Jötunnslayer: Hordes of Hel Early Access Impressions
Jötunnslayer: Hordes of Hel is a crunchy surivivorslike with a Norse mythology theme.
Jötunnslayer: Hordes of Hel. Credit: Games Farm, Grindstone
Jötunnslayer: Hordes of Hel from publisher Grindstone and developer Games Farm is a slick survivorslike with a Norse mythology theme. Despite only recently arriving on Steam Early Access, the game looks highly polished and feels great to play.
From the developer:
Hordes of Hel is a gripping roguelike horde-survivor game set in the dark realms of Norse Mythology. Fight waves of enemies to earn divine blessings of ancient Viking Deities, explore hostile worlds and face powerful bosses. Become a god-like warrior in this ultimate showdown.
Jötunnslayer: Hordes of Hel. Credit: Games Farm, Grindstone
In its current state, you can play as one of four heroes with unique abilities and gain access to abilities from gods Freya, Loki, Thor, and Odin. During a run, you gain and upgrade active and passive abilities belonging to your hero class or the various gods. The system works like it typically has since the genre-defining Vampire Survivors, with powers offered randomly each time the player gains a level from enemy experience drops.
The game is fast. Even at your slowest speed, your movement is fairly quick. The gameplay feels great, thanks to the speed, tight controls, and perfectly defined collision between the hero and enemies that never made me believe that a death was unfair. The particle effects, sound, and physics make the impact of your attacks on the enemy hordes feel satisfyingly crunchy; the game-feel is superb. The dash and special attack abilities may need some fine-tuning, but it’s a minor gripe.
Enemies are relentless, but the game feels well-balanced. After the first easy intro level, I consistently felt challenged in a satisfying way. Incremental upgrades made me feel small but tangible gains each run, and all upgrade points are refundable, so I was free to experiment with my build. Each hero has a unique upgrade tree, and each god has their own, with buffs that apply to all heroes.
Jötunnslayer: Hordes of Hel adds a small but significant change in its design from the typical survivorslike. Rather than simply surviving until time runs out, quests are unlocked as time passes in each run. Quests range from picking up a certain item all over the level to surviving extreme conditions on a timer or defeating minibosses. To finish a run successfully, you must complete all the quests, summon the level’s boss, the titular Jötun, and slay it. I found the structure pleasing, and being forced to reach specific areas of the map instead of just moving in the most open direction adds a small amount of challenge.
Jötunnslayer: Hordes of Hel. Credit: Games Farm, Grindstone
The game ran smoothly on my Steam Deck while still boasting beautiful 3D graphics and lighting effects. Even though the game’s arenas are barren plains—frozen or smoldering in the levels available in Early Access—they still felt textured and detailed. The small number of enemies currently in the game are varied in design, with models that look great.
Jötunnslayer: Hordes of Hel impressed me, even in its early state. I can’t wait to see this crunchy eye candy of a game grow as it gets updated. Now is a great time to pick up the game since the price will increase after the Early Access period, and if you’re a fan of survivorslikes as I am, you definitely should.
Jötunnslayer: Hordes of Hel is available now in Steam Early Access.
Played on: Steam Deck
