Jotun

Developer: Thunder Lotus Games
Publisher: Thunder Lotus Games
Rrp: £10.49 (Humblebundle) £10.99 (Steam), £10.99 (Gog.com)
Released: 29th September 2015
Available on: Steam, Humblebundle and Gog.com
Played Using: An Xbox 360 Control Pad

The waves batter your boat as the storm rages, in a flash you capsize and the cold embraces you. The god Ran ensnares you within his net and drags you further into the depths. Then you awake, not in a place of cold and death but upon grass with your axe by your side. In the distance you see the great tree Yggdrasil and you understand that your death was just the beginning.Jotun is a action adventure game where every animation has been hand drawn. You play as Thora, a brave Viking warrior who has died ingloriously. Luckily for her the gods have granted her a second chance to prove her might, skill and bravery, all she needs to do it  defeat the five elemental Jotun, then she can enter Valhalla. Simple right?

Before you can face the Jotun you first need to find the runes that will open the doors to them, these runs have been scattered across the nine realms and you will have to explore each one to find them (there are no shortcuts when the gods are involved). But its not just the runes that are scattered within these realms, each one also contains a golden apple from Ithunn that will increase your maximum health and a statue to the gods which will bestow gifts that will aid you. You will also find pools with a large head in the middle, these pools are called Mimir and they act as checkpoints once they’ve been activated.
Once you feel that you’ve succeeded in your goal in an area (or grow frustrated enough) you can quickly return to the hub world  (known as Ginnungagap) through the pause menu, which also happens to have a map.

In many ways Jotun is very similar to Titan Souls at least at first glance. Its what many would call a ‘boss rush’ game where you only take on the end of level bosses and defeating those bosses does involve learning their move set. Except that isn’t entirely accurate, before you can get to the Jotun you have to collect the correct runes to open the gates.
Collecting these runes usually means solving some kind of puzzle but generally these puzzles aren’t too taxing. Once you face off against the Jotun you find the similarities to Titan Souls ends there. You see, unlike Titan Souls both you and the Jotun don’t die in a single hit, also unlike Titan Souls you won’t only be fighting Jotun there will be a few smaller enemies to tackle as well, although these
aren’t that common.

As you play Thora tells you the details of her story, of course this is done in her native language (being Icelandic) not to worry though, because the subtitles translate it. On occasion she’ll also inform you on the realm, Jotun or even scene you are looking at. Personally I found it quite fascinating to listen to but I know some plays will just want her to shut up.

The combat while simplistic, has a real feeling of weight. Each swing of the axe takes visible effort from Thora, especially her heavy attack. You have two attacks [X] is your quick attack and [Y] is your slower heavier attack. There is also a dodge [A] which is very useful
although it must be noted that there are no ‘i-frames’ in this dodge. Finally there are the powers you gain from visiting the various statues of the gods [B] these powers vary wildly and tend to be short lived.

The background music when traversing Yggdrasil is haunting and when combined with the beautiful artwork the game feels somewhat… lonesome. That artwork though, it truly is something to behold. Even the areas of the world that are supposed to be dead and dull seem so vibrant and alive.

In short this is a recommendation from me, true the game is rather short, easily being beaten within a weekend, but if you’ve rushed through this you’ve missed the point. It also has very little replay value as there is no new game plus mode or other settings. Honestly though I’m glad I paid full price for this title because I really hope to see great things from Thunder Lotus Games in the future.

If this appeals to you perhaps try;

Titan Souls
Hyper Light Drifter
Apotheon