Jotun: Valhalla Edition

You have impressed the Gods!

great visuals, good voice acting but gameplaywise this game is bad -one light attack and one heavy attack no combos btw, fights are not fun and lacking -no iframes on dodge roll it is useless most of the time, you just move slightly faster for a fraction of a second -boss fights are just frustrating and not enjoyable because of two reasons above -poor level design and empty world completing each level gets boring really fast especially with such slow movement could not get myself to play past second boss you can also tell by achievements stats how many people actually went through the first boss and how "fun" they are to 100%, not a good look

I got this for about $2, which is the only reason I won't refund it. This is almost not even a game. That doesn't mean there wasn't passion here though... in fact quite the opposite. But just not for a game. It's kind of like someone said "hey, wouldn't it be cool to have a story with really unique music, and authentic icelandic voiceovers? We could get deep into Norse myth in a way that others haven't, and really show off the beauty of that ancient religion!" And they did just that... and did it well, for the most part. But somewhere along the line they kind of... forgot about the game? Honestly this is a walking simulator. The scenery is all hand drawn but it's still... samey for a lot of the map, which is also quite maze-like. Also, you move pretty slow. But there's every now and then some really cool scenery or rune or something and a tidbit of Norse myth delivered through some actually really great icelandic voiceover work. But it's still not a game, really. There's very little to do. There's a few token bosses thrown in, probably because they wanted to label it an action game instead of what it really is, which is a Norse maze simulator. There's so many games in this space. This one, while artistic, just doesn't command the time that pretty much any other title will.

제목에서부터 알 수 있듯이 북유럽신화 기반 게임. 정말 어이가 없을 정도로 불친절하다. 시작부터 어디로 가서 뭘해야되는지도 모르겠고, 맵 크기가 작은 것도 아닌데 지도도 없다. "일시정지하고 맵보기"?라는 자막이 한 번 표시됐었는데, esc키 눌러서 메뉴를 표시한다고 일시정지되는 게 아니었던 건지 지도를 볼 수가 없었고, 그렇다고 다른 아무 키나 다 눌러봐도 끝까지 지도는 볼 수가 없었다. (esc키가 아니면 뭘 눌러서 일시정지하란 건지) 처음 마주치는 몬스터를 잡을 때 나오는 BGM은 왜 그따구인지 분위기가 정말 뜬금없었고.... 그냥 전체적으로 내가 눈치껏 플레이해야되는 게임이다. 이딴 게 [우크라이나 지원 번들]도 아니고 내가 직접 골라서 결제한 게임이라니... (75% 할인 받은 걸 다행이라고 해야되나)

Boring

Did two bosses (forest and mines) and I just don't care to go any farther. The exploration is slow and tedious, in part because the character is slow, but also because the camera never seems to show enough or be looking at the part of the level I need to see. Levels are long and maze-like, but also often empty. Much time is spent running around looking at nothing. The map is of almost no use at all. It doesn't show your current location, so you have to guess based on the rough shape of the surrounding area, which you can't see because the camera is too close. The boss battles are a chore: you do barely any damage and their attacks are all telegraphed and repetitive. Hitboxes are all over the place. Will that attack hit me? Will my attack land? Guess! The game also explains absolutely nothing. There isn't that much that you need to know, but there are zero tutorial tips when encountering new dangers or unlocking new powers or anything, really. If you don't go into the options menu to check, you'd never know what the controls are. Healing fountain things only work once, which you only find out when you backtrack to use it a second time and all that happens is a staring contest. The game is generally unresponsive with a severe lack of feedback, good or bad. Stepping on platforms or approaching boss level gates provides little assurance that I'm doing the thing I'm supposed to be doing, until, several seconds later, something lights up. Sometimes. Lock the camera or make a sound or do literally [i]anything[/i] to indicate a successful interaction. On the bright side, the artwork, animations, and music are all quite good. The narration is well-done, and it's neat that it's not in English. I just wish the game was more fun to play.

[b] Graphic Designer's Portfolio Showcase [/b] Besides nice visuals and animations, this game can make you fall asleep instantly. It is supposed to be an action exploration game. But there is none of both. You do walk around trying to figure out what to do, but it all happens in barren lands. The world is empty, there is nothing exciting happening at any given time until you reach a boss fight. The story revolves around the Norse mythology. Sometimes some random Norse related figure will appear by a zoom out effect of the camera, there will be a line or two telling you about this figure and that's it. But to be honest, I don't remember any of these figures or things. That is because all of these interactions lack [b] meaning [/b]. If these figures do not contribute to the plot or makes any impact on the game itself, then their presence is absolute pointless and meaningless. So you roam around and feel like you try to rush the chores you have just to get to the boss fights which are the whole point. Talking about fights, the fights are pathetic. The combat is simply dull. It is shallow like a puddle. There's nothing engaging in it. The only entertaining part of the fights are the animations of the bosses. It is a true shame when this game is based on a viking character, you'd expect something decent when it comes from that theme, no wonder she died an "inglorious death". Sadly my experience with this game is simply viewing someone's portfolio of graphic works and animations. When you die in the game it tells you "You have failed to impress the gods". Well, this game failed to impress both gods and mortals.

Jotun is a gorgeously drawn game with intriguing presentation and occasional moments of breathtaking visuals. It's also mind-numbingly tedious. Your character slogs through a parade of empty, unengaging environments as though wading through molasses, with a camera that shows only a tiny snapshot of the hollow pointless spaces you're moving through and a map that does not track your current position, forcing you to scour every corner of each boring area at a snail's pace in order to complete this glorified collectathon. Even the camera's movement is uncooperative, tracking carefully over the landscape as though desperate to make sure you've paid the proper amount of attention to the latest batch of nothing, before it deigns to reveal that the new area you've just reached does, in fact, contain even more nothing and you should turn around. The moments of combat, few and far between as they are, do not improve matters. This is, at last, a brief sip of something approaching gameplay - but your attacks are slow and clunky, and do little damage with less reach. You have exactly two attacks, a slow and pathetic jab and a downright glacial heavy attack, and progression will not increase their variety or effectiveness. A favoured trick of several bosses is to sprint, jump, or teleport to the other side of the massive map - shrinking your character model down to a size that makes it even harder to judge attacks, and dragging out the already tedious fight by forcing you to lumber after them like an arthritic tortoise while hoping they don't just pogo away again once you get there. I finished this game in four hours out of sheer sunk cost fallacy. Then I checked the achievements and saw challenge runs and time trials, and laughed and laughed and uninstalled. Don't make the same mistake I did. Steer well clear. Watch a Youtube playthrough on double speed if you really care that much about seeing the landscapes.