Jotun: Valhalla Edition to Bring Hand-Drawn Norse Mythology to Wii U This Summer

Wowee zowee!

Looks beautiful, will keep a very close eye on it.

Definitely curious now. Keepin' tabs on it!

Looks like a must have for me!

I like hand drawn things

That looks brilliant!

Hows the gameplay?

Looks great! And the original release seems highly rated. @Yorumi they probably didn't predict that the style would get a little over-used when they were hand-drawing it. It takes a while!

@sonicmeerkat Simplistic, I would say. Hack and slash-y. But the visuals are so amazing I don't really care

There are lots of let's plays on the steam version, that should give you an idea of the gameplay. It also has a pretty good score on the steam shop but I don't know how reflective of quality that actually is.

@Yorumi i think its just the most well known mythology there is with Egyptian less known and Greek being less complex then Norse.

Looks like it is at max only a 3 and a half 4 hour game unless there are multiple difficulty levels.

@Yorumi Which mythology do you suggest?

@Yorumi I'll take more Norse based games over Greek/Roman any day. Egyptian is sorely underused, but it's a huge desert, hard to expand on the backdrop geography. And there are plenty of both Chinese games and Japanese games as well, though admittedly those tend to be more historical than theological. Mark of Kri had a nice Pacific islands vibe.

Do you honestly think there are too many Norse games compared to the other well known ones or are you just venting? I'm always ready for Ragnarok.

looks like it could be interesting, i might check it out,

@luke88 I see you used my comment before I could.

@edgedino I would hardly call Greek mythology less complex in comparison to Norse mythology. They even have similarities but the entire pantheon of Gods, half-Gods, minions, creatures and even places is far larger than the Norse pantheon. There are also way more stories.

@Yorumi I think that by now, almost any mythology has been overused in games (and even completely raped thanks to God of War) but I'd rather they'd use entire stories instead of taking elements and distorting the actual myths, because like you, I value them WAY more as they are, especially Greek mythology.

And that is why I truly hate the God of War games, because the entire story makes no sense and would never even be possible in that universe. In short: Kratos would long have been destroyed before he could even have begun to kill Gods, a concept that is too ridiculous to even begin with.

A good example of an implementation of myths/stories are Japanese myths because at least these developers still have a lot of respect for their stories, so besides taking some artistic liberties, the stories are mostly in tact.

A Western produced game that does this quite well, is Rise of the Argonauts (Xbox360, PS3, PC) and an honorable mention (imho) should go to Dante's Inferno. Not exactly mythology, but similar to Japanese games it leaves the story in tact for the most part and only takes artistic liberties with the portrayal of the story.

Obviously, developers go for well known myths, so we're bound to come across Egyptian, Greek, Roman or Norse mythologies again, also because these stories speak to the general public.

They could go for local mythologies of other regions or countries, but would that sell? Africa for example has many great myths and stories, but they aren't well known, so you would never know as a company if it is going to be worthwhile to make a game based on it.

Other than that we do have other games based on several stories/myths, like Dracula, Beowulf, Ring of the Nibelungs and so on, so there is something for everyone, and some people are bound to like a certain type of mythology more than others and probably won't mind seeing another game in that universe, much like our friend @rjejr...

Looks epic, hope it's fun.

@rjejr Unrelated to the article, but good news. Uncharted 4 has been delayed another two weeks and will now launch May 10th worldwide. This is good news because it gives Ratchet & Clank some breathing room!

@IceClimbers
Lol again?

Not that I care- I'll be playing Fire Emblem Fates well into May as is... but uh, ya lol

looks good!

@Yorumi a good story is worth retelling

Norse (one must know one of the 'classical' mythologies well), Rigvedic (the sheer number of deities, the socio-political structure of the deities and the influence of Rigveda is astounding) and Celtic (the symbolism and artistic interpretations are incredible) would have to be my favorites.
Egyptian is fun, with gods like Ra and Ramses and the fixation on cats and the afterlife.
Greek is homogenous with Western fiction and creates powerful works (with games like God of War being intimately influenced).
Japanese and Chinese have intricacy upon intricacy woven into their fabric. They almost transcend myth to become folklore, as they are so involved in their respective countries' histories.
I'm not so much of a fan of Arabian, Hittite, or Slavic mythology, but I can admit there is some profound draw there as well.
It's nice to see interpretations of common tales and see fresh life breathed into an familiar story.
Bastion and follow-up Transistor were both alot of fun.
This style of game can be downright breathtaking to behold, so this should be a title to watch for.
As an aside, I recently started a new job as a tour guide. It's enriching, getting to experience history and share the tales of a distant past.
I really appreciate good storytelling, as that's what I do for a living now.

*. watches trailer * Whoa...count me in.

@NodesforNoids I'm curious to know how you see Greek as being homogeneous with Western fiction, since it's origin isn't quite Western: Greek mythology shares influences from it's entire region, including large parts of Asia Minor and surrounding countries, and they all shared the same stories and Gods.

And FYI: to any traditional Greek or person that appreciates the original myths, naming God of War in one breath with them, is close to blasphemy. What that series did is rip the myths to shreds and tape the loose pieces together with some angry dudebro story (hate that word, but for lack of a better term I'll use it here).

As an American living in Europe, I've come to appreciate a lot of these countries' history and myths so much more compared to when I would only have been a tourist visiting them.

God of War is a Hollywood glitter and glamour version of what an Arnold Schwarzenegger wannabe would do with the Greek Gods, and the saddest thing is, that entire droves of ill informed, zit-faced, metal-mouthed kids that play these games to feel tough and what not, will actually start to think that the way these "inspired by" games are telling the myths are actually in their correct form, so they'll probably be completely flabbergasted if they would ever leave the States and learned the actual stories.

As I've already said in my earlier comment, I definitely don't like the series because of that. I tried it, but as a fan of the actual stories, I just couldn't finish this mockery of them. Their only purpose of using Greek mythology was to have a cooler story and setting, not to pay homage or respect to it. They should have taken a page out of the book of Asian developers, that treat their myths with love, care and a whole lot of respect. Even if they decide to make games or anime's about them. (and the popularity of such cartoons in Western society should tell you a thing or two about not having to embellish or "Westernize" a story to make it interesting)

Now this game here, even though the art style is decidedly nontraditional, also respects the original stories, starting with little touches like using the original language and subtitling it, and (from what I've seen in this trailer) not making up a lot of extra stuff along the way so at the very least they have made a positive first step.

We obviously have to wait and see how the finished game will turn out, but this is kind of hopeful.

Dang! Looks and feels fantastic! Hopefully its fun to play! If so, I super want this.

I'm interested. This seems to be a great year for the e-Shop already.

@IceClimbers Man that was 15 hours ago? No wonder sammy was the 50th comment on his own website, must have slept thru it.

Funny to see "but good news" next to your name, can't recall what your other post was, but I think it involved obscenities.

And its only good if Sony remembers R&C exists. And I do feel really bad for people who pre-ordered that $400 bundle and were excited for their PS4. Glad I waited, I'd be so #$@@#$%%!!! Might as well just wait and rent U4 w/ my yearly $1 Gamefly month later in the year.

So, um, since this is NL and not PS, which Ninteod game gets delayed on Thursday - SFZ to June or Zelda U to 2017?

@Yorumi What Thanos said.

Looking awesome!!

@Bonk Your picture matches your quote PERFECTLY!!

Back on the subject, I don't know too much on mythology, and what I did learn from school is somewhat rusty with certain movies here and there reminding me of what they are. Also, isn't Thor part of Norse mythology or am I completely wrong?

Hey guys! Devs here!
Feel free to ask us questions!

@whodatninja That worries me.

@rjejr Neither SFZ or Zelda U will be delayed in that way because Nintendo is trying to clear the slate and transition to NX development. Instead, they will release when we expect with the bad scenario being that they are lacking in some respects. Hopefully, they'll both be great, though!

Definitely interested. I always love a good, hand-drawn style.

@aaronsullivan If SFZ releases in April Zelda U is 2017. If SFZ is delayed Zelda U might make 2016. I can't see them getting both out in a timely manner. Would be nice for a change.

Naughty Dog makes 1 game and they can't even get that out. (Though my wife - book company production manager w/ lots of manufacturing done in China - gives them the benefit of the doubt, 10 days means shipping or manufacturing delays out of their control.)

Man, just had a pit in my stomach - what if the DI 3.0 Battlegrounds playset doesn't DL to Wii U? I am so waiting for PS4 to get Lego Dimensions.

Looking good!