Volgarr the Viking II Review

Volgarr the Viking II is 2D action platformer where players will need to survive (literally) from start to finish of each level. While players start off weak as they can be killed in a single hit, you’ll be able to find armor to give you a slight chance at survival allowing you to absorb a hit before dying.

If you manage to postpone that first hit, you’ll be able to “increase” your health by finding additional pieces of armor. The gear you pick up, which pertains to boots, flaming sword, belt, and a helmet to complete the suit. While it does offer a layer of defensive protection, it also slightly boosts your attack power. So for example, the boots increases your attack speed whereas the flaming sword increases your attack power.

Our protagonist has a limited moveset. You can walk (obviously), jump, double jump, which also performs an aerial attack by the same token, use his trusty sword and throw spears. The latter can also be powered up that packs an extra punch. The spears can also be used as an extra platform to reach certain areas. Volgarr can also do a down sword attack after jumping.

The game is extremely brutal and relies heavily on the trial and error method. Make a few steps of progress, die, go back to the start of the level. It wants you to learn from your lessons, which is the exact same type of gameplay you’d expect.

Fear not gamers, as this game as an Easy mode. Hidden for some reason. If you give the game an honest shot and unfortunately die too many times and you’ve seen the continue screen six times, the game will give you a choice between leaving this as is or jump into Easy mode. The only different between both “normal” and easy is that the latter you won’t die after one hit; everything remains the same: enemies, obstacles, lack of respawn checkpoints.

The visual styling of Volgarr the Viking II is spot on; it feels like a game straight out of the 16-bit era, closer to what the Super Nintendo was able to churn out. Each of the five worlds (6th if you count the secret) has two levels with a boss at the end. Some level design is made to piss you off where you can’t really gauge what’s ahead forcing you to die to see how to proceed. The soundtrack is fine as it is as a Viking-lite score. Forgettable, but fits within the world of the game.

The game’s biggest nuisance is its one death mechanic. When you die, you’re thrown back to the start of the area, which can be incredibly frustrating as it doesn’t feel like you’re making progress. If you manage to make some progress, it’s at snail’s pace because you never know what’s coming around the proverbial corner to kill you. Also the lack of checkpoint/respawn points is infuriating. So if you die, it’s back at the start of the area. Nothing more irritating than dying a cheap death towards the end of a level and being booted back at the start.

Trial and error types of game are slightly frustrating because it’s a lot of one step forward, five step back. Volgarr’s movement feels like he’s made of cement making trying to react “quickly” to faster moving enemies borderline impossible. Also gatekeeping Easy mode behind six continues is utterly stupid. They’ve also made it so it’s both extremes: too hard or too easy. I guess it’s too hard difficult to balance a game’s difficulty?

Volgarr the Viking II is one of the worst, most infuriating gaming experience I’ve had the displeasure of reviewing. The game had some solid potential, but its overall gameplay mechanics and “heavy” controls makes this a huge missed opportunity. I get this game is clearly aimed at the “git gud” audience, but gamers looking for a pleasant experience need to avoid this like the plague. Even Easy mode doesn’t save this game.