Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel is a graphically impressive Vampire Survivors clone. But the game lacks the most important thing: its own ideas
Imagine how fantastic a Diablo with Vikings would be An epic adventure in which you travel through Norse mythology as a mighty warrior, fight gigantic ice giants and hold the fate of Midgard in your hands
This is exactly the image Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel paints in players’ minds when they see the following screenshots:
But behind the impressive facade lies a game that in many respects offers only the bare essentials and has nothing to do with action role-playing games.
From zero to Thor in 15 minutes
Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel is not an action RPG, but a Vampire Survivors clone. But of course that doesn’t have to be a bad thing
In a single playthrough, you experience the ultimate Power Fantasy: Within fifteen minutes, you transform from an inconspicuous runt into an overpowering killing machine that blasts thousands of enemies to kingdom come every minute.
This rapid development and the sheer mass of enemies make for a satisfying and adrenaline-filled gaming experience – and the graphics of Jotunnslayer also make a good impression at first glance.
The visual effects are significantly better than most of the competition, the character models are detailed and the game environment perfectly captures the harsh, mystical atmosphere of the Norse mythical world of Jotunheim – but it’s best to check out a full playthrough for yourself!
Despite these visual strengths, a closer look reveals that the game doesn’t really have a unique selling point.
As you probably know, in this genre you kill enemies from an iso perspective, collect XP orbs, choose upgrades and buy meta upgrades at the end of the game that make you permanently stronger.
The character selection initially promises variety. In the finished game, you can choose from various characters such as a dark mage, a rogue or an archer – in the play test we played, however, only a classic barbarian is available.
Lightning and thunder – but no fresh wind
However, the initial joy quickly evaporates, as the gameplay is not very innovative overall and has no fresh ideas whatsoever
The controls and basic gameplay are actually perfectly fine. Movement and dashing work smoothly and the first enemies are quickly defeated and level-ups collected.
With each level-up, you can choose a new skill or upgrade an existing one. In Jotunnslayer, you can get these from gods – but the selection is still very limited. Thor grants you chain lightning, x-shaped lightning, a statue that shoots lightning, lightning when attacking and a lightning nova. Just what you’d expect from the God of Thunder
The second goddess is Freya, who distributes comparatively boring passive talents. You can also invest points in your barbarian class to unlock various melee attacks – and that’s it.
Of course, the play test is an early version, but it already seems as if the game won’t be trying anything new later on.
For fifteen minutes you slaughter your way through never-ending hordes of enemies, every few minutes there are mini-events to complete and between rounds you invest in upgrades such as more damage, more life or a larger collection radius. It doesn’t get more 08/15 than that.
Vampire Survivors has since spawned countless imitators and many have managed to stand out from the crowd with their own ideas and cool mechanics. Unfortunately, Jotunnslayer is not one of them. Instead of innovative approaches and surprising elements, it offers a solid but unexciting gaming experience and therefore quickly becomes repetitive.
Even if the developers still have time to improve the game and fill it with new content, the current state of the game offers little hope. Pretty graphics or not, but without fresh ideas and varied gameplay, Jotunnslayer will hardly be able to inspire in the long run – especially if you’ve already played much better titles in the genre.
Conclusion of the editors
Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel leaves me with mixed feelings. On the one hand, the game impresses with its fantastic graphics and atmospheric depiction of Norse mythology. The effects are successful, the character models detailed and the environment perfectly captures the atmosphere of Jötunheim.
This strong presentation immediately captivates and raises high expectations – but unfortunately the game lags behind in terms of gameplay and innovation.
The rapid development from weak fighter to powerful killing machine within a quarter of an hour offers a satisfying power fantasy, but the basic gameplay remains at best genre average and has little depth.
The lack of real unique selling points and fresh ideas makes the game pale in comparison to other representatives of the genre.
Nevertheless, there is still hope that the developers will get their act together before the targeted release in the fourth quarter of 2024. At the moment, Jotunnslayer offers appealing visuals and a short, intense gaming experience, but more innovation and depth are needed for lasting excitement.
