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Volgarr the Viking is already available on Games with Gold

ChamplooJones

Formerly Momotaro
Such a well designed game. Perfect callback to games like Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts and Castlevania while at the same time manages to avoid some of the problems those games have.
 

Rubikant

Member
Ghouls n Ghosts? Silly modern gamers, this is Rastan.

Actually its both. The aesthetic, sword attack, slopes, and ropes were based on Rastan. There's also a direct homage to Rastan in the first part of the first level, complete with Rastan's corpse!

However the unique type of double-jump, the treasure chests, and the gear-as-health mechanics were based on Super Ghouls N' Ghosts.

There's also references to other titles like Castlevania 1, Zelda 2, Magic Sword, Altered Beast, D&D Mystara, and more I'm probably forgetting.

And there is some stuff that's new and original too of course, like the majority of the level designs after the homage is over and the spears-as-platforms mechanic (yes I know there has been other games that have done that, but they are obscure titles that weren't known about at the time the mechanic was thought up).
 

SmokedMeat

Gamer™
Tell you what, I've been ho hum about every indie game I've seen announced, but this...THIS is my language right here! Old school side scrolling hack and slash action.

This now has me wondering if the Turbografx's Legendary Axe is available on VC? Talk about a forgotten classic!
 
Binding of Isaac: Rebirth for PS4 and Volgarr the Viking for Xbone; I'm so excited to see these ultra difficult indie games have their fan bases expanded. I hope more of these design ideas make it into higher budget games now that more people will be exposed to it.
 

OmegaDL50

Member
Actually its both. The aesthetic, sword attack, slopes, and ropes were based on Rastan. There's also a direct homage to Rastan in the first part of the first level, complete with Rastan's corpse!

However the unique type of double-jump, the treasure chests, and the gear-as-health mechanics were based on Super Ghouls N' Ghosts.

There's also references to other titles like Castlevania 1, Zelda 2, Magic Sword, Altered Beast, D&D Mystara, and more I'm probably forgetting.

And there is some stuff that's new and original too of course, like the majority of the level designs after the homage is over and the spears-as-platforms mechanic (yes I know there has been other games that have done that, but they are obscure titles that weren't known about at the time the mechanic was thought up).

Rastan and Ghouls and Ghost were also released in arcades not far off from each other, Rastan in 1987 and GnG in 1988. Along with many console platformers to come out during the time in the late 80's and early 90's there is plenty of inspirations that Volgarr takes cues from in terms of setting, aesthetics and gameplay design.

Ghouls N' Ghost, Rastan, and Haunted Castle (Castlevania Arcade Game which was also released in 1988) being probably the biggest contributors I think.
 

Archaix

Drunky McMurder
Anybody with gold who hasn't picked this up yet: Go ahead and download it. It's a punishing but fair game, a lot of fun, worth your time to check it out. If you don't have gold or Xbox One, go get it on PC. Your PC can support it. No, really. I know it's not a gaming rig, it's okay.


Rastan and Ghouls and Ghost were also released in arcades not far off from each other, Rastan in 1987 and GnG in 1988. Along with many console platformers to come out during the time in the late 80's and early 90's there is plenty of inspirations that Volgarr takes cues from in terms of setting, aesthetics and gameplay design.

Ghouls N' Ghost, Rastan, and Haunted Castle (Castlevania Arcade Game which was also released in 1988) being probably the biggest contributors I think.


That's the dude what made the game. He probably knows. I find it really cool how many people see the Rastan influence though. I imagine it's not entirely subtle, but it's a game a lot of people had never even heard of but it seems like it always gets brought up in Volgarr discussions.
 
Is this a straight port of the PC original, or does it have some new stuff? I'll be sure to download it anyway once I subscribe to XBL and see how much I still remember. It's one of the best games in the genre.
 

OmegaDL50

Member
That's the dude what made the game. He probably knows. I find it really cool how many people see the Rastan influence though. I imagine it's not entirely subtle, but it's a game a lot of people had never even heard of but it seems like it always gets brought up in Volgarr discussions.

Ah, I wasn't aware Rubikant was the games developer.

I knew there was people in the industry that posted on this forum, but never expected to comment on a post of theirs.
 

ShogunX

Member
Hard game until you take the time to learn the enemy patterns and level layout. Completed the game on PC and will have another run on the X1.
 

theDeeDubs

Member
Only got one crack at the level 1 boss during lunch.

Boss- 1
Me- 0

It's nice being able to suspend it though. I managed to squeeze in enough time to almost make it back with a flaming sword this time before I had to head back to work.
 

Rembrandt

Banned
The first level is kicking my ass. Died hundreds of times and just reached the first fucking checkpoint. I'm loving it, though. Great game this month and made me a fan of the dev, so I'm looking forward to whatever comes out next from them.
 

ArjanN

Member
I'm so bad at this. Tips please I'm stuck at first level.

Sure, here's some to start you off:

-Different enemies require a different amount of hits. Pay attention to their color.
-You can avoid the level 1 grunt enemy attacks by ducking.
-Your shield blocks as long as you're not attacking. The wooden shield eventually breaks though.
-Your double jump spin is also an attack
-You can downstab while jumping.
-Your double jump can be used to stop your momentum if you don't press a direction.
-The helmet upgrade lets you charge your spear throw.
-You can throw multiple spears in one jump.
-You can roll through humanoid size enemies.
- A small broken sword handle in the ground denotes a secret.
-There's a button to zoom out a bit, you can use this to see things coming a bit earlier.
 

TechnicPuppet

Nothing! I said nothing!
Sure, here's some to start you off:

-Different enemies require a different amount of hits. Pay attention to their color.
-You can avoid the level 1 grunt enemy attacks by ducking.
-Your shield blocks as long as you're not attacking. The wooden shield eventually breaks though.
-Your double jump spin is also an attack
-You can downstab while jumping.
-Your double jump can be used to stop your momentum if you don't press a direction.
-The helmet upgrade lets you charge your spear throw.
-You can throw multiple spears in one jump.
-You can roll through humanoid size enemies.
- A small broken sword handle in the ground denotes a secret.
-There's a button to zoom out a bit, you can use this to see things coming a bit earlier.

Thanks, only knew a couple of those.
 

chugen

Member
Sure, here's some to start you off:

-Different enemies require a different amount of hits. Pay attention to their color.
-You can avoid the level 1 grunt enemy attacks by ducking.
-Your shield blocks as long as you're not attacking. The wooden shield eventually breaks though.
-Your double jump spin is also an attack
-You can downstab while jumping.
-Your double jump can be used to stop your momentum if you don't press a direction.
-The helmet upgrade lets you charge your spear throw.
-You can throw multiple spears in one jump.
-You can roll through humanoid size enemies.
- A small broken sword handle in the ground denotes a secret.
-There's a button to zoom out a bit, you can use this to see things coming a bit earlier.

IAMcCQx.gif

thanks
 

eot

Banned
I beat this the other week and it's fantastic. There are some small things I'd change about it, but it's definitely up there among the must play indie games.

Sure, here's some to start you off:

-Different enemies require a different amount of hits. Pay attention to their color.
-You can avoid the level 1 grunt enemy attacks by ducking.
-Your shield blocks as long as you're not attacking. The wooden shield eventually breaks though.
-Your double jump spin is also an attack
-You can downstab while jumping.
-Your double jump can be used to stop your momentum if you don't press a direction.
-The helmet upgrade lets you charge your spear throw.
-You can throw multiple spears in one jump.
-You can roll through humanoid size enemies.
- A small broken sword handle in the ground denotes a secret.
-There's a button to zoom out a bit, you can use this to see things coming a bit earlier.

That's the metal shield.
Helmet increases attack speed I think.

Side-scrollers are the greatest. But I find this kind of art style disgusting. Super Time Force - now that is the way to do "8-bit" art styles correctly. Everything is crisp and clean and beautiful in that game. This game and 1001 Spikes look horrible.

Turn off the sprite filtering.
 

@MUWANdo

Banned
This now has me wondering if the Turbografx's Legendary Axe is available on VC? Talk about a forgotten classic!

Nope, and considering how many cool, obscure TG16 games were re-released for the Wii VC, it's a weird omission.

I believe Marvelous AQL owns the rights these days, so maybe XSEED could bring it over, if and when we start getting TG16 games on 3DS/Wii U.
 

Xander51

Member
It's crazy how much of the rumble in this game goes into the impulse triggers instead of the main rumble motors. Almost feels like a bug. But maybe they meant it that way! I normally love rumble, and this is the first game I've ever turned it off in.
 

ghibli99

Member
One of my favorite games that I played this year, and it should appeal to anyone who enjoys mastery of technique. I'm no master, of course, but no other game compelled me to dedicate myself to it as much as this one did.

Here's my review: http://youtu.be/nBciHoXDfrY

It was my first, so it's pretty rough, but I've been told it was helpful for even non-gamers to understand what it's about and why it's good.
 

Nabs

Member
One of my favorite games that I played this year, and it should appeal to anyone who enjoys mastery of technique. I'm no master, of course, but no other game compelled me to dedicate myself to it as much as this one did.

Here's my review: http://youtu.be/nBciHoXDfrY

It was my first, so it's pretty rough, but I've been told it was helpful for even non-gamers to understand what it's about and why it's good.

I really enjoyed watching that review. Good stuff.
 
This game is fucking hard! But it's fun. I made it to the first area's boss and died so I'm gonna call it a night there. The beating the game with fewer than 10 deaths is going to be a bitch.

Yeah seriously this game is brutally hard. So there's no check points is that right?
 

KarmaCow

Member
Yeah seriously this game is brutally hard. So there's no check points is that right?

There is a single checkpoint per level that goes away once you quit out of the current session. You can also skip ahead to levels you've reached before by going left at the start of each level.
 

Mman235

Member
Sure, here's some to start you off:

-Different enemies require a different amount of hits. Pay attention to their color.
-You can avoid the level 1 grunt enemy attacks by ducking.
-Your shield blocks as long as you're not attacking. The wooden shield eventually breaks though.
-Your double jump spin is also an attack
-You can downstab while jumping.
-Your double jump can be used to stop your momentum if you don't press a direction.
-The helmet upgrade lets you charge your spear throw.
-You can throw multiple spears in one jump.
-You can roll through humanoid size enemies.
- A small broken sword handle in the ground denotes a secret.
-There's a button to zoom out a bit, you can use this to see things coming a bit earlier.

On top of these I'd say the most important thing is to realise that no situations are designed so the power-ups are necessary; they're just a bonus on top to make things easier or speed stuff up, and you'll get better faster if you learn to adapt with just the base attacks (and it's especially essential for the "hard mode" route), instead of just giving up if you lose all the extra stuff.
 
Can't even get past the first checkpoint. (I assume the blue diamond is a checkpoint?)

Fucking game thinks it's better than me? No chance!
 

fwj

Banned
This is the best game i have played since the late 80`s.

uuaahhhh........uuaahhhh..........uuaahhhh
 

RdN

Member
I'm enjoying it, but man... This game is fucking hard..And when the frustration sets in, I end up dying in some ridiculous places.
 

dark10x

Digital Foundry pixel pusher
I used the term 8-bit incorrectly but I still feel the same way. I don't like the rough look of Volgarr, but I really enjoy the cleaner, crisper look of Super Time Force.
Did you set filtering to point-sampled as opposed to bilinear? Makes it very crisp.
 

theDeeDubs

Member
Just beat it. It's one of those games where after what seems like an hour of banging your head against a wall, something clicks and you wonder how you were having so much trouble. I managed to get the "do not lose any equipment during a level" achievement but I haven't been able to get a world done in under four minutes yet. Best I could do was world 1 in ~4.58. Watching a few speed runs, and it's just insane what some people can do.

This is going to be one of those games I come back to often. Even inspired me to watch a Rastan play through. Forgot how awesome its music was.

I recommend getting in the settings and changing: zoom to toggle, up to not throw spears, and down+attack to not roll. It really helped me.
 

theDeeDubs

Member
Just got the 4 Minute achievement with about 16 seconds to spare. What a rush. Cut a lot of time by jumping up ropes instead of climbing.

Volgarr is easily making my top 10 list this year. Love it.
 
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