‘Nidhogg’ hard to recommend

“Nidhogg,” is a hit indie PC video game available on Steam — and coming this summer to PlayStation 4.

The game combines a mixture of football and fencing where, at the end zone, players are eaten by the mythological Norse dragon ‘Níðhöggr.’

“Nidhogg” is a 2D side scrolling game comprised of four stages with a single player, multiplayer (local and online) and a tournament mode. The single player is just against computers and really the star of the show is the local multiplayer mode.

The controls and graphics are deceptively simple, consisting of the directional pad for control, and one button to jump and another to attack. Two players can share a keyboard or you can use gamepads. The graphics resembles an Atari game and whether you like it or not, there is a charm and humor to the game’s art style and animations.

There may only be two buttons, but encounters tend to be very methodical as you can adjust the height of your sword and even disarm your opponent. Swords can be stolen or thrown if your opponent tries to make a run for it. “Nidhogg” truly is a fun game to watch, so gather some friends.

This game is a bit hard to explain, but I’ll try to paint a picture of how a typical game works. Once you watch five minutes of a game it will click for you.

At the beginning of a match, you and your opponent start at opposite ends of a symmetrical stage.

 

Whoever strikes the other with their sword get to advance to the opponents end zone.

The person who gets defeated in a sword duel respawns, which gives you multiple chances to defeat your opponent and gain some distance to your opponent’s end zone.

It’s a joy to watch these back-and-forth exchanges. The longer the game goes on, the more the floor gets splattered with your character’s colorful pixels.

At $15 with only four stages, a handful of modes, and no one online to play with it’s hard to recommend “Nidhogg,” unless you have some friends to play with. My suggestion is to wait for an inevitable Steam sale.

Rating: B-

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