Reviews for Valhalla Bound

[Salamandre]

Really loved it. For the graphics, for the gameplay, for the story...

But I put 4 stars because there is a big problem in my opinion : The goal, the positive actions and negative actions are not easy to determine:
- I had to play the demo to understand that the ships were to destroy and not to protect. As you are a viking and the ships are drakars sailing off from your coast, the intuition is not to shoot them.
- Then the ghosts, moving and disappearing after a time, seemed to me like bonus target.
Those two points would be solved by a 5sec animation showing your character shooting a boat, the soul reaching Valhalla and a short text like"Stay in peace, brother". Or a more obviously positive and negative sound when you do the right or wrong thing.
- Then the condition of loosing lives (letting go a boat). This is not obvious enough either. First because this occurs without any visual effect, then because the player is focused on the center or left part of the screen and boats disappear at the very right of the screen, at last because there is no sound relative to the loss of a ship. You only have 3 lives, loosing a ship is the worst thing ever, it should make a big bad noise ! Another thing that confused me with the lives is the little head you put next to the number of lives left. I understand that it is a very common thing in videogames to do so, but your character doesn't actually die when you loose a ship. Drawing a little ship instead of the head could be more explicit ?
- The rune : you have to shoot especially the rune and not the angel right ? But it makes exactly the same sound.
- The rain mechanic is still a unclear to me. You have to shoot several times each boat ? there is no clear visual or sound effect that tels you when you're finished with a boat.

But yet it is a great game, I'll install it on my smartphone at once

Avizial responds:

Wow, you make a lot of good points! You are a very meticulous reviewer!

- For the tutorial, we added a little box with a "?" on the upper right-hand corner to give a quick synopsis of the automated demo/tutorial. It doesn't explain everything, but we think it explains enough. We'd like to let people figure out and learn about the game "retro-style" ;P But we can add more to the tutorial, perhaps a tip page going a little more in-depth?

- For the loss of a life, this is a very good point. Perhaps we can make it more obvious that a Viking soul has not been saved and make the results more apparent. We will play around and look into this one.

- We can make separate sound-effect for the rune and angels. This one is simple :)

- The rain mechanic has a chance to douse the fire you lit on the boats. It won't always put out the fire but there is a high chance. However, if you hit the boats with a charged shot, it will always release the spirits. Even if the boat's fire goes out.

Thanks for the mobile support! Every little bit helps :)

And thanks for playing our game. Your feedback will come in handy for our next update! Hope to hear from you in future games.

[Pika-mation]

Its an awesome game, the art is beautiful and smooth, the game play is unique and nice. I would recommend this to a friend!

P.S. I love what you did when the player dies.. No spoilers.. its just awesome!

10/10. Can't wait for the next one

Avizial responds:

Glad you enjoyed the game!

We are sure your friend won't be disappointed since you have good taste in games :P

Trust us, look forward to some more clever and fun moments in our future games. Thanks for playing! Hope to hear from you in future titles.

[xinelu]

Man, this art is beautiful and the gameplay is smoth...
Take this 5/5 :D

Avizial responds:

Thanks man :)

Glad you are enjoying the game! We put a lot of effort into this game. And expect the same in our future titles :)

Thanks for playing our game! Hope to hear from you in future titles.

[shinobody]

I love it! It captures feel of an old NES arcade port really well - it really feels like something that would be actually playable on the old console with Zapper. At the same time, retro stylization doesn't sacrifice anything, and it is a great and addictive experience.

On one hand, I thought that maybe the fact that you're not suposed to shoot the ghosts (even though it makes sense in hindsight) could be clearer from the gameplay - perhaps some sort of audio feedback or screen flashing telling you when you lose a life - but then again, having to discover the rules of the game by yourself with trial and error really brings out the spirit of old arcade games.

Avizial responds:

Glad to hear you loved it! :)

We had a lot of back-and-forth in regards to certain aspects of design. Whether to sacrifice some of the retro aesthetic to appeal to a more modern crowd or take a risk staying faithful to older styles of play.

We are retro at heart and it is nice to see someone appreciate older styles of gameplay and figuring out the rules.

But we are here if any players need some tips or tricks.

Thanks for playing our game! We hope to hear from you in future titles!

[Hackyjr2]

a great game !
this game mast so fun
5 Stars from me

Avizial responds:

Glad you enjoyed the game! If players are having fun and enjoying the game, we feel like we did a good job :)

Thanks for playing our game! We hope to hear from you in future titles!