The early 2010s were an incredible time to be a fan of indie games, with classics like Limbo, Bastion, and Super Meat Boy paving the way for others to follow. One of my favorites from that period was the original Volgarr the Viking – it’s a 2D platformer that looks and plays like a 16-bit Sega Genesis game, but one informed by the ways in which the genre had evolved since the 90s. It was brutally difficult, but always fair, and that careful balance made it incredibly satisfying to overcome its challenges. So it pains me to say it, but that balance is all out of sorts in its 2024 sequel, Volgarr the Viking 2. This is a game that recaptures a lot of what made the original so great, but adds very little to iterate on those ideas, and the few areas that are substantially different end up being changed for the worse.
For the most part, Volgarr the Viking 2 is extremely similar to its 2013 predecessor. You play as the titular Volgarr, a mighty Norse warrior wielding an arsenal of weapons granted to him by the gods of Asgard, as you march from the left side of the stage to the right, cutting a path through hordes of enemies as you go. Like many older 2D action-platformers, Volgarr the Viking is defined as much by what you can’t do as it is by what you can. You can only swing your sword directly in front of you, either crouching to hit low or standing to hit high; you can’t control the direction or momentum of your jump once you leave the ground; and while you can double jump, doing so also doubles as an attack, which is occasionally not ideal due to the fact that some enemies will attack back once you strike them.
While that may sound rough, learning to play around these limitations is actually one of greatest joys I got out of Volgarr the Viking 2. Granted, a lot of it is carried over from the first game, especially because this sequel also recycles a large percentage of its enemies, but I enjoyed how often I had to get creative in combat nonetheless. You might have to jump backwards, then double jump forwards and throw a spear to hit an enemy that’s at an awkward angle, or make use of the incline of a slope to better line up a spear throw against an enemy that’s low to the ground, or use your double jump slash to kill an enemy that’s directly above you. Enemies are designed in a way that really forced me to make use of every single move in Volgarr’s limited repertoire, which feels really good. This creativity in problem solving is true for the platforming challenges as well, which once again make clever use of the fact that Volgarr’s spear can be thrown into walls to become impromptu platforms.
There are also interesting little nuances to the enemies depending on how you attack them. Draugrs, for instance, die to a single swipe if you hit them high, but if you hit them low, their torso will fly off their body and still be able to damage you. Other enemies will have shields that block their top halves, leaving them vulnerable to crouched slashes. Volgarr the Viking 2’s level design does a great job of playing to the strengths and weaknesses of its enemies, oftentimes forcing you to be patient as you wait for an enemy that’s vulnerable only to low attacks to climb up a set of stairs so you can get a clear shot on its legs, or find another way to deal with them entirely.
Volgarr the Viking 2 also retains the first game’s tiered power-up system. You start off with no gear, and while you’re in this state, you’re like Mario without a mushroom – one touch away from death. To be able to withstand more hits, you’ll need to find treasure chests, and every one of them you open will grant you the next tier of power-up. So if you’re gearless, the next chest you find will have boots, then a flaming sword, then a belt, and finally a helmet to complete the set. Every power-up you get acts as both a shield against a point of damage, but also a boon to your combat capabilities: The boots cause a damaging shockwave that covers both sides of you when you plunge your sword into the ground from above, the sword doubles your attack power, and the helmet increases your attack speed. It’s generally a great system that truly makes you feel powerful once you’re fully geared up, and rewards you well for taking risks by going out of your way a bit to try and collect a chest.
Going through the first world, I was having a great time. The difficulty felt like it was in an appropriate spot of being tough, but fair; the levels were bigger, sure, but there were now checkpoints that could be destroyed Shovel Knight-style to add more riches at the expense of losing a respawn point; and I also appreciated the quality of life improvements, like having the that sword power-up come second as opposed to saving it for the final tier. But the deeper I got, the less fun I found myself having – partly due to an enormous difficulty spike once I reached the second world, but mostly because of the way Volgarr the Viking 2 is structured as a whole.
A Shaky Foundation
Like the original, the campaign is split up into five worlds – plus a secret sixth one – with each world consisting of two levels and a boss. There were no mid-level checkpoints in the first game, but this was an issue that was mitigated by the fact that levels were relatively short, the bosses were simple, and there was no real penalty for dying other than getting locked out of certain endings.
Volgarr the Viking 2 proves that bigger isn’t always better, with levels that feel about two to three times as large. While there are checkpoints, they come with a fatal flaw in that you always respawn without any of the gear power-ups you may have collected before that point, meaning the first hit you take will be lethal. And you’re almost never given an easy chest after a checkpoint, with the exception of the checkpoints right before a boss battle. That left me with very little wiggle room to do any sort of trial and error experimentation in order to figure out a way past whatever just killed me. Death is also very punishing, as you have a limited number of lives and, once you’re out, you have to use a continue and get sent back to the very beginning of the level.
There’s even a penalty for relying on continues, too. If you use six continues over the course of a single playthrough – which is very easy to do, given the difficulty – you permanently become Zombie Volgarr, which locks you into the worst ending and makes it so that you are impervious to damage. Basically, it turns on God Mode whether you want it to or not, making you unkillable unless you fall into a pit.
I’m sure for some people this might be a welcome lifeline in what is a very hard game, but for me, it felt like I was being forced to use a cheat code that trivialized everything after it. What I love about Volgarr is that careful and deliberate pace, and the aforementioned creativity that you must use to work around your limitations and overcome its challenges. And I just don’t get that when I’m able to bulldoze through enemies and hazards without caring about taking damage. I so badly wish that Zombie Volgarr was a choice, rather than something that was forced upon me.
But it’s not, and I didn’t want to beat Volgarr the Viking 2 like that. But the only way to avoid being locked in as Zombie Volgarr for the rest of your playthrough is to delete your save and start the whole dang thing all over again. Which I did. Over and over again, for about 10 hours, making it as far as the third world until I eventually got to the point where any of the fun that I had playing those first few levels was completely sucked out of my soul. These levels are simply too long to rely on the player being okay with replaying them over and over and over again. Ultimately, I just resigned and played through the rest of the campaign in zombie mode to save my sanity.
And just in case you aren’t familiar with my past reviews or overall taste in games, it’s worth mentioning that I love to be challenged in video games. I recently reviewed Shadow of the Erdtree and had no issue with the difficulty of that DLC, nor any other game that I’ve reviewed throughout my time at IGN. That’s not to brag, it’s just to illustrate how significantly the difficulty balancing in Volgarr the Viking 2 feels out of whack when not in Zombie Volgarr mode.
There is a Practice Mode that allows you to quickly replay any level you’ve already beaten, which is great, but you still have to play through the full level first. You also can’t select a specific checkpoint or boss fight that’s been tripping you up, either, which makes it unappealing as a way to try and master these levels before trying to unlock one of the good endings.
It’s doubly disappointing, too, that this mode feels like Volgarr the Viking 2’s only big, new tentpole feature. Outside of the larger levels, the checkpoints, and a few quality of life upgrades, there are no other big new mechanics or enhancements in this sequel. The graphics are better, but not that much better; Volgarr himself has virtually no new moves, weapons, or abilities that change up his approach to combat or platforming; and most of the enemies are taken directly from the first game with almost nothing done to alter their behaviors.
