral, each with its own color, frame and beam of light on the ground.
- Affixes with tiers and the [min–max] range shown in the tooltip, so you know whether a value rolled well.
- Greater Affixes ★, worth 1.5× the tier’s maximum, which only appear from Mythic upward.
- Gems in five qualities and the 24 runes of the Elder Futhark. The right runes, in the right order, awaken runewords such as Mjölnir and Gungnir.
The talent tree
The Valkyrie tends a tree with 54 nodes: a shared trunk and three branches — Guardian (Axe and Shield), Tempest (Dual Swords) and Executioner (Greatsword). Beyond the passives, the branches unlock alternative skills for each of the four power slots, modifiers, keystones and tactics, which change how the hero makes decisions on his own. In an idle game, that’s where you truly “play”.
What’s next
The numbers are still being tuned — anything you read in the wiki with the beta badge may change. Next in line are Járnviðr Forest, the Walls of Útgarð and three new classes: Shieldmaiden, Seiðkona and Hunter.
If you’d like to play the closed beta, leave your e-mail on the waitlist (sign-ups open soon).
The dead do not rest. Until the next devlog!