Volgarr the Viking

Would not recommend. I bought this game around when it first came out and didn't like it at all. Decided to give it another go and my opinion hasn't changed with time. Volgarr is supposed to harken back to the "glory days" with its brutal difficulty. The problem is there's a reason why we don't make video games that difficult anymore. The game would be so much better and so much more accessible if the developers had simply included a scaling difficulty to cater for both those that want a truly old school experience, and those that want something more contemporary. The checkpoints are laughably few and far between, and misleading as well. They only save your progress if you complete the entire level. So you're out of luck if you need to quit the game for any reason whatsoever and you haven't finished the current level you're on. To add insult to injury the difficulty is entirely artificial, requiring many trial and error runs until the level has been burned into your brain and you can complete it flawlessly. That isn't fun. Games like Castlevania are tough but fair. This isn't.

It's fun to play, and entertaining. toughest thing is getting to the end of the level segment to the next re-spawn. Expect to die many many times until you've memorized every square inch of the board, know where all the buff-ups are(you'll need them), and know every bad guy coming up. All in all, it's a very fun Arcade type game.

Gameplay: I found it fun, despite it's difficulty and the fact that you die often. The character movement is somewaht restrictiv (can't change trajectory once you jumped/double jumped, can't throw your spear anywhere else but straight ahead on eye-level, after rolling there's a short animation you're stuck in), but it's incorporated very well into the game and it's environment and part of the difficulty (and imo fun) is figuring out how to get through the level with the limited amounts of actions your character can do. Very oldschool in that regard. On the other hand, there's this feeling of mastery once you can get through a world without a scratch, get all the treasures and kill the boss in 15 seconds, which is very rewarding. There's replay value as there seem to be different endings. Also there are more difficult versions of each world, but with limited tries, which you can get by playing flawelessly. The time is also recorded, in case you enjoy doing speedruns and competing with others for the best time. Aesthetically the first five worlds have a great atmosphere and the enemies fit the background. There's not much story, except a little bit after finishing the game. The last world however feels very randomly patched together. All enemies can be present, but behind a somewhat generic background, giving it a kind of unsatisfying atmosphere in my opinion. Not quite the finish I'd hoped for given the beautiful first 5 worlds.

This review is coming from someone who barely plays hard games (I dabbled with Super Meat Boy) and also someone who has no nostalgia at all for games of this genre. And I love this game, the attacks feel slick and responsive, the platforming feels just right, the music is actual music (not some annoying 8-bit songs that everyone seems to use) and last but not least the aesthetic of the game is very nice.

Didn't beat the game yet (learning to beat the 3rd stage) but I gotta admit any aspirant indie game developer should use this game as a good lesson in game design. There's no such a thing like "cheap move" in Volgarr and each death is only yours to blame. The game offers you all the tools you need and expects you to use all of them if you want to succeed. Volgarr "suffers" from Checkpoint Starvation. Each stage are split in two segments and once you die, you'll get back to the start of the segment youre in. And no. There's no checkpoint before the boss. To add salt in the wound, the game only saves once you beat the stage boss so you need to clear the first segment of the stage you're in. Annoying? A bit. However you'll develop your skills as you repeat the stage over and over again and all the challenges the devs offer to you will be a breeze in time while you keep in mind the first playthrough is just a warmup for the harder stages you'll unlock to get the best ending. Volgarr is a game where people who can't beat Cuphead Tutorial or begs for an Easy Modo in a SoulsLike while demanding "respect to the gamer" need not apply.