By Jeremy D. Wells
Carter County Times
I remember being a kid, moving from the world of Atari to the NES, and thinking, “This is just like playing a cartoon. This is the best.”
Looking back at those 8-bit graphics today, it’s funny to think they made that big an impression on me, but when the SNES came along, I was even more impressed. “Graphics just can’t get any better than this,” I thought. But they did, and they’ve gotten progressively better each generation until, today, with cell shaded graphics, you can play a game that looks exactly like an animated cartoon.
There are several that make fantastic use of that art style. Cuphead comes to mind immediately, with its nods to the work of Max Fleischer and other golden age animators, you’re literally playing a cartoon. That game is a lot of slap-stick, platforming fun.
But, like with traditional animation, not all of it has to fit into the Bugs Bunny mold. It can be more artsy, and grown-up, too. And that’s where Jotun falls on the scale.
The games cell-shaded art style is gorgeous, and the classic top-down gaming style and game play is intuitive enough that you don’t really need any tutorials to pick it up. That’s a good thing, too, because Jotun doesn’t provide one. So, if you are the type that likes to know what a button does before you press it, you might want to at least check out the button mapping in the start menu before diving in. Or do like me, waste some of your early power charges and figure out what you’re supposed to do for the next respawn. And the one after. And probably the one after.
Jotun isn’t hard, but it isn’t easy. And it doesn’t hold the gamers hand at all. Things are there for you to explore and figure out on your own.
Along the way, you’ll also learn a little about Norse mythology as Thora – the central character who seeks redemption after an inglorious death at sea. Waking up not in Valhalla, but another central realm where she quickly catches sight of Yggdrasil, the tree connecting the nine worlds of Norse myth, Thora ventures forth to fight a series of Jotun, or elemental giants, and earn the powers of the gods. After completing each stage, and collecting a rune, you’ll return to Ginnungagap, or the Void, to access additional stages, all connected by the branches and roots of Yggdrasil,
You’ll also learn a little more about Thora’s life before death between each stage. And, if you pay close attention, you might just pick up a little Icelandic. That’s because the game only has one voice-over track, and it’s done in what is – apparently – an antiquated form of Icelandic of the sort you’d find an ancient Viking saga written in. To follow the story, you have to read subtitles. The neat thing about that, though, is because the syntax of Icelandic is so similar to English, and some words so close in pronunciation, it’s much easier to make those connections between the voiceover and the subtitles than it is with a language that follows different syntax rules.
It’s not something you have to do, of course. But it’s a nice touch for the nerdier gamers out there (like yours truly), and one of the many little charms that make Jotun worth your time.
The game is available on most gaming platforms (PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X for home computers, as well as streaming through Google Stadia).
I played it through Stadia, where I found it on sale a few months back, but it’s around $15 at full price on most platforms, and well worth the purchase. But, if you prefer, you can wait for a sale. It was recently marked down to $3.74 on Steam, and with a Stadia Pro account it’s less than $2 to purchase and stream to your computer, phone, or other smart device.
If action-adventure puzzlers with a Norse flavor are your thing, though, you owe it to yourself to check it out.
Contact the writer at editor@cartercountytimes.com
