Jotun: Valhalla Edition Review – Impress With Your Viking Skills!

<p>It seems like many developers want to get on the epic feels train of gaming&period; What with <em>Ori and the Blind Forest<&sol;em> making such an impact on how music and visuals can encourage and well-meaning narrative and energetic gameplay&comma; it looks as though many are branching out to other themes and styles&period; <em>Jotun<&sol;em> is bringing Vikings&comma; beauty and awesome boss fights onto consoles&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure style&equals;"width&colon; 1920px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;jotungame&period;com&sol;presskit&sol;images&sol;Hand-Drawn&percnt;20Art&period;png" alt&equals;"Jotun 1" width&equals;"1920" height&equals;"1080" &sol;><figcaption class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;<em>Jotun&colon; Valhalla Edition<&sol;em>&comma; Thunder Lotus Games&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p><em>Jotun<&sol;em> is a tale of a Viking warrior named Thora&comma; who dies during her travels onboard a ship as it hits a deadly storm&period; Her life is taken rather unfairly and held back from going to Valhalla as her death was not noble enough&period; Even though she was a pretty impressive warrior who lived by honor and loyalty it seems&period; Thora emerges into a strange world&comma; the void of life in-between Earth and Valhalla&period; She is told by Odin himself that she may past onto the next life if she impresses the Gods&period; In order to do so&comma; she must fight and defeat several &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Jotuns” who are essentially giant monsters that plague the Viking world&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Jotun<&sol;em> is crafted with a mixture of digital painting and hand drawn animations&period; The overall visual effects and aesthetics are stunningly beautiful&period; It’s impressive to see the slick&comma; smooth animations of various NPCs as objects and the bosses look just amazing&excl; Not to mention the wonderful soundtrack does play a big part in submerging you into this brilliant adventure&period; The game is a pure delight to play just for the visuals and soundtrack even with some very minor animation flaws&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure style&equals;"width&colon; 1920px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;jotungame&period;com&sol;presskit&sol;images&sol;Nidhogg&period;png" alt&equals;"Jotun 2" width&equals;"1920" height&equals;"1080" &sol;><figcaption class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;<em>Jotun&colon; Valhalla Edition<&sol;em>&comma; Thunder Lotus Games&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>The game is easy to integrate into with simple mechanics while reframing a decent sense of challenge when it comes to larger battles and exploration&period; For the most part&comma; combat takes a back seat while exploration and puzzles are more the focus&period; Some of the more engaging elements for combat are the terrific and gigantic boss battles&period; <em>Jotun<&sol;em> is elegantly paced as it switches between melee combat and going up against environmental hazards&comma; which often plays more the antagonising forces between bosses&period; However&comma; this can make many of the levels feel a little empty when they depend on environmental hazards&period; Some present a decent challenge and are&comma; again&comma; epic&comma; like the giant beast under the frozen lake&period; There are many others which pose no threat and feel like a mild inconvenience&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>There is a great sense of exploration as the worlds are interesting to traverse&period; They’re beautifully designed and offer some fantastic points of gravitas&period; The game immerses and does such a good job as you may find yourself just peering over the landscape and admiring the wonder&period; But exploration does well to reward keen explorers and even certain rewards require lateral thinking to obtain them&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure style&equals;"width&colon; 1920px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;jotungame&period;com&sol;presskit&sol;images&sol;Kaunan&period;png" alt&equals;"Jotun 3" width&equals;"1920" height&equals;"1080" &sol;><figcaption class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;<em>Jotun&colon; Valhalla Edition<&sol;em>&comma; Thunder Lotus Games&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>The bosses are all on a grand scale&semi; they are truly epic&period; They all feel like a theatrical spectacle&period; As Thora enters the stage you hear subtle noises or see visual cues that build the tension nicely&period; Then&comma; as the camera pans out&comma; you see what you’re facing against and this just sets the mood for the epic battles coming up so well&period;  On a plus note&comma; the camerawork of these gigantic battles are fantastically done&comma; never making you feel lost as the arena expands&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The main issue I have with <em>Jotun<&sol;em> is that&comma; to me&comma; it’s rather easy and those who’ve played <em>Volgarr the Viking<&sol;em> or dabbed in <em>Dark Souls<&sol;em> may feel the same&period; This isn’t to say the game won’t be easy for all&comma; but more hard-core gamers might pass through this without too much trouble&period; Again&comma; this may be due to the fact that that many levels are uninhabited and rely a little too much on environmental hazards&comma; which can work if they’re challenging&comma; yet many are just a walk in the park&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure style&equals;"width&colon; 1920px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;jotungame&period;com&sol;presskit&sol;images&sol;Ymir's&percnt;20Blood&period;png" alt&equals;"Jotun 4" width&equals;"1920" height&equals;"1080" &sol;><figcaption class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;<em>Jotun&colon; Valhalla Edition<&sol;em>&comma; Thunder Lotus Games&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>The only real essence of challenge comes from the epic boss battles&period; As grand and entertaining as they are&comma; most won’t pose much trouble for many gamers&period; It’s only a few bosses that really make the experience tense and yet&comma; after a few rounds and having learned the tricks&comma; you’ll just overcome it&period; Even the last boss was disappointing&period; Its lack of enemy opposition&comma; for the most part&comma; makes the progression a little too smooth and left unchallenged for large chunks&period; But there are moments where you can fight NPCs and usually these moments are frantic and very entertaining&comma; such as fighting the Dwarf hordes and the giant bolder-throwing fire ogres&period; Overall&comma; the game does offer some fantastic pacing that keeps you engaged&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The game itself will last around 6 hours&period; Plus&comma; there is the Valhalla Mode&comma; where you can battle all of the bosses again only this time they’re much tougher&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Jotun<&sol;em> is a masterful experience for aesthetics&comma; flawless pacing and a fantastic exercise of big boss battles&period; I feel this game was held back by its lack of challenge through most of the game and some minor hiccups with the animation&period; Having said that&comma; this is a fantastic game that should be played by anyone who loved games like <em>Ori and the Blind Forest<&sol;em>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><strong>An Xbox One Review Code for <em>Jotun <&sol;em>was provided by Thunder Lotus Games for the purpose of this review<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;