Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel review - worthy of a spot in Valhalla

Out in the fiery depths of Muspelheim, there's a legion of beasts and otherworldly creatures waiting to tear the skin from my bones. In Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel, there is no surrender. Rather than accept my fate, I summon the sizzling lightning blasts of Thor to blow them into smithereens. Without the blessing of the Alföðr, Odin, my health would have been wiped moments earlier. On this particular Nintendo Switch 2 odyssey, it's all about getting back up, again and again.

If Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel rings a bell, it's because you may have seen it making the rounds on social media last year. Originally launching on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, developer Games Farm Studio is finally unleashing it on Nintendo Switch 2. It isn't the first time the studio has dabbled with mythological action. Viking: Wolves of Midgard and Shadows: Heretic Kingdoms show flashes of promise, but it's Hordes of Hel where it all gels together.

Switching to a roguelite formula, the aim is here to survive waves of increasingly difficult enemies, all while completing sub-objectives within the arena. These smaller missions can range from defending areas to solving light puzzles or slaughtering foes under a time limit. In the background, an overall clock ticks down, adding an extra layer of pressure to complete everything. If you manage to tick off enough of these quests, you'll eventually fight the arena's big boss. If you die before then, well, you'll need to do it all over again.

It's a straightforward premise, but it's the finer details that make Hordes of Hel a wicked time. You're not just any noble peasant or warrior bearing arms. There are five distinct heroes to choose from, with instant access granted to the Berserker and Seeress classes. Showcasing a more primal, no-nonsense side to combat, the Berserker is your go-to pick for simply hacking and slashing everything in your way. For those of you who enjoy playing at range, the Revenant and Seeress deal ranged damage with arrows and sorcery. The Warden is an all-out brawler, while the Flame Sister sits in a nice middle ground.

What sets them apart is their vibrant animations and playstyles. My initial worry was that they'd play the same, just with a few minor visual changes. Thankfully, that isn't the case. I find myself constantly drawn to the Flame Sister or Revenant. The latter is especially fun to control, as you unleash barrages of arrows on armies of bloodthirsty enemies.

Each hero comes with their passive buffs, with more abilities and upgrades available in their individual skill trees. At the end of each run, your gold is 'sacrificed' into skill points for use on both heroes and gods. Whether you need faster health regeneration, better damage, or some neat improvements to your passives, there's plenty to unlock. But what about those gods I just mentioned? That's where Jotunnslayer really lets you unleash hell.

Throughout your attempts in each arena, you can level up your character in the heat of the moment by collecting shards from challenges, chests, or fallen foes. Doing so gives you a prompt to choose a god and pick one of the random advantages they're offering. Thor offers lightning-based attacks, Loki outputs illusions, while Brokk and Sindri provide weapon enhancements. There are multiple gods to experiment with, all of them dealt by chance. They won't always play fair, though.

Rerolls are offered to you, just in case you're not happy with the current selection of buffs and powers up for grabs. However, just because you tap it doesn't mean it's yours. Desirable picks can be swapped out instantaneously, as the gods taunt you. In essence, you do the best with the cards you're dealt. Combined with the excellent progression loop, Hordes of Hel gets its hooks into you almost immediately.

Some of the best roguelike games scratch a very specific itch in my brain, pulling me into endless bouts and pushing me to see just how long I can survive. Hordes of Hel makes me cockier every time I play it, as I wind down the clock to mere seconds before activating the boss fight. It's because I want to know how many levels I can rank up in ten minutes. I need to know how powerful I can get and how fast I can do it. Often it's to my detriment, as hundreds of beasts overrun me.

The sheer scale of Hordes of Hel is a feast for the eyes, albeit with some performance issues. Running at 30 fps on the Nintendo Switch 2, it can dip below that frequently when there's too much happening on screen. There's also no framerate improvement in docked mode. That being said, Hordes of Hel's demonic, Norse aesthetic does a lot of the heavy lifting to put those woes aside. I adore the arena designs, from the mossy, forgotten realm of Alfheim to the desolated lands of Niflheim. Game Farm Studio is clearly infatuated with this mythology, and it pays off in spades.

I can't extend those compliments to Hordes of Hel's soundtrack, though. While it isn't awful by any means, it's just not memorable. To some, that's fine; it's merely something to underscore the bloodshed. But given how epic the game's stages are, alongside the addictive power of the gods, it's a shame the soundtrack is lacking that same level of grandiosity. It's also nice to see local co-op included, but I do wish there were some online multiplayer options with crossplay functionality for my friends on Steam Deck.

Despite a forgettable soundtrack and frame rate dips that occasionally interrupt the action, Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel is one of those games that's incredibly difficult to put down. Every run feels like a chance to discover a new combination of divine powers, push your luck a little further, and see just how absurdly powerful you can become before the hordes finally overwhelm you. Games Farm Studio has crafted a roguelite that understands exactly what keeps players coming back for one more run, making the Nintendo Switch 2 version an easy recommendation for anyone craving frantic, mythology-fueled action.