by theygamesOf all the indies I covered last year, Jotunnslayer was definitely one of the most appetizing prospects I came across. Combining the dark and demonic aura of Diablo with a roguelike bullet hell such as Vampire Survivors, it sounded like a winning formula. A formula is one thing – executing on it is another. Well, Jotunnslayer has finally arrived on Steam with its early access launch, and it looks like my Spidey senses were right, as it’s come out the gates strongly.
Fully titled Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel, it captures the chaotic roguelike magic of Vampire Survivors to make it one of the coolest games like Diablo I’ve seen. As the name suggests, Jotunnslayer is set in the frosty, dark world of Norse mythology, and has you traversing the Nine Realms cutting down hordes of beasts and demons in an attempt to find and defeat a massive boss. As with all good bullet hell games, as you get deeper into each run, your screen will become completely overwhelmed with enemy units and effects from your weapons and abilities, all framed by some grim yet gorgeous backdrops.
Before each journey into one of Jotunnslayer’s realms, you pick one of the four starting classes that will be in the game at launch – Berserker, Revenant, Flame Sister, and Seeress. As you level up during the run, you’ll get access to a series of new skills based on Norse gods. You’ll also be given a series of objectives that you can complete in order to speed up progression and, ultimately, summon the boss at the end of the realm.
Already, Jotunnslayer is off to a great start to life – an early flurry of glowing user reviews sees it sitting on a ‘very positive’ 92% rating at the time of writing.
If you think it’s good now, then things should only get better from here on out. Jottunslayer’s devs have already drawn up a roadmap for early access which sees it gain loads more content on the road to 1.0. Today, the game launches with two realms, four playable classes, and four gods. In its first major update, which is set to arrive “very soon,” a third realm and a new god will be added. From there on in, there are plans to add more classes, realms, gods, weapons, and also an endless game mode for the ultimate gauntlet.
Jotunnslayer is out right now in Steam Early Access and is an absolute steal at just $8.99 / £7.64 thanks to an introductory 10% discount that runs until Tuesday, February 4.
If you’re speedy, you can also enter our giveaway to get yourself one of ten Jotunnslayer Steam codes. It closes very soon on Thursday, January 23.
For more, check out our lists of the best roguelike games and the best RPGs.
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