Tribes of Midgard is now available for free for anyone with a PS+ subscription in May. It’s one of three games along with Curse of the Dead Gods and FIFA 22 (click here for all of Outsider Gaming’s guides on FIFA 22). In Tribes of Midgard, you must defend Seeds of Yggdrasil from the Legions of Hel nearly every night while providing the Seeds with souls to power them and advance your settlement level. You can play solo or through online co-op.
Below, you will find complete controls for Tribes of Midgard. Following the controls will be gameplay tips.
Tribes of Midgard PS4 & PS5 controls
- Move: L
- Camera Zoom: R (only able to zoom in or out; unable to move camera)
- Interact: X
- Attack: Square
- First Spell: Triangle
- Second Spell: R1
- Third Spell: R2
- Guard: L2
- Build (when prompted): L1
- Map: Touchpad
- Inventory: Options
- Pause Game: Square (when on Inventory screen; hit any button to unpause)
- Switch Equipped Weapon: L3
- Switch Consumables: D-Pad← and D-Pad→
- Use Consumable: D-Pad↑
- Communication Wheel: D-Pad↓
- Teleport to Village: R3 (when meter is filled)
Note that the left and right analog sticks are denoted as L and R with pressing them L3 and R3, respectively.
Below, you will find gameplay tips for beginners. These tips are also geared toward those who prefer playing solo.
1. Harvest EVERYTHING in Tribes of Midgard
The most basic element for your success will be to harvest as many materials as possible. In the beginning, you’re relegated to things not needing equipment like branches, flint, and plants. Beyond the materials – which you’ll need to create equipment, weapons, and more – you will gain souls with everything you harvest (more below).
To harvest materials like stone and trees, you will need a pickaxe and lumberaxe, the lowest quality of which are flint and most accessible for you when you begin. Flint is lying around your village in abundance, along with branches, that you can then trade in the village for the requisite equipment. You must then harvest stone and wood to trade for weapons and armor with the blacksmith and armorer.
The further away from the village you travel, the more high quality materials you can harvest. However, you’ll also encounter stronger enemies in these areas, so make sure you are well equipped before you go exploring lest you become relegated to fighting unarmed.
2. Keep an eye on weapon and item durability
Unfortunately, you can’t just go hacking-and-slashing everything you see indefinitely. Each item has a durability meter that is the green bar underneath it on your HUD. When the durability reaches zero, you’ll automatically switch to another weapon you have equipped or, if you don’t have any weapons, unarmed.
There are five different durability ratings with associated colors in Tribes of Midgard:
- Common (grey)
- Uncommon (green)
- Rare (blue)
- Epic (purple)
- Legendary (orange)
Durability applies to your pickaxes and lumberaxes as well as weapons and shields. If you have a shield equipped, the shield icon will appear above your weapon in the HUD with its own durability meter.
Keep an eye on which class you select as each will have a preferred weapon. Speaking of classes…
3. Choose the class that best suits your playstyle of what’s available
There are eight classes in Tribes of Midgard, though only two are immediately available with the Ranger and the Warrior. Below are the classes and their details:
- Ranger: Adepts of the god Ullr, Rangers are ranged fighters who use bows and arrows while also being more fleet of foot than other classes.
- Warrior: The base melee class, Warriors are adepts of the god Týr and are well-rounded in both melee and spells.
- Guardian: Adepts of the god Forseti, Guardians are a tank class in Tribes of Midgard with their skill tree heavily balanced toward taunts and defense. This class is unlocked by defeating three Jötnar (bosses) in Saga Mode.
- Seer: Adepts of the god Iðunn, Seers are magic users who have a balance of offensive and healing spells. There is a Seer in the village who can heal you and unleash attacks on foes when they threaten the village each night. This class is unlocked by using the Bifrost to exit ten worlds in Saga Mode.
- Hunter: Adepts of the god Skaði, Hunters are like the Artificer class in Dragon Age: Inquisition as they favor using traps. Their skill tree includes upgrades to using bows and axes as well as increased trap durability. This class is unlocked by activating 15 shrines in world in Saga Mode.
- Berserker: Adepts of the god Thrúðr, Berserkers are your quintessential melee fighting force who revel in bloodlust. They can build “wrath,” which can then be unleashed on foes. This class is unlocked by defeating 20 enemies in ten seconds in Saga Mode.
- Sentinel: Adepts of the god Syn, Sentinels are another tank class in Tribes of Midgard that favor using shield defenses like many dwarven war clans of lore (such as in Emerilia, a series of Lit-RPG novels). This class is unlocked by blocking 25 attacks in ten seconds in Saga Mode.
- Warden: Adepts of the god Hermóðr, Wardens are the support class of Tribes of Midgard who can still pack a punch with every type of weapon. Their skill tree is geared toward increasing capacity of nearly every item type. This class is unlocked by surviving until day 15 in Saga Mode.
Unlocking the other classes, particularly the last three, may take a lot of time, but they’re worth the endeavor.
Beyond unlocking the classes, there are also challenges you can complete in Tribes of Midgard. There are three types of challenges: Class, Achievement, and Saga. Achievement challenges are based on in-game achievements (which are tied to trophies). Class challenges are connected to each class, so you will need to unlock all eight for these. Saga challenges are those that are during each season, such as defeating the legendary Fenrir, the Great Wolf (Season One), or Jörmungandr, the World Serpent (Season Two, the current season).
Each achievement will nab you either in-game currency, horns (for upgrades), weapons, armor, and more. Make sure to pay attention to this screen so you know what you need to accomplish.
4. Make sure to feed souls to the Seed of Yggdrasil
Souls, as mentioned earlier, are harvested every time you gain some materials, though in small number. The main purpose of souls is to feed the Seed of Yggdrasil enough to upgrade the village. Simply head to the Seed in the village and hit X to unload souls (up to 500 at a time). The Seed of Yggdrasil will need ten thousand souls to upgrade. However, the Seed will also lose one soul every four seconds.
To gain souls beyond harvesting materials, defeat enemies, loot chests, and defeat Jötnar (bosses). The latter two will reward you with the most souls. You can also maximize souls from harvesting by cutting down Yew and Rowan trees at night.
Nightly, you will face of with the Legions of Hel as they seek to sap the souls from the Seed. You won’t have to defeat every single enemy as you just need to make it to the morning. However, be aware that the difficulty increases with every day that passes. In particular, if a Blood Moon is out, the enemies are stronger!
You have three gates that you can close off, but the enemies will attack and eventually destroy the gates. Do your best to keep them from entering the village, but they will come from all three entrances. In particular, focus on the enemies draining souls from the Seed!
If you fail, the Seed of Yggdrasil will be destroyed and you will receive a game over. On the bright side, the animation of the Seed being destroyed is a sight to behold. After your game over, you’ll be brought to your progress screen that will indicate the amount of experience you earned, days survived, and more.
You should be able to gain at least one level with each outing early on until you reach around level five, all dependent on how long you survive, of course. Check the experience rewards from the main game screen to see the rewards for progressing to each level.
5. Defeat Jötnar for massive gains in souls and experience
Jötnar are the bosses in Tribes of Midgard. They’re named as Jötunn individually. The first one you’ll most like come across – and defeat – is the ice giant Jötunn Geirröðr. The giant is slow and lumbering, but unleashes mostly AoE ice attacks as well as an ice projectile. Be aware: if you fight it in the icy area to the southeast of the village, you’ll take cold damage unless properly equipped with ice resistance! Try and wait until it hits the grassy plains to attack and defeat the boss.
The Jötnar in Tribes of Midgard are (in alphabetical order):
- Angrboða: This giant is of the Dark element and is weak to lighting.
- Geirröðr: The aforementioned Ice giant is weak to fire.
- Hálogi: This giant is of the Fire element and is weak to ice.
- Járnsaxa: This giant is of the Lighting element and is weak to dark.
Thus far, there are also two Saga Bosses in Tribes of Midgard: the aforementioned Fenrir (Season One) and Jörmungandr (Season Two). Saga Bosses are on an entirely different level than the Jötnar, but also provide the greatest rewards. Battle them at your own peril
There you have it, your complete controls guide and tips for beginners and solo players. Harvest materials and souls, defend the Seed of Yggdrasil, and show those Jötnar who really rules Midgard!