Jotun: Valhalla Edition Reviews
“Jotun: Valhalla Edition” is a solid action-adventure game made memorable by stunning, fluid visuals and towering boss fights that are gigantic in every sense of the word. Gameplay mechanics for your character can feel awkward and dead spots in area design dampen the experience somewhat. If you like a throwback game with solitary ambiance or loved the original Jotun and pine for an extra challenge with its bosses via the new Valhalla Mode, however, you will enjoy what this version has to offer.
Graphically, it's a masterpiece, but Jotun's action is too imbalanced to allow the same to be said about the game as a whole. Exploring its environments will be a treat for some players and getting stuck into its difficult boss battles will be a treat for others: if your tastes are wide-ranging enough to appreciate both scenarios, this is a winner.
Jotun: Valhalla Edition is a marvelous effort that clearly stands out amidst the indie games pool. With its rich visual environment, very engaging boss battles, extremely demanding combats that will require full commitment from the player and recurrent replay value, this is a game that will certainly keep everyone clinging on to their Wii U GamePad for a very long time.
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A beautiful game in several ways, Jotun is a treat that Wii U owners should not pass up.
When it comes down to it, Jotun: Valhalla Edition is a perfect fit for the Nintendo Switch, offering players an easy to digest action adventure title that visually takes full advantage of the Switch's large screen real-estate.
Jotun: Valhalla Edition may not be the longest game, but at a nice $15 price for a solid 5-hour experience, it's more than recommended. If you've played it before on other platforms, it may not do much new that begs you to buy it again, but if you're looking for an excellent adventure on the Switch you could do a whole lot worse.
Jotun: Valhalla Edition is a game of moments. It's like an album with a handful of brilliant songs surrounded by filler material you'd rather just skip. That's not to say it's not worth playing, especially at the attractive price of $14.99. The great moments make it worth it, but the gameplay between those moments can try your patience. As such, it'll just take some serious dedication to play it all the way through.
For what it’s worth, Jotun has its audience cut out for it.
Jotun: Valhalla Edition features some of the most exciting boss fights in gaming mixed with lovely visuals and a decent story. It just needed some trimming of the filler to truly be a classic, but this new mode at least introduces a mode that's just that.
Jotun is the very definition of short and sweet. Offering level and boss variety with well animated hand drawn sprites in a challenging, albeit short package.
It’s worth checking out if you’re a curious Zelda player, but just understand that the road to Valhalla certainly has its fair share of speed bumps.
So it's a little game, but with a big heart. There is some serious love of Norse mythology - prepare for an armload of nidvellirs, ratatosks and mjolnirs. To relive that feeling in the pit of your stomach when either you and the end-of-level boss will be killed by the next stroke. Ultimately, there's nothing in Jotun that would have even been hailed as original if you'd seen it in Mickey Mouse: Castle of Illusion, but fun is timeless.
The haunting music serves as a grimy backdrop to what is otherwise a very beautiful-looking game. Each stage is a perfect illustration on the sources they are based on in Norse mythology, with splendid vistas that are equally as impressive. While the gameplay and stages can be slow going at times, or downright frustrating due to constant backtracking in order to discover all the secrets in every stage, the fights against the five Jotuns are the true meat of this game. Jotun: Valhalla Edition contains a Boss Rush mode at the completion of the adventure, which allows for a greater challenge at defeating these bosses, while Thora's journey to reach Valhalla is a satisfying one thanks to a strong acting performance given by Viking warrior.
Despite the occasional frame rate issue and immense challenge, Jotun is a game that lovers of old school action adventure titles will love. Combining beautiful, hand drawn visuals with immensely rewarding gameplay, I loved the time I spent with it. It’s a game that draws players in with its beauty, and keeps them coming back with smart boss design and a feeling of accomplishment that few games today manage to grasp.
A cracking little game with big bosses. The journey Jotun: Valhalla Edition takes players on is heartfelt and was clearly a labour of love. It's almost perfect. Just to reiterate, it's not much of a hack 'n slash. There isn't a lot of fighting outside of the boss battles, which really helps the fights to have even more weight. It's great, and without spoiling anything, it's one to experience.
Jotun feels like a pretty face with no personality. It's huge, but what is found within is too often the player fighting the game, instead of fighting the monsters within. The feeling of elation is clearly there when each behemoth is toppled, but it's just not fun getting to that point. It's hard to tell if that elation comes from overcoming the monster, or from finally getting to move onto the next one. It's obvious, though, that the depth is there; it's just missing the substance.
This is one of those games where there is almost an equal amount to love and hate, so depending on what people prioritise this could either be a great experience or a dreadfully dull one. The boss fights are incredible, the world feels alive, and there is something soothing to the exploration. At the same time, though, the exploration segments tend to carry on for too long and without much interesting happening along the way, so a lot of the game feels like padding. By the end, some players may be desperately trying to rush on through just to get to the next boss, because that is really the only part the game does exceptionally well. Jotun: Valhalla Edition might not be entirely heavenly, but there is certainly enough here to keep it away from damnation.
Jotun: Valhalla Edition packs a short adventure through the afterlife that's guaranteed to have your axe in your enemies and your jaw on the floor.
Without a doubt the highlight of Jotun is also its raison d’etre: spectacularly epic boss fights against gargantuan Gods
The design of Jotun Valhalla Edition is very simple, and overall I think the lack of dynamic gameplay hindered the experience I had with it.