Odinfall Review

It's not easy to make a good first impression, especially in genres like roguelikes and bullet hell dungeon crawlers, where a lot of other indie games already promise chaos, action, and the sweet satisfaction of barely making it through a run. Odinfall comes into this scene with all guns blazing, ready to make a name for itself among genre giants like Nuclear Throne. 

If you've played a lot of indie action roguelikes, you'll notice right away that Odinfall isn't just "inspired by" Vlambeer's chaotic masterpiece; it's pretty much the exact same game. That's not all, though. To try to stand out in a sea of busy pixels, it adds Norse mythology, a dystopian future, and a lot of crazy weapon mods.

Ember Paw Games is the independent developer behind Odinfall. They made a name for themselves with the charmingly styled Voidigo before diving headfirst into co-op horror with Repo. With Odinfall, they're going even deeper—this time into a mythical and metal-filled underworld full of bullet holes. The game is already doing a lot to set itself apart from its predecessors and other games in the same genre, even though it had problems in its early access and has some of the problems that come with that.

Odinfall isn't just a shooting gallery set at the end of the world; it's also a heavy metal remix of Norse mythology that lets you loose in a future where gods, clones, and second chances to destroy the world all come together. In the future, after the end of the world, where technology caused the first Ragnarök to wipe out all life, Odin has come back to start a second one. 

Now, the world is full of intelligent clones and monsters from mythology. When Loki, Odin's old enemy, is trapped and broken, he has no choice but to ask for your help to stop Odin from pressing the reset button again. You control a human clone avatar through an overworld with branching paths that look a lot like Super Mario World. Along the way, you fight bosses from Norse mythology and learn more about the story. 

The threat of Fimbulwinter is like a timer; it makes you make decisions and move forward faster. For a game that could have gotten away with just being about gunfire and glory, the story is surprisingly strong. Loki's sarcastic desperation makes for a fun story arc, and each character, like Cyberserker Britta or gold-hoarding dwarf Einar, fits right into the world the game creates, which is a mix of myth and machine.

The main type of game in Odinfall is a top-down action roguelike. You start each run with a simple weapon and a slim chance of staying alive. You will gain new weapons, skills, and items as you fight your way through crowded arenas full of enemies. Weapons include regular pistols and rifles, as well as flamethrowers and monsters that spray acid. You can move quickly and react quickly, and there is a dash mechanic that helps you avoid being turned into divine roadkill.

You can pick from different biomes and paths in the overworld. Some of them lead to shops, elite encounters, or secret bosses. You go on adventures, fight, loot, and do it all over again. As you go, you unlock new characters and permanent upgrades. It's hard to stop playing the loop once you unlock a few characters and start playing around with their different skill trees and abilities.

When Odinfall fights, it really shows off. You'll be killed in small rooms full of enemies that either shoot a lot of projectiles at you, rush you, or blow up in acid and fire for fun. In the best fights, you have to do skilled dodging dances while juggling room hazards, ammo, and cooldowns. For melee builds, you can reflect bullets and set off chain reactions. For ranged builds, the screen becomes a never-ending storm of colored lights and particles.

Every character plays very differently. Another example is Leifi the Moose, a tanky melee beast that can heal while charging at mobs. Gunilla, on the other hand, is a glass cannon whose kit encourages aggressive, almost suicidal movement. Einar the Dwarf plays the long-term economic game. He uses turrets and passive bonuses to earn and store gold. This variety makes Odinfall very fun to play again and again, even though some builds are much stronger than others right now.

Sadly, balance problems happen a lot. At the moment, the game likes some builds more than others, like early melee reflects setups. At the beginning of the game, when resources are scarce and enemies feel too strong, ranged builds often don't do well. Not every melee weapon shows bullets, and not everyone feels good about using it. When the game is at its best, it's because you've put together a Frankenstein's monster of skills and mods to make a fun, destructive machine. However, getting there can be a pain.

There is also a chance that you will be dealt a bad hand right away. There's no reliable way to get early upgrades or build a strategy that works every time, so some runs feel like they'll fail before they even start. Later progress makes these problems easier to deal with, but it doesn't take away the frustration of early repetition.

Odinfall's progression is based on a lot of grinding. At first, you can't get any new characters, upgrades that last, or hidden weapons. You are thrown into the meat grinder with only your starting gun and your own strength. You're going to die. Plenty. Not until you've failed several times will you be able to access the skill tree, weapon mods, and passive bonuses that will let you make a build that will help you stay alive.

You can get permanent upgrades and new skills for each character as they reach level 15. These make each run easier and more rewarding. But that means you'll have to grind the early stages over and over, which can get boring. Others might not like the steep climb before the real fun starts, while others will love the slow-burn investment and the thrill of eventual power.

The art direction for Odinfall is rough, retro, and fully committed to the game's style. It looks like a heavy metal album and a Saturday morning cartoon ran into each other. With chunky sprites and bright effects that make things easy to read, even when the screen is full of bullets, explosions, and flashing loot, the top-down graphics are both useful and stylish. The UI is clean, the overworld map is cute, and the character animations are simple but have enough personality to make each run look different. The photorealism isn't going to win any awards, but it really hits the right tone.

The music in Odinfall is called "chef's kiss." The music changes based on the biome or fight, going from brutal metal riffs to jazzy, upbeat electronic tracks. It has a lot of energy, stands out, and never stays too long. If you're the type of player who hums along while dodging lasers, you'll probably have to play levels over and over again just to get the beat.

The sound effects for weapons and enemies are also very good. Everything from the crackle of electricity to the gurgle of acid grenades sounds clear and good. It sounds like the Gatling Laser could cut through a brick wall, and it often does. It's the little things, like enemy footsteps or upgrade pickups, that make the game feel more real without making it sound crowded.

Odinfall is an ambitious, bullet-filled love letter to Nuclear Throne, with Norse mythology, the charm of an indie game from the early 2000s, and the way roguelike games work today. It's a lot of fun when it's fully charged, with lots of attachments, strong weapons, and upgraded characters. It will take time, patience, and the ability to handle a lot of repetition to get there, though. 

Early on, the grind is hard, the game's balance isn't quite right yet, and some of the design choices, like the fact that you don't have a break between runs until you win twice, can feel unfair. Still, Odinfall is a game that keeps getting better because the developers are fixing bugs and adding new content all the time.

Odinfall is already worth a look if you like to try new things, customize builds, and don't mind a few rough edges on your way to god-slaying glory. It might become something special by the time it's fully released.