 Hello, hello, hello. I'm here today to talk to you about Jotun. There are quite a few reasons why you should play it. The most important one is simple, really. It's a very good game. But before I get into the specifics, a bit of background first. Jotun was developed by Tender Lossers Games after a successful kickstart in June of last year. Sadly at the time I couldn't support it, but I'm happy to say that after taking a careful look at the campaign, Tender Lossers Games have successfully hit the mark. Well done, bravo. And now I should probably catch you up with the narrative framework of the game. Long story short, your name is Tora. You're a Viking warrior, big axe, giant actually. You died. Now you're trying to get to Valhalla by killing five Jotun. That, Derry, is the entire premise of the game. Why don't you go to Valhalla when you died in the first place, you may ask? Well, you see, in case you're a bit laks in your Norton mythology studies, when you die honourlessly, like Tora did by drowning, you don't actually go to Valhalla. You only go there in the Hall of the Gods if you died in battle with honour. So in a way, everything you do fighting the five Jotun is in order to prove yourself worthy to the Gods and to your place in Valhalla. Not too shabby, eh? Anyway, oh and the benefactor of this entire venture, your second chance, is none other than Odin, your father. Because, spoilers. But it's hardly the story that makes this game good. No, no, that goes to the boss battles and the exploration. To start with, exactly when you go into the game, you'll notice that Jotun doesn't actually explain much. I can count on the fingers of one hand, the hints and tips. The game shows, no, what Jotun instead does is show you, and that results loudly. If the game doesn't think you're a fool, you can quite obviously deal with everything it shows you. The move is admirable in my opinion and it works very much in the game's favour. I won't lie. The voice acting is really quite good. And it's entirely in Icelandic, which really quite helps with immersing the player in the world. Oh and it's bloody epic! But hey, you don't know me, I don't know you. You have no reason to trust me, not yet anyway, so I'm going to show you just what I mean. So sit back, enjoy your rest and listen to the following. We have known each other for centuries. With my mother-in-law, my father-in-law and my mother-in-law, my mother-in-law knows how to be completely independent. I have had my parents, my ancestors and my father-in-law, and lived more than just in the far-away land. She has never been left alone. And yes, in case you were wondering, those are the only two voice actors in the game. If you expected more, sorry to disappoint. Now, now, now, when it comes to the voice acting, it is not actually the greatest asset of the sound department. That honor belongs, that's right, to the soundtrack. The music is, quite honestly, brilliant. It builds on the atmosphere, captures the experience and helps craft the effects. Both of the stunning vistas and of the battles against the gigantic jotten you will encounter on your journey. In fact, as you might have noticed already, it is the background to my horrid voice. I'll show you, it's far better than anything I can offer. Well, maybe not everything. Ah, but I like dress. Yes, I did mention the jotten. You fight five of these, by the way, giants of all varieties. You've got a furry one, you've got a planty one, a stormy one, snow one, well, snowy, kind of like a giant snowman. A lot less friendly, so I must admit, not big on the friendship is magic thing, I suppose. And there's one more, and it's the giant shielded dwarfish goddess one, I suppose, that's his official name. It should be, it certainly looks like it. At any rate, they're all quite a lot of fun. If, and only if, by fun you understand dying multiple times, and in my experience, most people don't. All jokes aside, you will probably die during the boss battles, but that's okay. In the same way that it's okay when you die in Dark Souls because you learn from your mistakes. Most importantly, it is fun and it is glorious combat, whatever viking. Each and every battle with the jotten is exceptionally well crafted and with care. They're all very different and very interesting in their own ways. No one tactic will defeat all of them, and you will have to spend quite a lot of time learning some of the most difficult patterns and avoiding them. Three of the jotten were very challenging. The other two I defeated fairly easily. One of them I actually managed to exploit a bug, which probably should get fixed if it hasn't been already. And as you see in the video, the boss design is quite splendid and memorable, in addition to being hand drawn as is everything else in the game, but we'll get to that in a moment. By far the easiest of all the jotten is the ice one who lives in Jottenheim, I believe the name of the world is. At any rate, if you'd like to see me defeat him, feast your eyes on this. Yes, yes, you can make the point that the combat doesn't have enough to it in terms of complexity and depth. You only have a single weapon, a giant two-handed axe, the aforementioned one, given by Dario, which has normal and heavy attack. There's a dojo as well as a variety of blessings, which spice up the boss fights, another bit of depth, let's just say. And they mostly save your life. Yeah, they don't add depth, they just save you on so many occasions. The blessings are obviously a gift by your friendly neighborhood god watch. How nice of them, I should send them a thank you note. You know, I've seen people compare this to Bastion and there are reasons to the comparison. Sure, they're both 2D third-person real-time action games, both of them are beautiful and both are full of character. A very different character, that's for sure, but character nonetheless. But if I have to compare the art of Jotun to any 2D game from recent memory, I'd have to go with the banner saga. Remember the banner saga? It was also heavy on the Norse mythology stuff. It was beautiful. It might actually be more beautiful than this game, but it wasn't an action game. It was very strategic in nature. Yes, yes, the difference in gameplay is obvious, but the similarities between the banner saga and Jotun are thematic. For example, both are hand drawn and both are very reminiscent of the Lord of the Rings movie from 1978 and the other work, Work King is of its director, one Ralph Bakshi. If you don't believe me, look at the fluidity in the animations in the Lord of the Rings, the 1978 version obviously, and then come and tell me that this is not the case, that there is not at least an inspiration taken from that movie and it's well-renowned director, exactly for sad animation. But I digress once again back to Jotun. In your exploration, well, there's hardly as much fighting in Jotun as you'd imagine. Most of the gameplay outside of the boss battles is centered on elementary puzzle solving and the exploration of different places of interest in Norse mythology. You will see beautifully drawn areas of the Niner worlds, the Iceworld Jotunheim and the molten home of the fire giants, Muspelheim, if that's how you pronounce it. You will explore from the highest points of the world, three Yggdrasil to its very roots. You will even meet a serpent, a ship built of dead men's nails, a wolf, no wait, I'm just quoting a poem, sorry. In between killing elemental giants and exploring, you spend some time bonding with Odin's crows, healing and milling in Gigungagap. Yeah, however you pronounce that. Right, thanks Odin, much obliged. As your exploration nears its end, you will clash with the most frustrating part of the game, which comes in the last fifth in Muspelheim, courtesy of rock-loping fire giants and lava. It might just kill you quite a few times and the checkpoint is not nearly quite near enough. In conclusion, I have to ask myself, is Jotun a great game? No, probably not. Its story shows promise and is a complete feel for anyone who loves Norse mythology, but it never quite delivers. And the battle system is just a bit to barebones, but it is a beautiful experience in a gorgeously drawn world with incredible vistas and memorable boss battles. Is it worth the 15 euro or whatever your regional equivalent is? Absolutely. It will be a memorable experience. But if you're looking for a richer world as that of Bastion, you will have to look elsewhere. Thank you for watching. If you enjoyed this video, please like, share and subscribe. I hope I'll see you next time.