Volgarr the Viking II

Been waiting 10 years for a sequel that would provide me with new, unexpected ways of getting angry and frustrated. I closed the game to write this review and also so i wouldn't throw my computer off the window. Perfect. 10/10.

I was excited going into this title. I played Volgarr 1 a while ago and again right before playing this one, It's a title with problems but promise. Volgarr II's level design feels it tries for something different, but similar to 1. Levels are much more flat for combat encounters to be broken up by platforming challenges. Levels are also much-much longer than the first game's. They still have the staple "gotcha" moments in its level design from the first game, but much more spread apart and uses its new enemy types in pretty interesting ways. My main problem comes in with that the game is not very exciting to play through. While it introduces its own enemies, which are mostly very nice, it reuses a lot of enemies and sprites from the first game, visually and functionally. This dips over to the bosses, half of which are a sprite edit or wholesale reuse of a boss from the first game. There's not much to look forward to at the end of each level. The levels don't have much going on, either. Very visually flat for the most part. The first and second halves of a level will change up the tileset, but still ultimately feel samey with very similar color palettes and visuals. This accompanied with the longer level lengths and Volgarr's deliberate movement speed creates this feeling of emptiness as my trudge to the next obstacle in your arbitrary obstacle course. This game ultimately feels undercooked. Its shift in level design creates much more of a combat focus, but introduces its own problems where levels feel like a slog to get through. Even if a player has the entire level memorized and optimized, it's still a lengthy trek through that lacks the satisfaction that the first game had.

Different from the first one, this second game is filled with cheap unavoidable deaths due to bad game mechanics. Many times you need to jump while only a few pixels of one of your feet touch the edge. If you miss the jump, you will die on traps. Worst than that, it keeps the jumps with fixed trajectory mechanic from the first game, but then they add blind long jumps to the mix with unavoidable death traps. So expect to keep replaying the same sections for hours on end, because every slice of progress is hidden behind these deaths that will send you back to the last checkpoint for the first few times and then to the beginning of the level after that. It's also important to mention that monsters, like zombies, spawn randomly under you, causing unavoidable damage. Bosses are easy and uninteresting. This game is not difficult, it's annoying due to bad controllers and bad level design.

I've played Volgarr the Viking for a long time, so when I heard about a sequel coming out close to my birthday I was STOKED. I bought Volgarr the Viking II the day it came out and I fell in love immediately, it wasn't just a carbon copy of the first game, it added so much and felt super fresh. With little homages to the original game like sergeant crunch, or the mechanics of Frakkus that had bosses from the original. I just love it all around, amazing work <3

10/10 decent hard af game. The one and only issue I have is that there isn't a leader board. Volgarr 1 had leader boards so why doesn't this one?

[h1]Volgarr the Viking II[/h1] [u]Will contain some spoilers*[/u] If you liked the first Volgarr game you will probably like the sequel too. What might be the biggest problem for players who haven't played the first one is the way the jumping works. If you aren't willing to learn to use it properly you will probably dislike the game. It has a very special feeling, such that when I returned and decided to beat Volgarr 1 it for a short moment made me think it was input lag lol. Levels are longer and the equipment is stronger, but holes, lack of oxygen and "special terrain" will insta-kill you. It has many nice unfair moment like the first game and places you need to memorize to not get rolled. Once you do its just like in the first game. You become the unfair one and trivialize many enemies and sections :) As stated above the game in general has become longer and might lose some points with certain people who prefer a shorter game/levels. However this is made more manageable with the checkpoint system. As many probably know a frequent complaint about the first one was the lack of checkpoints. For casuals thinking that the game is too difficult the dev also added another feature know as undead mode. You become invincible with the exception of falling into holes etc. I have never used this feature and its presented to you after a certain amounts of continues. This used to be a forced feature which I really think was good that they changed to be optional. Those who rather want the arcade feeling can destroy the checkpoints or simply erase the save slot which there are 3 of. The game is overall an improvement over the first in almost every way. The maybe most questionable change is the lack of secret world passages which instead has been made to a single world. You get there by beating the normal levels without a continue. I believe that Volgarr 1 & 2 are about the same when it comes to difficulty if we don't count the secret world Hel. It is absolutely brutal. However the dev did a good decision on this, so if you simply beat the level you get the A-ending. The level has checkpoints and when you die you have to do a cutscene every time and when you select your save you start at the last checkpoint with one life. This is probably my only complaint about the whole game. Either you should not need to see the cutscene any more times after the first time or the dev could make you start with max amount of lives instead of one. Other negatives I find can be left as they are. People can cheat achievements with undead mode and exiting to title and selecting the save apparently takes you to the last checkpoint with all the gear you had. So you can basically beat the game with no continues on you first try by abusing this. These things are up to everyone to decide on whether to abuse. Games like this you compete with yourself and even if you get to Hel you should be able to beat the game legit if you manage to complete the level anyways. I managed to 100% the game in a bout 20 hours. I played it side by side with my brother. We did the same with the first game but not from the start. To make it like the first game and keep the challenge up we decided to break every checkpoint on our first run. It was a great experience with lots of stupid deaths, laughs and frustration. I'd give it 9/10. //ECE//

It's more Volgarr with a lot of QoL updates.

A solid action platformer that is consistently rewarding. The length of the game can drag at times, and the continue system feels particularly punishing when I can just save scum by quitting and reloading my save. However, if you want to immerse yourself in a Sega Genesis-era platformer that controls well and has imaginative battle spaces, you have to try Volgarr.

SKOL! Harder than picking up a valkyrie at the tavern! Just kidding, that's easy compared to this.... 10/10

Sequel isnt as fun as the first. This one seems like its just harder to be harder. The first one felt like a challenging adventure. This one just seems like a dodge the deathtrap game.