Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel

I'm going to recommend this game, but it's not as cut and dry as "You should get this no matter what". [b]TL;DR:[/b] Look at the bullets below and try the demo if unsure. If you're a fan of 'Bullet Heaven' games (as Steam calls them) like Vampire Survivors, you may be put-off by the comparatively steep price of this title. I'd say that's fair, as this doesn't bring much [i]unique[/i] to the table in the genre; it just does everything that it does competently and with excellent presentation. If you're unsure, you can try the demo, though you shouldn't judge the "Easy" stage it starts you with as that is not indicative of the majority of the game. Here is a bulleted list of (mostly) unique features this game has, followed by more details if you're interested: [list] [*] Unique Character Loadouts [*] Grouped Skills by Gods [*] Objectives During Runs [*] Individual Character [i]and[/i] Universal Meta-Progression [*] Fleshed Out Boss Fights [/list] [h1]Character Loadouts & Skills[/h1] Characters in this game, of which there are 7 without DLC, have unique [b]Basic Attacks[/b] (which you can either have autofire or manually trigger; same with aiming) and their own personal [b]Class Skills[/b] to choose from. Each character can also wield one of several weapons (though all but the first must be unlocked with a currency you gain in-game) that have their own unique [b]Weapon Skills[/b] that are [i]always[/i] manually triggered. This means that every character will have meaningfully different options to choose from for half of their potential kit in a run. The other half of options are known as [b]God Skills[/b], which behave as you would expect from most of the game's contemporaries. That is to say: Every character has access to them. You are presented with two [b]Skill Groups[/b] upon leveling up, chosen between [b]Class Skill Groups[/b] and [b]God Skill Groups[/b]. This means when you level up you may see a choice between choosing a [b]Berserker Skill[/b] (if you're playing Berserker of course) or a [b]Thor Skill[/b], or maybe a choice between a [b]Thor Skill[/b] or a [b]Loki Skill[/b]. Once you choose which group you want, you will then be presented with three randomly selected available options from each group, pick one and get back to playing. You can get upgrades both in meta-progression and in a run to increase the number of options presented to you at once. Despite the way that it separates your choices into categories before presenting them to you, this is mostly bog standard for the genre. Ultimately you will pick either an [b]Active Skill[/b] (attack skill, basically) or a [b]Passive Skill[/b] to buff you in some way each time you level up, just like every other Bullet Heaven game, just with a different presentation. You [i]are[/i], however, allowed [i][b]INFINITE[/b][/i] passives in a run, while you can only have [i]two[/i] [b]Active Class Skills[/b] and [i]three[/i] [b]Active God Skills[/b]. If everything I'm explaining sounds complicated, I promise it isn't actually. It's just the game's way of presenting your power scaling during a run, and while it's relatively unique (though [i]Death Must Die[/i] handles it similarly) it won't make it feel much different to other games in the genre. [h1]Objectives & Bosses[/h1] During each run, dependent on your chosen difficulty, you will have a certain number of objectives that pop up to complete. You are often given a choice between an easier option and a harder one, and sometimes even a third significantly more challenging one, with how much Gold you receive increasing with the challenge. Each map, of which there are 6 without DLC, has a pool of unique objectives available, as well as all maps sharing some possible objectives. They range from killing X amount of mini-bosses to slaying X number of enemies near a portal or even guiding something from one point of the map to another. Generally speaking, they all require you to stand or walk to a particular place while otherwise just killing enemies normally, and while they serve to break up a run into more than idling in one spot, they don't offer much in the way of excitement. Contrary to that, though, the boss fights are quite enjoyable. Scaling with difficulty they will present you with broader movesets so that facing them repeatedly on harder runs proves challenging in more ways than simply them hitting harder. Most attacks have telegraphed areas that will be hit, marked by red circles or lines, and see you navigating around nimbly while trying to stay within reach so that all of your attacks can land. Some of them, such as the first boss, are quite easy, while later ones turn the genre from [i]Bullet Heaven[/i] to straight up [b]Bullet Hell[/b]. The existence of a boss with a large health pool at the end of a stage also makes it important to not only stack up on crowd control skills, as you will need good single target damage to finish the run as well. The boss fights are the highlight of [i]Jotunnslayer[/i], which is apt as they are all Jotunn themselves. [h1]Meta-Progression[/h1] The Gold you earn during a run is your primary way of affecting this game's meta-progression, though you will also earn Soulstones from defeating bosses or various other means on rare occasion which can be spent to buy new weapons for your characters. All Gold you earn in a run is converted into [b]Skill Points[/b], with the cost per-point increasing as you accumulate more. This means it may cost 4 coins early on to get a single point, but later it will cost 10, then 12, etc. as you earn more of them. The [b]Skill Shop[/b] itself is separated into two separate stores: [b]Class Shop[/b] and [b]God Shop[/b]. Both of these shops offer available purchases that unlock [b]Evolutions[/b] for [b]Active Skills[/b] (personally not a fan of having to buy access to them), while also offering [b]Passive Upgrades[/b] that are permanent for all future runs. [b]Passive Upgrades[/b] bought in the [b]Class Shop[/b] only apply to the selected class you're buying it for. This is useful for buffing up your favourite class in particular. Buying them in the [b]God Shop[/b], however, gives you their bonuses to [i]every character[/i], making them easily the most important purchases to get initially, especially if you don't yet have a favourite character. This review is long and in-depth because while I enjoy this game and will definitely be playing more than I have at the time of writing this, I do think the price is a tall ask given all of the competition at much cheaper prices in the genre. The game is good and it looks good, but it may not present a cost:value ratio that's good enough for everyone.

Very generic, bored after a couple of runs, not alot of substance. Screen is so busy during runs you can hardly tell whats going on.

2-3 дня можно залипать

this game kicks ass, everything I want from a survivor-like and more. The art is kick ass, abilities are visually satisfying , build potential has lots of variety between the hero and the god powers ; lots of neat passives to stack for wild combos. + big W for the skill points being fully respec-able without consequence so you can switch up who you're running with , without having to grind to make them playable at my prefered difficulty.

Addicting, as any bullet heaven should be. Tho not too much staying power. Had an awesome 5-6h, but after 7h, I felt like I've seen most it had to offer.

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