My name is Thora, a female Viking who died on my ship during a heavy storm. Dying on a ship instead of on a battlefield isn’t honorable. I haven’t earned my way into Valhalla just yet. The gods want to test me, see if I’m worthy to dine at the table with my gods. What better way to show my strength than to defeat the mighty Jotun? My quest starts here.
Viking mythology
It’s clear from the start, Jotun: Valhalla Edition tells a Viking inspired theme that stays true to its source material. The entire game is voiced in an Icelandic voice to give the game an authentic feeling. Everything about the game breathes Viking and that’s a big plus for sure. The story is about Thora who needs to fight her way into Valhalla. For a Viking, there’s no greater glory than to die on the field. Dying on a ship is embarrassing and Thora can’t find peace with her faith. After she died, she was transported to Giggungagap, a nexus where she’ll meet a lot of the Jotun. These Jotun are the bosses in the game and are all inspired by the Norse mythology. If you’re a fan of Vikings and Norse mythology, you’ll have a blast playing this one for sure since every little details seems to be implemented correctly.
Discover Giggungagap
Before you can enter some of the epic boss battles, you’ll have to spend some time in the gorgeous Giggungagap. The best part about this world is that everything is hand drawn, frame-by-frame. The atmosphere in the game is amazing and there’s just nothing like this on the market at the moment. The game also likes to show how small you are in the big world. With a lot epic panning shots, you’ll see your environment and you’ll witness some amazing things. Imagine walking in a sunny forest only to discover an old Viking rune that’s bigger than the screen itself. Thora looks very small compared to things like these and it’s amazing that the game succeeds in giving you this feeling, time after time.
Besides enjoying the environments, there’s also a lot to discover in this nexus world. You’ll want to look for certain runes or golden fruits to increase your health. Since you’ll fight a lot of bosses, having a little extra health is always a good idea. In the world, you’ll find some small upgrades for your health or your weapon, which is a big axe of course. The world offers some environmental puzzles and enemies to defeat but the real goal is to reach the Jotun and bring them down.
Time to face the Jotun
The real goal of the game is to defeat the Jotun, who truly are amazing. Spoiling one of them would take away too much of the experience so I won’t go into any details. The thing you need to know is that they are huge. When I say huge, I mean it literally, they fill up your entire screen, leaving Thora behind as a barely visible dot on your screen. This works most of the times but it’s hard to keep track of her if there are over 100 enemies coming at you at once. That being said, it’s amazing to bring those bosses down, certainly because you’re that small. There’s not really a way to explain it on paper, you have to witness this masterpiece to understand its power.
| The Good: | The bad: |
| + Amazing graphics | – A bit overwhelming |
| + Accurate mythology | |
| + Boss battles |
Jotun: Valhalla Edition is a great addition to the Wii U’ eShop and it’s really one of those games you need to play for yourself to believe it. Underneath the gorgeous hand draw graphics, you’ll find a very hard and yet satisfying game filled with mysterious bosses and Norse mythology. It’s time to try something different, it’s time to try Jotun.
Score: 4.5 out of 5
