It has a welcome lightness of touch to its guidance, and lets the player learn by exploring and discovering things for themselves. Overall though, Jotun’s early moments are very encouraging. Similarly, the subtle shadowing can make it a little hard to determine depth in levels where there are upper walkways and platforms. There are perhaps some minor issues with hitboxes and figuring out, visually, where it’s perfectly safe to stand, but nothing that can’t be cleaned up before release. Shadow is used to denote dangerous areas, like when the Niflheim boss is going to try to flop over on you. They have a handful of attacks with lengthy and distinct wind-ups (Fe, for example, will ready her shield like a frisbee before tossing it at you,) and escalate their actions as they take more damage. The boss fights are sensibly designed around Thora’s relatively limited attack set and uninterruptable animations. Jotun has a directorial approach to camera control, pushing it in tight for claustrophobic corridors and pulling it back (way, way back) for shoreline vistas, turning Thora into a miniature, isolated figure alongside staple-mark footprints. I found the first time through each space to be slower paced by choice, figuring out how various things work and gazing at the Viking backdrops. That lethargy of step is always there, but only really becomes a problem when you’re revisiting an area and trawling around it for hidden extras or a new power. She almost shifts along at a respectable rate (and the limited-use speed boost power can help a bit,) but at the moment it’s one of those games where you find yourself dodge-rolling around the place because it seems ever so slightly quicker. The desire to comb large, often quite barren, areas for the last hidden column to bash with your axe is tempered slightly by the knowledge that this could take quite a while. With exploration and retracing steps often a part of each area (you can warp back to the hub area at will, and any level progress will be saved,) it would perhaps be helpful if Thora could move a bit faster.
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