Jotun: Valhalla Edition

Cute game!
Unfortunately I forgot how useless I'm at console/gamepad oriented games and having no clue where I am even though I look at a map.
I liked the atmosphere and narration, I even understood a few words.
Maybe I'll try this game another time.

A fun game that takes about 6 hours.
You explore two levels per world, and then fight a boss. Levels have good variety and are mostly exploration focused, while bosses are huge and mostly about pattern recognition and timing your attacks. Your axe is huge and slow, forcing you to plan your attacks. If you just run in swinging, you'll lose.
Art direction is good. Unique. Looks like cel animation with pencils. Music is good and fits appropriately.
Currently priced at 15 dollars. If you like no-hit runs or other challenges, this game is worth the full 15. If you think you'll play it once, 7 or 8 dollars feels more reasonable.

I recently decided to give Jotun a review after completing it years ago. While I didn’t remember all the details, the stunning art and atmosphere was something that stood out for me. The hand-drawn visuals are simply gorgeous, and they really bring the Norse mythology to life in a way that feels both epic and intimate. The voice acting also made it that much better.

The boss battles are a standout feature. Each Jotun has its own unique design and mechanics, making every encounter feel fresh and challenging. The flow of the combat, and the satisfaction of defeating a giant after figuring out its patterns is hard to beat.

I also appreciated the narrative woven throughout the game. The themes of honor and bravery resonate well, and it’s nice to see a game that doesn’t just rely on action but also tells a meaningful story.

If you’re looking for a game that combines beautiful art, engaging gameplay, and a compelling story, Jotun is definitely worth your time. Even after all these years, it’s a magical experience that holds up incredibly well. Don’t miss out on this gem!

It's a solid 6-7 outta 10. Wouldn't rate it higher.
Gorgeous game visually and musically, and the animators very obviously put in work, but the gameplay can be a little tedious at times. While it's short enough that it never gets repetitive or dull, I was starting to feel a bit tired of the game towards the end of my run.
Thora's slow movement and slow attacks are great in it's own context, but when those are the only two things you are doing besides pressing space to roll for most of the games run time it leaves a bit to be desired. Given her slow movespeed (beyond a limited god power you can find later) the game doesn't give nearly enough for you to do or look at around each of the game's five areas to make traversal worth it. A lot of the game's run time really is just moving around, rather than truly engaging gameplay. While yes, it is a game about exploration of Norse myth at it's core, as stated the areas themselves really just don't offer enough, in puzzles or things look at- things to explore FOR.
As a boss rush game, with not much in the way of enemy variety and very light puzzle solving, the game relies on it's spectacle and it's boss design. In terms of spectacle it does nail that part. Gorgeous vistas, paired with explanations of Norse mythology- in Icelandic no less! and Thora herself is a fine enough character to explain it all too us. The boss and enemy designs are also competently done.
However in terms of actual gameplay, it feels just a tad too easy to be truly rewarding. The Ice Giant and Odin are by far the worst offenders here. Both are pushovers- Odin in particular, being the final boss, feels like he should just do more than floating around occasionally chucking spears and summoning very easily dodged ghosts of our previous boss encounters. It feels a little trite and very underwhelming. The Fire Giant by contrast felt like the game's best boss by far. It was cinematic and challenging without being overbearing, and the boss interacted with the environment with his attacks in interesting ways. His design and introduction was also the best imo, with the eyes lighting up through the smoke- great stuff.
Ultimately Jotun is a fine game for it's price, and the runtime is short enough that it's not a big loss if it's your cup of tea. 6.5 out of 10, worth playing once but not beyond that

Nice way of learning Nordic Mythology, astounding hand-drawn graphics and horrible clunky tank controls.
Still I enjoyed the ride, each boss had it's own moveset however the worst one is the final one, won't spoil it though. Just keep in mind you can destroy projectiles with your axe swings, you can bounce back various stuff with strong swing like ice blocks, shields you name it. With that knowledge in hand you'll appreciate a lot more coming from this game. For me this game would be way better if Thora could move a bit faster and swing her base attack tad more quicker (or just had more ways for animation cancelling like with dodges/god powers)

If you like mythology and/or vikings it’s a safe bet you’ll enjoy this.
You get to learn a bit about Norse mythology whilst you roam around in a very pleasantly designed world.
You don’t have to memorise countless combos and keys to enjoy it either.

I have very mixed feelings on this game.
The Pros:
-Great Artstyle. Environments are absolutely gorgeous to look at and everything is beautifully animated.
-Great Music. Beautiful and ambient while exploring, and fittingly epic when fighting the titular Jotuns.
-Fun boss fights (for the most part). With the exception of the annoying aspects of the final boss I think every encounter with the Jotun were fantastic. Jera is a great tutorial, fittingly easy as the starting boss but with some neat mechanics that made her stand out. Fe has an awesome design and some neat mechanics with the pillars in her arena and the adds she summons (which weren't actually that bad to deal with). Isa has a great design and I love the arena the fight is set in but unfortunately he was probably the least interesting. Hagalaz was fantastic and her mechanics combined with the arena I thought were executed brilliantly. Kaunan was easily the best fight in the game from his presentation to his visual design and moveset. If the rest of the bosses were to that same level of quality the game would be a solid recommend from me.
-The combat, while many other reviews have said feels clunky I actually think feels great and fits the tone of the game perfectly. You're a little person with a weapon bigger than you are fighting things that absolutely dwarf you in size and capability. You're barely faster than the Giants that you're fighting and I think that works to great effect for the game and makes encounters that might otherwise feel slow or boring a lot more intense.
Cons:
-While i think Thora's movement for the combat is perfectly fine, the levels are so open and barren that her slow speed makes it even more tedious to get through than it would be otherwise. The only sections outside the boss fight I remember liking were Hagalaz's little star puzzles and dodging Jormungandr on the way to Isa. The section in Yggdrasil, while it looked pretty, was OBSCENELY boring. At least an hour of my gameplay at the time of me writing this (currently stuck on the final boss) was spent in that stage and I hardly remember a thing about it. Same goes for most of the other stages that were primarily just walking around a pretty looking, albeit empty field.
-Maps are borderline useless. Navigation through the barren levels is rendered even more obnoxious by the severe lack of direction you're given. Short of finding the mostly meaningless health upgrades (everything will still kill you in 2-3 hits regardless) there isn't much incentive to explore, and most of the time i found myself just scrambling to the end once i finally figured out where I was so i could nab the rune then get out.
-Enemy variety is extremely limited. There are maybe 5 types of non-boss enemies in the game and exactly one of them is somewhat interesting to deal with. The dwarves on the way to Fe and during her boss fight have 1 attack and die in one hit. The fire monsters on the way to Kaunan, while interesting in theory aren't fun to fight either. They throw boulders at you that you can knock into the lava with your heavy attacks to form bridges to traverse the level. However if the rocks hit you, hit a wall, hit another rock or get hit by another rock as its being thrown, both break. They're also really difficult to aim properly and at least one in every 3 attempts will go flying off in the wrong direction which is severely annoying. The fire monsters themselves die with one heavy attack and their only attack is the boulder toss. The bird in Yggdrasil is just annoying and didn't add any depth to the boring area it was in. The draugr that you fight for the tutorial gets bigger as it takes more damage, which sounds cool until you find out it only has one attack (maybe 2 if you let it live long enough, which i didn't). Jormungandr on the way to Isa is cool visually and neither too difficult nor too easy to dodge, he was alright I like him.
-Odin's homing spear attack is absolutely obnoxious. There is no reason a tracking projectile needs to last that obscenely long and track you that obscenely hard. It isn't fun to deal with.
-Boss fights, which are great and easily the best part of the game, have made up maybe an hour of my total play time,
While the game has a fair share of flaws, I would say if it goes on sale it might be worth picking up if the boss fights seem appealing to you. If you're willing to bear with the long treks to those few golden moments, and are okay with the slow combat, you might have some fun here. If the idea of aimless wandering through giant levels turns you off, you probably won't like the game. I'm giving this thumbs up for Kaunan, he deserves it.