They’re charming, ghastly and having the chance to stomp Geoff’s digital skull into a gooey mix of pink pixels never got old. I couldn’t get enough of these visuals in Nidhogg 2. It does wonders for the speed and attitude of Nidhogg 2’s gameplay, giving eagle-eyed players that extra edge in understanding their opponents and reacting to the minutiae of their spacing on any given stage and how they’ll attack you. Here is a world that unfolds like a clown car crash, as you find yourself giggling at the grotesque carnage that unfolds around you. Every sequel worth its salt throws a few visual upgrades into the mix, a standard feature that’s taken for granted but is an intrinsic feature that complements Nidhogg 2’s minimalistic gameplay. More violence, set against some of the most hideously beautiful art ever rendered. It’s a sequel that offers more of the same, a feature that would be dismissed in any other game but does wonders for Nidhogg 2. The end result? A Nidhogg sequel that plays better and looks wonderfully grotesque thanks to a quirky new art style that creates a tangible benefit for the product. Nidhgg 2 doesn’t stray too far from that ethos, instead offering enhancements to the core formula while keeping any superfluous content out of the final package. It was part of the charm, a game which at first glance didn’t look exactly complex but had a deep world worth exploring. Nidhogg’s simple design hid a devious layer of depth though, one where players jockeyed for optimal spacing between the thrusts of their sword and the perfect timing to switch between a quick parry and a pinpoint strike to the head. Sort of like rugby then, but with rapiers instead. The concept was simple enough: A player would control an elegant and minimalistic collection of pixels that resembled a pixel, and they’d fence their way to victory by killing the foe across multiple screens until they finally reached the finish line. Simplicity breeds strength, something that 2014’s Nidhogg had plenty of when it first launched. I just wish there were more substantial editions aside from those.Sometimes the simplest organism in nature is the strongest. A few new weapons, a shallow character creator, cool stage backgrounds and online play are the biggest changes you’re paying for here. If you liked Nidhogg, Nidhogg 2 is more of the same-which is probably enough for most people. There are far too few options for it to be deep or memorable in the way that most games offer character creation.
Nidhogg 2 gameplay skin#
You can only change the hair, clothes, and skin colour of basically identical brightly coloured muppet-like characters. While I appreciate any game that gives me the ability to customize characters, Nidhogg 2 is just too basic to be good in this department.
There is always the potential that forcing your opponents to spawn in specific places becomes a part of the meta, but it isn’t something I enjoyed. I don’t think I ever spawned on top of a hole, but many times I’d spawn and immediately fall upon moving-which can be comical during a “for fun” scenario but will surely frustrate more competitive players. Many of the stages have holes or gaps that players can fall through, and because every time you die you’ll respawn from your side of the screen moments later, it sometimes leads to spawning essentially on top of the holes. If only the stage designs were nearly as enjoyable. That said, games in the fighting genre rarely shake up their core combat much between entries, but even so, I couldn’t help but feel I wanted something more here. One issue I had with the weapon variety is that in the arcade mode you’re eventually spawning with random weapons and they don’t seem evenly matched, as the dagger is too short to be useful against the heavier long sword or bow and arrow and so forth.
The biggest change here is the variety of weapons, though they don’t make a huge difference, apart from the bow and arrow as it forces players to jump or deflect shots far more than a single sword being thrown. You can still jump kick, throw your weapon, change your stance from high to low, do slides, somersaults, and pick up dropped weapons. Aside from that, there’s a new not-so-memorable soundtrack featuring artists such as Doseone and Daedelus, an online matchmaking mode (which I haven’t been able to test), new stages, a new graphical style, and the ability to create custom characters.Īs I’ve said, the combat is largely unchanged. There are some new weapons introduced including short daggers, heavy swords that can knock the original thin swords out of players hands, and a bow and arrow. Nidhogg 2 is nearly identical in its combat and format: two players battle it out via fencing with swords in an attempt to get past each other and reach the end of the stage where they sacrifice themselves to a giant flying worm. Nidhogg 2 gameplay images courtesy of Messhof
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