Nidhogg

Developer: Messhof | Publisher: Messhof | Release Date: 2014 | Genre: Action / Indie / Sports | Website: Official Website | Purchase: Steam

In case you are wondering what a mythological Norse dragon has to do with a fencing game, the answer is rather simple: the victor becomes its dinner. It might sound unorthodox, but then again, little about Nidhogg can be considered ordinary.

Nidhogg is a game about fencing but forget what you have seen about the sport on television. You and your opponent face each other in a neutral zone with the aim of reaching the end zone a few screens further. To reach the end zone and the glory of becoming dragon chow, you have to kill your opponent, which causes an arrow to appear pointing the way. There are no life bars, so a single well-placed stab or thrust is enough to end your opponent’s life. They will, however, respawn ahead of you, so you have to press your advantage while the arrow favors you.

Of course, if your character gets snuffed, the tables are turned, and your opponent can make a run for their scoring zone, which lies in the opposite direction. This turns matches into a tug of war where the balance constantly shifts, and you must earn each victory. What makes the matches even tenser is that neither player has any advantage over the other regarding moves or abilities. Each player starts with a sword, and while there are only two buttons, one to attack and one to jump, the combat system is surprisingly deep.

Because of the one-hit kills, you must make every move count and use the environment to your advantage. You can attack high or low, parry attacks, and even disarm your opponent if your timing is correct. Losing your sword, whether through disarmament or a poorly timed throw, still leaves you with your repertoire of jump kicks, punches, and leg sweeps until you manage to regain your weapon, or if both players are sans weapons, you can engage in some fisticuffs. You can even kill an opponent with your bare hands if you manage to knock them down first, but nothing beats impaling your foe on a sword and wiggling it around a bit as their pixilated blood sprays over the arena. Thanks to a post-release update, players can also toggle permanent blood mode on a per-round basis to ensure that the grisly back and forth is not forgotten.

There are only four levels, which might not sound like much, but each comes with its own set of challenges and obstacles. The level set in the mines has pits and conveyor belts to make things trickier, and the low ceilings make flinging your sword impossible. The cloud level has disappearing platforms, while the wilds feature tall grass that conceals your opponent. Quite a few years after the game’s release, it received a new battleground, dubbed “Fields,” which features a full moon and many cats.

Nidhogg uses retro pixel art for the visuals, so modern players might be put off by the game’s aesthetic, but give it a chance, and it will grow on you. The graphics might be retro, but the animation is smooth, making for lightning-fast gameplay. The game also features an electronic soundtrack by Daedelus, which perfectly matches the frantic gameplay. The game can be played using a keyboard or controller, and a tutorial teaches you the basics.

While Nidhogg features a single-player mode, it can be completed in about 30 minutes and serves only as practice for the main event, which is multiplayer. You can fight opponents online, but this mode was a bit unstable and filled with lag at the time of writing this review. Thankfully, the developers addressed this in a patch that improved the latency and desync issues. The game really shines in local multiplayer, which is an incredible amount of fun. Apart from straightforward matches, you can also enable some variants, such as boomerang swords or low gravity, which can change the whole dynamic of fights. Depending on the skill level of your opponent rounds can be over in a matter of seconds or drag on for ages. It is one of those games where you will laugh with glee over every kill and shout at your friends when they manage to best you.

While the single-player mode is great for speed runs, it is unlikely to hold your interest for too long. Playing against others is a different matter, though, and the tense matchups are a nice blast from the past for players who can still remember the glory days of local multiplayer.

*Review originally published February 2014.