Jotun: Valhalla Edition Reviews

Awesome game for any viking fans.

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.

The art style is incredible and the combat is both dynamic and challenging. It satisfies both the itch for a comfort game but also a game I need to beat my head against for a little while. I can't speak highly enough of the dev team's commitment to the lore; having the dialog in Icelandinc is *brilliant*.

I really want to like this game so let me say I would finish the game if it wasn't so slow. This is an exploration game with occasional combat, but it only has combat abilities and nothing to help explore... at least just give the player the ability to sprint when there are no enemies around. Sad that the care, passion and effort that went into the art is ruined by the lack of mechanics that would make it enjoyable to experience the game.

TLDR: This is a good exploration game, that features 6 major boss fights. It's not terribly long, and it's chill apart from having to deal with a some clunky features in the battle system. I enjoy this game- it's relatively chill, up until you hit the different area bosses. You can complete each area in any order, so if you want to farm all the health and ability upgrades before doing the bosses, you can. The levels are neat, with some lore spread throughout. The music and voice over are really good, and I appreciate that they decided to record the dialogue in Icelandic. The art is interesting, and I appreciate that they tried to do something unique with it- it really shines with the bosses and creatures, and some of the environments are genuinely lovely. The boss fights are fun, and the the patterns are well telegraphed- I really enjoyed the Ice Jotun, and the Sky Jotun. That doesn't keep it from being frustrating though at times. Your character moves slow, the arena maps are large, and the giants have long steps (as they would be expected to have). You spend a lot of time chasing the giants around the arena, for a few hits, before they move again. The god abilities are frustrating to use, as they're on a bar that you cycle through. It's distracting to go from one ability to the next, and you have to watch what ability you have selected, which draws your attention away from the boss. It's easy to overshoot the ability you want, and you can't rearrange the skills to make it easier to get to the skills you need quickly. The selection does cycle from the end , back to the beginning, but that just once again means you sometimes roll past the thing you need. It would have felt more smooth to be able to assign the abilities to key/button presses in order to make better use of muscle memory, and it's hard not to feel like a fair number of deaths are because of this clunky feature. I would use all the abilities more often, if I didn't feel like I had to be on the most helpful skills, all the time, just in case. I've gotten Odin down to 20% of his health a few times now, and am not sure I will complete the game due to this. I may just youtube the end of the game instead, but it was still enjoyable to try the game overall. I will say for completionists, there is one persistent bug for the Northern Sky map which does not register you collecting the Mimir check point. This bug has been in the game since at least mid 2023, and hasn't been fixed. In order to get the achievement for completion, you need to change the game file to an older build through steam, and collect it using that version of the game. Go to "Properties -> Betas" and in the "Beta participation" drop down menu select "oldversion - oldversion"; the save files are apparently compatible.