Chosen by Odin Beta: Co-op Norse Action RPG With Dice

Chosen by Odin is a co-op action role-playing game that takes Norse mythology and adds a tabletop twist. The end of the world is coming, cults are pushing it along, and your only hope is a handful of mythological warriors and a set of dice. A playtest is now open for sign-ups, so anyone curious can request access and try it before release.

There's something appealing about a game that treats Ragnarok as a deadline. You aren't just surviving the apocalypse. You're racing it.

Nine Realms, One Bad Day

The setting spans the Nine Realms, the interconnected worlds of Norse myth that include places like Asgard and Midgard. In Chosen by Odin, apocalyptic cults devoted to Ragnarok, the prophesied end of the gods, are working to bring about the final collapse. Your warriors are there to stop them.

Players wield divine powers against enemy hordes that are described as overwhelming. The goal isn't always to clear every last foe. Sometimes it's simply to get out before the realm falls apart around you. That escape-under-pressure hook sets the tone right away.

The worlds themselves are randomized, so each run should play out a little differently. They're filled with side events, hidden treasures and tough bosses. Exploration seems to matter here, which suits a co-op game where one friend inevitably wanders off to check a suspicious corner while everyone else fights.

Rolling the Fate Dice

This is where things get interesting. At each upgrade stage, your team rolls crafted Fate Dice onto the table. Those rolls feed into a shared pool of blessings, which in turn shapes how each character develops.

The shared part is worth pausing on. Upgrades aren't just a solo shopping trip between fights. The whole squad contributes to one pool, and builds grow out of that. It sounds like a system that could spark plenty of table talk (or friendly arguments) about who gets what.

The developers pitch the mix of divine abilities and tactical dice rolls as the key to surviving threats that keep ramping up. Luck plays a part, but the word "tactical" suggests you'll have some say in how things shake out.

Getting Back to Valhalla

Every run is also about collecting resources. Gather enough and you can extract safely back to Valhalla, the hall of fallen warriors in Norse myth, which serves as your home base here.

In Valhalla, you forge new dice and permanently upgrade your stats. So even a run that goes sideways can still leave you stronger for the next attempt, as long as you make it out. That extraction step adds a nice layer of tension. Do you push deeper for more loot, or head home while you still can?

It's a loop that roguelite fans will recognise straight away: head out, grab what you can, come back, improve, try again.

How to Join the Playtest

The playtest is open for sign-ups now. To join, head to the game's sign-up page and click "Request Access." The pitch promises legendary battle victories that would make Odin proud, which is a tall order for any team of friends who can't agree on who picks up the treasure.

If beta sign-ups are your thing, there are plenty of others making the rounds lately. Blackhill Keep: Heir of the Night opened its own recently, and Lost in the Roots is taking testers too.

Our Take

Chosen by Odin brings together several ideas that have been popular in indie games for a while: co-op play, randomized runs, permanent progression and extraction. None of those is new on its own. What stands out is the Fate Dice. Turning upgrades into a physical-feeling, shared roll could give the game a board game energy that sets it apart from other Norse-themed action titles.

The shared blessing pool also suggests the game is built around teamwork rather than four players doing their own thing. That could make it a strong pick for friend groups, much like co-op heist games such as Greedy that lean on playing together.

It's worth watching whether the dice feel tactical or purely random once people get their hands on them. That balance will likely decide how well the loop holds up. The playtest should be the first real chance to find out.