Montreal-based studio Thunder Lotus Games made quite the debut with Jotun. Their successfully crowdfunded action game featured gorgeous artwork, gigantic screen-filling bosses, and an interesting Norse setting. It made its way to PlayStation 4 earlier this year, and now the developer is working on a new title called Sundered.
This Metroidvania-style 2D action game features a lot of the same strengths as Jotun, while also shoring up its weaknesses. The artwork is still breathtakingly gorgeous, as it features hand-drawn characters and environments. The action still feels as smooth as ever, and yes, behemoth-sized bosses do return. It’s a very different game from Jotun, but it’s clear that Thunder Lotus Games learned a lot from their first game. It’s great to see a developer that understood what worked in their previous game, and then really taking advantage of the criticism they received (both positive and negative). Encounters
In the demo I controlled a wanderer named Eshe. Not much backstory was given, but I found myself in a creepy cavern. After fiddling around with the controls and noticing that I had two different types of attacks (a melee sword strike and a chargeable laser gun), I quickly found myself in an enemy encounter and had to use these skills to survive. The game unleashed about a dozen creepy creatures after me, and while I managed to slice through some of them, I eventually succumbed to my enemies.
Death isn’t a penalty in Sunde...