I then replayed the first boss again as the character design and introduction is awesome but swinging the axe is so slow. In the brief play I had, I went to the area where you jump onto a raft and navigate to smaller islands with veins of lava appearing. It’s literally the opposite to Final Fantasy VII in that case. I stopped writing about this and started playing it again to try and convince myself what I was missing but the continuous walking around without any encounters irritated me. I wouldn’t make that comparison – in terms of a similar visual style from gaming history, sure, I get the link but the closest comparison to Dragon’s Lair is the playability and stuttered movements. Some of the comparisons of this game have been linked with Dragon’s Lair. Yes, it does look fantastic (the backgrounds are just as good as the characters) but you can’t play a cartoon ( Cuphead excluded). What I do note is the focus on the appearance of the game. There appears to be a consensus on the lack of enemies and that everyone loves the bosses. I’ve read a few reviews of Jotun and the majority of them side with this being a great game.
It’s not the lack of power of portable mode – just the physical size of the screen. Jotun deserves to be seen on a larger screen. Bad North also has small characters but you can zoom in and it’s suitable for playing on a small screen. Cuphead does this well as the gameplay is also there but looks beautiful in handheld mode. You need to enjoy the graphics and be able to see them. Portability isn’t a dealbreaker for me but I will say this isn’t great in handheld mode as Thora is just so small. It makes sense, to me, to have a Nordic language rather than someone attempt to do an accent but not speaking much Icelandic myself, ignorance is bliss and I’m happy with the voice acting. I understand from a colleague of mine that the language spoken is Icelandic. I haven’t witnessed that yet, but a friend of a friend said he does if you press up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A. You can’t collect ammo for these in the field, you just visit a large head in a pond (Mimir fact fans) and he replenishes these, gives you some health and bakes you a cake. Thora’s moves are a quick (not so much) attack, heavy attack and a dodge, so the perks give a bit of variety but you are unlikely to use them all. Heimdall’s shield – shield yourself from non-existing enemies.Odin’s spear – spears things from a distance.Freya’s speed – a much-needed perk to moving faster.Loki’s decoy – create another version of yourself that explodes.There are no new weapons or armour, no upgrades – just perks provided by some of the gods. Head whichever way you choose and expect to wander for some time without any signs of life. It isn’t a proper open-world as such (whatever that means) but it’s nice to have an option. You begin in Ginnungagap which is purgatory for these warriors and have the freedom to approach whichever path you so choose. Though it’s not that straightforward – these jotuns are HUGE. If she kills the jotun of the title (giants), she is awarded a seat in Valhalla. What this means in Nordic mythology is she doesn’t get to go to Valhalla – a paradise for warriors. Her death is through drowning which is pretty horrific but does not qualify as an honourable death. The character you play, Thora – a shield maiden – dies from the outset. The artwork is great but I wasn’t too keen on the animation, or the actual gameplay. I could see me playing this on a mobile but maybe not so on the Switch. I came back to it again for completion sake, also because the theme interested me, but I can’t say as much about the game. I bought Jotun not too long ago and had a quick go, but as I had such a backlog of games, I put it down and went to something else. I read through in a couple of days then made a second attempt on Vikings again, then I also booted up God of War.Īnyway, join me in Valhalla in this… Jotun Switch Review While in a real bookshop – the ones that sell books made from trees – I saw a book by Neil Gaiman called Norse Mythology. There’s usually some catalyst pop culture moment and I think that was watching the second season of American Gods. I am into my Norse mythology at the moment, so this Jotun Switch review seems quite fitting.