Release: 2015
Developer/Publisher: Thunder Lotus Games
Genre: Third person, Action
Gameplay Stats: 4 hours, 9/36 achievements
Jotun is a pretty special game. It came highly recommended to me, and I can absolutely see why. As far as I know, this is Thunder Lotus's first game, and it's impressive! I don't have any banter today!
Visuals: This game is gorgeous! Everything is hand drawn and lovingly so. You can really see all of the detail in the vistas and creatures in the game, as well as the Jotun that you have to fight. My only complaint here is the isometric perspective. It looks really great most of the time, but it's easy to lose track of your character when you're behind something in the environment or a Jotun. A shadow appears, but a lot of the things that you pass behind are darker colors, so it's tough to follow the main character, Thora.
Audio: The music in this game is beautiful! I don't think any of it is especially memorable, and I don't think I'll listen to it again after this write-up, but it sure is beautiful. It's notable to me the way that it picks up when you start a battle with the Jotun. It feels so fluid! This music absolutely adds to the engagement of playing the game. The sound effects are a little hollow, but I wouldn't say this is a major detractor.
Gameplay: Overall, this game plays kind of like a boss rush with slight exploration/filler. During the exploration/filler bits though are where you learn about the story of Thora as well as a bit about Norse mythology. The boss fights are quite good apart from losing track of your character sometimes. The method to defeat them was signposted well enough that I think I beat each boss in 2-4 tries. That being said, many of the achievements are tied to beating the bosses in more difficult fashions, so I think this game falls into the easy to learn, hard to master category. The movements in the game are a little slow, due to the scale of the environments, but it doesn't feel out of place. I think my only gripe with the game is that the attacks are also very slow. And I want to make it clear that I don't mean that the attacks are weighty, but just that they are slow. The minion characters and Thora are easily slid around the various environments, which deprives the action of any accompanying weight that could be seen.
Plot: The plot is pretty straight forward! Thora died in an inglorious fashion, but has been given an opportunity to prove herself to Odin so that she can enter Valhalla with those that have died in battle. To do this, she must fight the Jotun, 5 giants that reside in/on Yggdrasil. Between the fights you must explore to find runes, and while doing so the narrator will tell you more about Thora's death and Norse mythology. Going into the game, I knew next to nothing. I can't say that I know much more now, but the stories that were told in the various sections were interesting and I might very well go out of my way to learn more about this mythos.
Overall, I very much liked this game. It's short, but what is there is very high quality. Everything from the art, to the music, to the story is exactly what it needs to be. I think it could have used a bit more fine tuning in the gameplay department, but that's a relatively minor gripe. I will definitely look into their next game, Sundered, coming out in 2017. [9/10]
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