Völgarr the Viking wants to be a super hard platformer. And well, it IS. However, this is achieved through a few questionable points. These are mainly the unforgiving save-points and the healthsystem that punishes you twice for every mistake. Your health is represented by items that you loose after a enemy hits you. This does not only take away your armor, but also the items associated skill, for example the shield-block , upping the difficulty ones more. While in general this adds positively to the experience, a single mistake right in front of a trap can make it incredible hard to overcome the very same. Also, while in general you can learn enemy habits and traps fast, the small screen and the fast enemies sometimes make memorization the only way to overcome certain situations. This is especially true when it comes to the Boss fights. And still, despite all the flaws, the game manages to be fun. Not least thanks to these very points. Overcoming a level after countless of tries is extremely rewarding and just lets you feel powerful and well ... like a viking. This is reinforced by the games habit of rewarding recklessness by simply punishing very cautious behavior or rewarding a aggressive style through items. If you are searching for a extra hard throwback to the old console platformers or if you are just in search of a hard game in general, this might just be the game for you.
