Jotun, ᛋᛅᚴᛅ ᚬᚠ ᚦᚬᚱᛅ

[Introduction]

Jotun is an action-adventure game developed by Thunder Lotus Games, although it might be more appropriately described as an action-exploration game. It's largely a mix of puzzles, exploration and occasional combat. Add to that a heavy emphasis on telling the (really rather simple) story of Thora and a detailed environment featuring a plethora of elements from Norse mythology and you have a solid recipe for a cool little game.
If only it were that simple.

[First Impressions]

I actually still have my original reaction back in 2018:
I like the idea of Jotun a lot more than I like the game itself.

It looks cool. It sounds cool. It's very engaging and it's brimming with references to Norse Mythology, both overt (HOLY SHIT IT'S NIDHOGGR) and more subtle (two ravens that do nothing and serve no purpose).

I really want to recommend Jotun, but it does more for me as art than as a game, and that really sucks.

Check out some gameplay videos on it. You might like it, but I mostly just found it frustrating.
May come back to it and give it another chance, but as of now, this is a no-go for me.

And I did.

[Development]

The game was partially crowdfunded; CA$ 64,265 was raised from 2299 backers on Kickstarter, with additional funding from the Canadian Media Fund and the Montreal Inc Foundation. Technically, this means that both the Canadian government and the Quebec government provided some cash flow for Jotun, which is pretty cool.

They also reached out to the r/Iceland subreddit for voice actors, which doesn't really matter all that much, but I thought it was a neat little detail.

Although announced at PAX in 2015 and released that same year, the Kickstarter dates back to 2014. All things considered, the development cycle was pretty short.

There are also certain elements that appear to have been cut during development, the most prominent being the "vast and mysterious randomly-generated world" touted on the Kickstarter page. The game is also not as "filled with different areas to explore and environmental puzzles to solve" as one might be lead to believe.

[Game Mechanics]

Exploration and occasional combat is the order of the day.
Every now and then, you'll run into rudimentary puzzles or challenges (i.e. push rocks into lava to form a bridge or avoid poison gas by standing near blooming flowers), but mostly you'll be running around in very large environments that often only have one path of progression.

That's not to say that the path of progression is the only one available, however. Almost every area will have side paths, hidden locations and shrines to the gods which will grant you an associated power. Even the very few areas that have no hidden paths will still have some kind of upgrade shrine, so to speak.

Now, you won't be moving very fast. You're just a human, albeit a badass one, and you're travelling through places that are home to the jötnar, which are quite a bit larger than yourself. Unfortunately, barring a limited-use boon from Freyja giving you a temporary speed boost, the game has no sprinting mechanic, and it's not unlikely that you'll end up backtracking or running through an area again.

Adding to this, even though it's a central mechanic crucial to completing the game and most areas, combat is absolutely terrible. It's also rudimentary, but that's not the problem. You have a light attack, a heavy attack and a dodge roll. There's no issue there, that's been a recipe for success in the past. The real problem is that it's clunky.

The light attack is supposed to come with a 2-3 hit combo, but this almost never triggers correctly. The heavy attack takes a very long time to wind up. The dodge roll doesn't go very far and tends to leave you standing still for a split second after rolling, which isn't great when you're trying to evade something and don't really have a split second to spare. The range on your attacks (barring boosts from god powers) is positively abysmal to boot. Considering the incredible reach of every boss in the game, what with them being many, many times your own size, fights sometimes become waiting games.

The sheer scale of the bosses can also become an issue, because it can be difficult to keep track of yourself when you're essentially reduced to a speck.

You attack, retreat, wait for a boss to be in a vulnerable state, then attack again. Rinse and repeat. Trading blows is almost always inadvisable due to the high damage potential of bosses. Aggressive strategies are punished more often than not.You're not so much working with the boss' moveset as you are avoiding it. It's not a dance, it's more like a wall-fly at a prom trying to dodge dance partners while also trying to kill them when they're looking away.

I really don't know how else to explain it. I don't want to compare Jotun to something like Dark Souls, seeing how they're vastly different games. All I'm saying is that Dark Souls boss fights are a whole lot more satisfying than the ones in Jotun. There is a good game in here, but the combat drags it down by a significant margin.

As a final note on the gameplay: the map is in desperate need of a "YOU ARE HERE" indicator.

[Graphics]

Jotun is a beautiful game.

Everything is hand-drawn and there are some extraordinarily well-animated sequences. The game is rife with various references to Norse mythology, both hidden and obvious, with the latter being much more numerous. There's really nothing to criticise in this regard, because it's clear to me that this has been a labor of love for the developers.

If you have any interest in the mythology at all, Jotun is a real treat. Even if you have no prior knowledge of it, the game does an outstanding job of explaining itself and the various mythical elements on display.

And even though I criticise the combat, partially due to the scale being what it is, I will also say that you really do get the sense of being in a world of gods and giants.

[Story]

You are Thora, a fierce viking warrior who dies at sea. Despite your brave deeds and skill in battle, you are taken by Rán, the Norse goddess of the sea. Ordinarily, anyone who drowns is caught in her web and taken to her domain of seaweed and bones, but not Thora.

Due to her courage and spirit, Thora is instead offered a chance to avoid this inglorious fate; if she can impress the gods, she will be granted passage to Valhalla, the hall of the slain.

This can only be accomplished by traversing the realms of Jotunheim, Nidavellir, Nifhlheim, Ginnungagap and Muspelheim and defeating the jötnar who inhabit them.

After the defeat of every jotun, Thora reveals more of her story and how she came to the end that she did, and during her travels she will offer exposition on the different areas and the things she encounters therein.

It should be noted that the game of course takes some creative liberties with its source material. Most significantly, the jötnar bosses don't actually exist in Norse mythology, and their names are derived from various runes.

[SPOILERS]

I won't tell you Thora's story, as I feel there ought to be some mystery left in case you decide to play Jotun. I will, however, share with you the twist in the ending:

Defeating the jötnar wasn't really your test. That's not how you were going to impress the gods. Killing the bosses only grants you an audience. With who?

With Odin, the motherfucking Allfather himself. And he's your real test.

To show you're worthy of feasting in Grimnir's hall, you have to fight him first.

And in the end, you don't kill him or even really beat him. All you accomplish is injuring him, a wound he instantly heals, but that's sufficient for the gods to be impressed. Having managed to harm the one-eyed, even briefly, Thora is approached by the valkyries and brought to Valhalla.

[Pros]

- Gorgeous art style

- Norse Mythology is really fucking cool

- While bosses follow a template (i.e. absurdly large enemy who telegraph very hard-hitting attacks in some way), they all feel different enough that it's not just the same fight over and over

[Cons]

- Although you move fairly quickly for a human, enemies and areas are frequently so large that your movement feels very slow

- Combat is generally pretty clunky and frustrating, which is a shame, because it's a central mechanic

[Conclusion]

3 years later, my feelings back in 2018 are largely the same, except this time I actually beat the game.
I very much like the idea of Jotun. It's a borderline cinematic experience, but it is unfortunately hamstrung by the clunky combat. I want to love this game, and I do love parts of it. My blood is screaming that I should praise it, and I will praise what can be praised, but I can't bring myself to recommend it.
Impress the gods. Moral compass optional.

[Score]

6/10

/DUX