Listen, I know it's boring for all of us when journos describe a game just by listing a load of other games it's like, but sometimes the inspirations are so clear that it's really unavoidable. I'm afraid that's definitely the case with Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel, newly released into Early Access, so just let me get it out of my system in one big word vomit, yeah? VAMPIRE SURVIVORS DIABLO 4 HADES GOD OF WAR. Phew, that's better.
Still, even newly released into Steam Early Access, Jotunnslayer already feels like more than just the sum of its influences. This is yet another clever and creative take on the rapidly evolving auto-shooter genre that's followed in Vampire Survivors' wake.
The Diablo 4-esque looks are more than just cinematic sheen (though the visuals are lovely)—there's a similar feel to the action, with basic attacks in addition to your auto-casting abilities, a handy dodge, and an ultimate spell activated manually that's ready to save your bottom from the fire when you need it. Character-building too strikes a balance of more action-RPG-style depth, but at the same time keeping things at a simpler level than something like Halls of Torment—rather than carefully adjusting a huge suite of numbers into your perfect build, you're simply grabbing cool active and passive abilities and jamming them together for straightforward synergies. Less to dig into, perhaps, but also less intimidating.
Abilities are grouped under a roster of gods, each with their own themes. If Loki's offering you a boon, it's probably going to be related to debuffing the enemy, setting things on fire, or risky random effects. Whereas Freya's all about close-range attacks, survivability, and boosting your XP gains. There's your dash of Hades, but it fits neatly, collapsing a whole load of possible build archetypes into easily understood buckets of options.
The best influence the game takes from action-RPGs, however, is in turning the usual wave-based survival into a proper adventure. Each map has an end goal—summon the local jotunn (your end boss, basically) and slay it. But you can't just skip straight to that. You've got to wine and dine these monsters first, in the form of a series of different quests. Every few minutes, you're given a choice of two—usually varying in difficulty, with harder ones rewarding more resources. They can be short fetch quests, mini-boss fights, objective capturing, or brutal combat challenges—like surviving for a minute with your movement speed hacked down, or destroying a totem that turns off all your mojo except basic attacks for as long as it's still standing.
The activities themselves provide welcome variety, but importantly they also get you moving around the map with purpose. Rarely are you ever simply fighting in circles in Jotunnslayer—there's always some quest or treasure to battle your way towards, dodging enemies and overcoming obstacles as you go. Though the genre's always had secrets to seek out, this feels far more active than usual—more like clearing a dungeon, levelling up as you go, rather than simply staying alive and watching your numbers rise.
I'm really enjoying myself so far, but I will say all the hallmarks of a just-launched Early Access game are here. Of the five maps in the menu, only two are currently playable, with just four classes and four gods—that doesn't feel like quite enough variety yet to give the game the replayability it's aiming for.
But that's the nature of the beast—this is still an in-development game. At its very low price (currently £7.64 / $8.99) there's a good chunk of fun to be had here, and the developer is estimating only a half a year wait for the full 1.0 release, so we should see a pretty rapid cadence of updates in the coming months. It's a good way of getting some practice in before you die and get sent to the warrior's heaven of Valhalla to fight for Odin for all eternity, too. We're all doing that, right?
