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I find them unpleasantly grotesque, and they’re also a bit harder to read in the heat of battle. The combatants are cartoonishly ugly with bulging eyes and strange, meaty bodies. I’m going to be brutally honest here and say that I have no earthly idea how the developers settled on this new design. However, the visual revamp of the characters doesn’t fare nearly as well as the environmental work. Emerging from a huge creature’s anus is a highlight. It’s good to have more scenery and the stages are nicely done, reminiscent of the heights of the 16-bit era. Some are revamped versions of the original, while others are completely new. Nidhogg 2 also adds more levels to fight in, each one offering slight variations in elevation, pitfalls and décor. Thankfully, it’s possible to turn these new weapons off and remove them from the rotation.

The dagger is especially weak thanks to a short striking range, and the bow feels painfully slow to use. In practice I find the rapier superior to the rest, and groan when my character holds anything else. Characters are given a random weapon anytime they spawn in, but this is one case where change isn’t necessarily better. In addition to the classic rapier, there’s now a dagger, a long sword, and a bow.

NIDHOGG 1 PARENT REVIEW FULL

However, these aren’t significant adds, and this release ultimately feels like a DLC reskin rather than a full sequel. Essentially, it’s identical to its predecessor - what’s different are a few more levels, new weapons and a change in art style. However, the developers had other plans, and Nidhogg 2 is now here. It was such a marvelous creation, in fact, that I never felt it needed a sequel. It was one of the most perfect expressions of dynamic minimalism I’ve had the pleasure of playing. The game sported simple graphics reminiscent of something that could be achieved on an Atari 2600, but was still capable of being both thrillingly tense and laughably silly. Offering little more than two opponents facing off, each holding a rapier and possessing the same moveset – it was skill (and sometimes a bit of luck) that decided the winner. The beauty of the original Nidhogg was its elegance. WTF Who in the world thought this new art style was a good idea? LOW The new weapons don’t feel balanced or enjoyable. The only real knock against this game is how one-note it can be: Once you've played your first match, there's nothing really new in store.HIGH It’s still the same Nidhogg, which was great. Not knowing what your opponent will do and how, or how vulnerable you are (a single hit can take you out), provides for endless hours of zany fun. All of this adds up to the sort of game where you must act and react at the same time. Each offer a slightly different flavor to fighting, and the height at which you hold your weapon adds a couple of other wrinkles to your strategy. On top of the original fencing foil, there's now a dagger, a broadsword, and a bow and arrow. It's an odd contradiction in the games' controls, because every time you get stabbed, it was definitely your own fault in providing a breach in your defense. Your warrior bumbles around each arena, with gangly arms and legs bounding beneath them as though made of wobbly Jell-O. What makes the two-player matches so fun is how clunky but responsive the controls are.

NIDHOGG 1 PARENT REVIEW SERIES

Really, it's playing against other people that helps make the Nidhogg series shine, and these levels provide new facets to the madcap insanity. The sequel's new stages add a good degree of variety: It'll take a while to learn each map's sudden shifts in altitude, series of pits to leap over, and twists like conveyer belts. Devotees of the original will appreciate these additions, as Nidhogg's biggest drawback was its paltry amount of stages and its repetition.

NIDHOGG 1 PARENT REVIEW UPGRADE

Nidhogg 2 has the distinction of being the sequel to the popular 2014 local multiplayer game Nidhogg, and this new release is essentially a visual upgrade that adds a couple of new weapons, a bunch of new maps, and not much else. The tough thing about games that rely on a single hook is that if it doesn't initially grab you, it's unlikely to even after you've spent a decent amount of time on it. This action game improves on the gameplay of the original by adding new levels, weapons, and challenges for players to explore.

Nidhogg 1 parent review