Die for Valhalla!

Die for Valhalla! Is a dynamic beat ‘em up arcade game, heavily inspired by the Norse mythology and the Viking era. What distinguishes the game from other productions is the “possession” mechanics – in order to play as a Viking warrior, one has to use the special powers available to the characters in the game – the Valkyries – and take control over a body of a Viking. Die for Valhalla! is a debut of a Polish Monster Couch studio.

Before its release, Die for Valhalla! participated in Square Enix Collective – an initiative aiming at supporting independent developers initiated by Square Enix (a well-known game publisher and developer) – where it received 61% of positive votes. After that, a kickstarter campaign has been launched in order to gather funds necessary for the production of the game. According to the developers, the creation of Die for Valhalla! was inspired by such titles as Golden Axe and Castle Crashers.

Plot

Midgard (as the Norse Mythology calls the world of men) is threatened by an invasion of monsters. In order to aid humans in their fight against the invader, Odin decides to dispatch Valkyries – ghostly witches with incredible powers. Since they become mortal and vulnerable to enemy attacks in the human realm, they have no other way but to possess earthly Viking warriors and use their fighting skills in order to fulfill the task assigned by Odin. Players do not have to fear for the possessed warriors dying battle – the Norse netherworld, Valhalla, awaits the fallen warriors!

Mechanics

The PC, PS4 and etc. release of Die for Valhalla! is filled with typical brawler action. The essence of gameplay lies in battling countless hordes of enemies led by powerful bosses. Players get to control Valkyries – warriors that hover above ground, able to attack the enemies with their ethereal weapons. Unlike the legends say, these Valkyries are not very efficient in battle, so as one may easily guess, the players spend the vast majority of the time game controlling the possessed human warriors.

As a Valkyrie, one can take control over and earthling, in order to obtain their skills in eliminating enemies. This can be achieved in two ways: either by possessing the body of a living Viking, or summoning a fallen warrior from Valhalla, which is possible thanks to the tombstones encountered here and there. Upon entering a human body, the abilities of our protagonist change in accordance with the class the possessed warrior represents. A Berserker, armed with two axes, can inflict powerful blows in close combat, while the agile Hunter can quickly change positions and attack from safe distance with his bow. Seasoned Valkyries can take control not only over the Viking warriors, but also over enemy units and objects such as explosive barrels.

Game modes

The game offers a single player mode as well as a cooperative multiplayer able to fit up to 4 players on one screen. The level design is modular, thus the map content can differ with each playthrough, partially thanks to the random content generation system, but also because of the game’s reactiveness to players’ actions.

Technical Aspects

Die for Valhalla! is based on the Unity 3D engine. The visuals implemented herein feature a comic-book-like style, somewhat resembling the one presented by Don’t Starve. The characters, enemy units and active objects are well drawn to contrast the more neutral elements of the background. Music in Die for Valhalla! has been composed by Pawel Gorniak - winner of the Production Music Association’s Mark Award for the Best Folk Track.

Last updated on 07 February 2017