There are good reasons why it’s a terrible idea to name things after ancient gods. Pick a pantheon and they were universally terrible, usually reflecting humanity’s foibles in the worst way and only occasionally performing acts that might justify the worship. Naming the AI overlords after Norse gods was just asking for trouble, and sure enough the world ended with Odin going mad while the noble Loki stood firm against the chaos. Or at least that’s the story Loki’s telling, and it’s not like there’s anyone around to dispute it. Locked in a bunker deep underground, Loki sends his oddball champions into the world on Bifrost, which looks like a rainbow bridge but actually just generates a clone on the wasteland to battle their way ahead of the approaching fimbulwinter.
The World May Have Ended But The Shooting Has Just Begun
Odinfall is a twin-stick action roguelike that’s cut from the same cloth as Nuclear Throne. Pick a hero, scavenge weapons, tear through randomly-generated levels that don’t need much in the way of level design because they’re a gunner’s playground, and try to get strong enough to reach and defeat the boss at the end of each of the four areas. The five characters are all visually distinct with their own active and passive special abilities, and while the bulk of the game is finding a good set of weapons the heroes all play differently enough that it’s easy to have a favorite.
Review: Nuclear Throne
A top-down roguelike of excruciating difficulty with visuals that oscillate between cuteness and morbidity, Nuclear Throne brings The Binding of Isaac to mind.
The world map is the same for each area, and you start with a choice of levels and a weak pistol to take them on with. Each randomized level comes with its own mix of enemies, and is comprised of three stages slowly escalating in difficulty until reaching a mini-boss in the third section. Each stage also has a hatch or two that contain a weapon or gold, and it’s generally a good idea to clear all the enemies off for a nice cash bonus. The stages are small enough that it only takes a couple minutes to clear each one, so a full level doesn’t tend to take too long except sometimes there’s a red hatch leading to a harder set of stages with increased rewards. It’s probably possible to resist the call of a higher challenge but I’ve yet to figure out how.
Odinfall already feels great to play and is a huge amount of fun, and far too easy to pull several runs in a row to see what new unlocks you can earn.
The key to survival lies in finding weapons that support your play style, and Odinfall has a good-sized arsenal to choose from. Your character can only hold two at a time, but a little experimentation will show which ones complement each other and which to avoid entirely. Shotguns are always your friend, while pistols can be decent starting weapons until something better comes along. Oddly enough, melee weapons are some of the most useful in the game thanks to their bullet-canceling ability, which is particularly useful for taking out enemies that let out revenge shots when killed. Each weapon has a few empty slots that can have enhancements added, and a short sword with a triple barrel, range extender, and burst fire can hit well above its two-star rating. Character builds don’t get too complicated during a run but the variety of weapons and enemies is more than enough to make up the difference.
Odinfall released into Early Access today, but it’s been a personal favorite for a while now thanks to an extended period of playtests and demos. The Early Access version is content complete, playable from start to finish, and the plan is to have people run through it for a good six months or so for balancing and polish. It already feels great to play and is a huge amount of fun, and far too easy to pull several runs in a row to see what new unlocks you can earn. The Norse gods may have ended the world but they left behind the broken wreckage of a gunner’s paradise, so grab a berzerker, dwarf, ghost, gnome, or moose and get shooting.
