Mechanically, the game is rock-solid, as each offensive movement has a disarming counterpart.
Both tools prove to be equally valuable, as kills are often earned by using both in succession. In Nidhogg, each player essentially spawns armed with a sword and super-agility. To say that Nidhogg is as rewarding as it is challenging would be a gross understatement both aspects of play are rewards in themselves. In fact, it wasn’t until slaying each and every one of the single-player baddies that I realized I’d done it all in one stressful sitting – and it felt good. But by the time my first real match was over, all I could think of was the satisfaction of ripping my enemy’s heart out. “How could I?” I asked myself, before reluctantly gutting the man and proceeding to learn swordplay. Thrown into a blank level with a non-hostile enemy, I immediately jabbed and jumped incessantly until the game ordered me to knock down the opponent with my bare pixel fists and then rip his heart out. The main menu offered a non-mandatory “How to Play” option, whose sole presence – and what I’d already seen of the game – seemed to warrant investigation. Within moments of launching the game, I felt confident and quite prepared to do something, whatever it might be. Controller support is seamless and the painful process of a game’s first-launch graphics setup is nowhere to be found. Utilizing bold 2D geometry and minimal shading, Nidhogg should run well on the vast majority of PC’s, and though it lacks support for Mac and Linux systems, performance is pitch perfect. My first impressions were admittedly technical and don’t have much to do with stabbing or ripping hearts out we’ll get to that in a moment.
The hours that followed were simply a study of what Nidhogg accomplishes, and how it accomplishes this. In today’s race to create games that immerse players in vast, beautiful, diverse experiences, it’s easy to lose sight of the age-old sign of a well-balanced game: Does it achieve what it set out to achieve? After watching match after frustrating match intrigue and excite my interest in Nidhogg, it was plain to see that this game accomplishes a great deal.
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