Jotun: Valhalla Edition Review (Mick@nite)
While the art is gorgeous, and the concept is very appealing, there are a few reasons that I can't recommend this game.
The first is the movement. Much of the moment- to moment gameplay is spent... well, moving. My issue is that the character moves incredibly slowly. I understand that not all characters need to zip across a map, but when there's not much atmosphere or challenge to be had in a given area, I'm going to be more eager to skip through, which the base walking speed seems to hinder.
Issue 1.5 with the game (connected to walking speed) is the dodge-rolling. I genuinely can't think of a game off the top of my head with such an unsatisfying roll. In my short time with this game, rolling instead of walking from place to place (if that's your jam, like it is mine) is actually *somehow worse than walking.*
Issue 2: the dodge-roll (I promise this will make sense). With such a slow movement speed, one might think that more mechanical depth can be offered in combat, (especially boss fights), at least as far as movement goes. Responsiveness, speed, perhaps the addition of i-frames, these all require balancing to keep fights engaging to players. Sadly, it seems as though the devs put all relevant engagement sliders to zero.
Rolls don't have i-frames, or at least not enough to reliably use.
Inputs feel sluggish anyway, so maybe the lack of i-frames is a mercy.
While rolls are significantly faster than base walking, you're forced to a stop when you come out of it, so it's only good for traveling the distance of the roll or less.
Issue 3: Slow combat. Base attacks follow either a slow one-two combo that has slightly too specific timing (in my opinion) or a charged attack that takes a few beats too long, and will probably end up being the only move you use, at least at the beginning. The problem, when compounded with slow movement and bad dodging, is that when the controls are too simple, boss attacks have to be balanced to the limitations of the character. So far, the bosses have been fair, but having simple movesets, inflated health bars, and lackluster phases are just symptoms of the player's limited options.
Also the environments are generally boring, save for a few beautiful setpieces. Very samey.