Some games try to do something different with a basic idea, such as crafting or 2D combat, and it can work or fail. Niffleheim is an interesting game that tries to do much, but sadly does little. You play as a Norse warrior trying to find the way to Asgard after death. Its not a bad concept to base a game around, and I like that the game offers a choice of character classes to pick from. The problem lies in the execution and the implementation of crafting and RPG mechanics.
Niffleheim tries to use crafting and RPG levelling along with 2D combat, but sadly it masters neither. The crafting quickly becomes monotonous and any interest you have at first is removed when everything is reduced to a grindfest. You will have to build up your resources and build locations along the way to finding Asgard, but it never feels satisfying the way many other games do. Instead, you are left with a game that wants to be innovative and offer a variety of options, but falls far short of its intentions. The crafting and rpg mechanics can only be improved through repetitive use, and this is where the grind I mentioned earlier comes in. It is not fun and just feels forced.
But surely the combat is good, right? Well sadly it isn’t good at all. Much like the crafting felt poorly implemented, combat here feels ill paced and almost rushed. It is uninspired and lazy even, and I hated how the enemies were placed in the game. It felt like enemies just spawned randomly at times without any set pattern and I found myself growing annoyed quickly. What’s worse is how the combat is not woven well into the crafting part of the game.. since you can suddenly be out of resources without realizing it and need to fight enemies but end up leaving yourself at a disadvantage because the game doesn’t help you manage things well. The aforementioned grind slows down your crafting and also your fighting by not enabling you to fight against certain enemies without lengthy periods of crafting and gathering and you quickly will grow tired of the shift and seek to do something, anything else.
I wanted to like Niffleheim, but the game is just too flawed. If I can sum it up in two words, it would be ambitiously flawed. There is a good game to be made from the elements here, but the ingredients did not mix right.: Avoid this
Disclaimer: A review key was provided