There was no overarching structure, so every run starts afresh, which is of course a perfectly fair way to do things, but it did make the frustration of ending a two-hour run all the more acute. Some tactics and upgrades felt way too effective, while others felt pointless. But much like FTL, one of its obvious inspirations, the more you played the more the little things started to niggle.

Nasty little viking types come in to invade your island and try to burn down the buildings, you defend it until a final wave, then gather up all the loot and sail on – away from the ever-encroaching ‘Bad North’ of the title.

Each commander is surrounded by eight soldiers, and as you upgrade there are three basic types of unit: melee, archers, and pikes. Left-click a commander to select, at which point the (realtime) action slows down, then right-click where you want them to go. You play as up to four commanders on diminutive 3D maps that are often built around verticality. It’s a stripped-back and focused RTS where a good run can build slowly and become overwhelming, or end in an instant through a silly mistake. Simple in its elements, you’ll pick up the basics within 30 seconds, start to do a bit of island-hopping, then look at the clock and realise three hours have passed.

Bad North is one of those games that defy expectations.

Bad North free