These powers can only be used twice per area (and are replenished when returning to Giggungagap). You also get a health boost, a massive hammer (Thor’s no less), and other powers. These include powers like Decoy from Loki that makes enemies focus on a fake version of you after getting their attention, the ‘fake’ explodes, causing considerable damage. There are also new powers that you are granted by discovering a shrine within these sub-areas that are essential for victory. Ever little bit of health helps, so whether it’s a health fountain good for one use or this tree, it’s worth getting to. Sometimes you’ll see something, like this mythical tree whose fruit gives Thora a sliver of extra space on her HP meter, and you will have to figure out how to get to it. Each sub-area is fairly large and offers its own environmental challenges and, more importantly, an interesting area for players to explore. Nearly all of the combat takes place during the boss fights, before you get to those the experience is largely one of exploration. One thing I made a note of early on and found myself almost re-noting a few times again throughout the game was that Jotun is tough, but fair. Hardly a game-breaking issue, but still notable, these problems are unfortunate, but workable. Finding Thora in this was sometimes tough, but it was the framerate inconsistencies that made a tough fight a little bit more challenging. Once again I was wowed by the scale of having Thora, a huge boss, and what literally had to be 150+ dead or alive fallen enemies on screen at once. It’s not a common issue, but the second boss (whose name escapes me) was a prime example of this and the framerate hiccups that sometimes occur when there are too many objects on screen. In a few rare cases, this sense of scale backfires just a little bit in that it can be tough to locate Thora on the battlefield. Overlooking land from plateau, narrowly avoiding a gigantic ice fish creature as it surfaces, and dodge-rolling Jotun attacks are a few examples of this continuous and appreciable sense of scale that Thunder Lotus achieved. The hand-drawn, frame-by-frame art looks unique and offers ample opportunity to showcase this sense of scale. The whole scale of the game is massive, and Thunder Lotus did a very nice job of routinely reminding the player how insignificant they are against the scope of not only the Jotun themselves, but also of the lands you traverse. Doing so unlocks the path to the boss battle, one of several Jotun that are all quite different yet share one key thing: they’re massive. Within this area are two locations, and at these locations are runes that you must locate. Thora’s introspections as you enter a new area or having returned to Giggungagap after clearing an area are compelling and perfectly timed for you to listen and read while preparing yourself for the next challenge.įrom Giggungagap, you travel, on foot, over the course of thirty seconds or so, to the next major area. The mythology is intriguing, as is the story, and it unfolds beautifully and seamlessly within the play of the game. If you thought Giggungagap was hard to pronounce, get ready for an expanded lesson in the Icelandic language all voiceovers in the game are in their native tongue (with English subtitles). To do this, you find yourself in Giggungagap, a sort of mystical nexus for each of the game’s levels. This was not a very glorious death, so, before she can enter Valhalla for eternity, she has to prove herself to the Gods. You play Thora, a female Viking warrior who dies on a ship during a storm. Indeed, Jotun is primarily a game about fighting bosses, but there’s much more to it than that. These bosses are the Jotun, and they’re part of Norse mythology. I never played the original, but the Valhalla Edition seems to be by all accounts the same as the original game except that, upon beating the game, you unlock a boss rush mode with tougher-than-before versions of the bosses. In Jotun, you play Thora, a Viking warrior who died an inglorious death and must prove herself to the Gods to enter Valhalla.Įxplore vast regions of Norse Purgatory to find runes to unleash the jotun, giant Norse elementals.Jotun was released on PC a year ago, but finds itself part of Nintendo’s indie games, or Nindies, and I would consider this a big score for Wii U owners. Jotun is a hand-drawn action-exploration game set in Norse mythology.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |