Jotun

Overview

Jotun is a 2D action exploration game where players control Thora, a Norse warrior who has died an inglorious death and must face the challenges of Viking purgatory to prove herself to the Gods and enter Valhalla. Jotun's core loop revolves around collecting Runes to summon and fight the Jotun, gigantic Norse elementals. The game focuses on the balance between atmospheric exploration and ferocious combat.

Originally released on PC in 2015, the game was brought to PS4, Xbox One and Wii U in 2016 as Jotun: Valhalla Edition featuring a new boss rush mode called Valhalla Mode for extra challenge.

Development

On July 21 2014, William Dube launched a Kickstarter to fund Jotun's development and self publishing costs with a goal of $50,000. The Kickstarter was a success and was able to accrue $64,265 in donations from 2,299 backers. The game was also successfully Greenlit by Steam's community.

Gameplay

The game has an overworld consisting of 9 unique locations and 5 bosses, the Jotun. These bosses can only be accessed by traversing their corresponding levels (each boss having two levels with the exception of the first). The traversal levels consist largely of environmental puzzles which players must pass in order to find the rune used to unlock the boss battle. Each level are has optional objectives like finding the golden apple to raise the Thora's health or a shrine which gives her a power-up. These power-ups can bolster health, damage, speed, and give other abilities but are limited in uses. The boss battles open up once their corresponding runes are discovered.

The combat is relatively simple with one light attack and one heavy attack. The light attack has a two-hit combination but other than that no attacks can be strung together. Most of the combat is about avoiding enemy attacks and discovering the openings where Thora can do damage. The power-ups can help in these instances but since they are optional in the levels, none of them are necessary to defeat an enemy.