Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel is an action-roguelite steeped in Norse mythology, and it boasts some seriously eye-catching visuals. In fact, I think it was probably the lovely graphics that helped the game stand out for me, and I’ve been tracking its progress for a while now.
The new Steam Next Fest Demo seemed like the perfect opportunity to go hands-on with the game ahead of its coming Early Access release (there’s currently no word on when that will be, though). That being so, I finally took the plunge and hit “install”.
The demo, which has been available for some time, has been updated with a new class and a bunch of new god powers. To make that make sense, let’s dig into what Hordes of Hel is all about.
What is Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel?
This action rogue takes a lot of inspiration from Vampire Survivors, however, where VS is all about pixel art madness, Games Farm’s effort is a much slicker affair. The environments are more tactile, the enemies are more individual, and the whole thing is a bit more zoomed-in and personal.
The visuals are closer to the quality you find in Diablo than they are your typical indie roguelike, but that makes this a breath of fresh air in a genre that doesn’t always deliver top quality graphics. It looks great thanks to bold combat animations, intricate enemy designs, and detailed environments that quickly fill with chaos.
The combat itself is in a decent place already, and depending on your class, you will interact with your opponents quite differently. Hordes of Hel is all about crowd control, dashing out of danger, and smashing your enemies, and each of the playable classes has solutions for the various tactical challenges that you are presented with. If you are well versed in the world of Vampire Survivors and auto-shooters then you’ll get to grips with this very quickly.
What’s new in the Hordes of Hel demo?
It is my understanding that the Berserker and the Seeress were already playable in the old demo, however the Revenant is completely new, even to early adopters who have already tried this Norse fantasy RPG. I’ve tried all three classes and they do feel distinct, but they’re also not so different that you can’t switch between them quite easily.
The commonality between the classes comes from the god powers. Another new addition for this demo is Loki, whose powers have been added alongside those of Thor and Freya. When chosen, these powers join those exclusive to your character, which means variance but not too much distance. Your character’s individual attack, be that a hail of arrows or a sweeping blow, can be supplemented with god-inspired powers that look spectacular and do tons of damage.
The new content is only temporary, and a post on the Steam page mentions that the demo will, at some point, revert back to the old two-character version. I therefore suggest that you hop on it, because I quite liked the Revenant and his bow. Not only do you get to blast your enemies from afar, but you also have spirit animals running all over the place, chomping on the bad guys. What’s not to like!
