• Playtime: 4h30m

• Played: 2026

• Context: I figured this would be fun based on the description.

Intro

This game is like Hades and Vampire Survivors had a very generic baby. There are six maps and seven classes. You pick a class, pick a map and a difficulty + optional modifiers. The goal is to complete the map to unlock the next class and map, you can only pick two classes and one map at the start. The next goal is to gather gold. Gold is used to buy upgrades in the skill menu. Each class and each god has a ton of little bonuses that will take hours of grinding to unlock.

Gameplay-wise it's a Survivorslike. Most abilities attack automatically when their cooldown is up and pick their own target. Each class has one weapon ability and one movement ability that the player controls. You walk around trying to avoid enemies while your abilities kill them automatically. Sometimes you have to stand still to open a chest or trigger something else. Some enemies drop XP and when you level up you pick from three skills, either class or god skills, like in Hades. To complete a map you have to do X "quests" and beat the boss. Or you die and have to start over.

Maps

Jötunnslayer isn't a bad game, but after 4,5 hours i was just done with it. There are not enough maps and you have to replay them a lot to get gold for upgrades (probably 20-30 hours for everything). Each map has its own "quests", but they're always "kill X" or "stand in Y spot". The mine level introduced some potentially fun things (i.e. exploding mine carts), but the implementation is lacking. Maps are kinda small too, like early VS maps.

Classes

There are different classes and they have their own skills, but they're not remotely as distinct as in a proper ARPG. There is no equipment, each class has just one weapon type. There are different versions of that weapon, but they are gated behind the insane soulstone grind. It probably takes 10+ hours per class to unlock each option. And half the time when you level up you have to pick a god skill, which are shared by all classes.

What should have been

You get the idea that the devs wanted to hide the lack of content behind a grindwall, which is a shame. I can easily envision a version of Jötunnslayer that would get a passing grind. Unlock every class, map and weapon variety either from the start or much more easily. Replace the boring "+x%" upgrades with interesting ones. Have an Easy difficulty for maps beyond the starting map. Have at least 3+ different missions on every difficulty setting. Plus allow players to pre-select gods so you can properly buildcraft.

Conclusion

As it stands, Jötunnslayer is a beautiful but far too grindy game that isn't interesting enough to warrant your time.

5/10