Nidhogg 2 Xbox One X Review

Nidhogg 2 is about capitalizing on slim opportunities. Looking for a weakness in your opponent's defenses before attempting to either kill, evade, or flee in order to reach your goal. The gameplay doesn't change much from the initial hour but the constant variety of intense encounters during familiar settings keeps the action fresh and the gameplay fun. Nidhogg 2 takes the established formula set by its predecessor and builds on it without sacrificing anything positive from the first game.

Nidhogg 2 is all about a tug-of-war style of combat. 2 players start off with a duel to the death, where 1 hit means death. The victory is then charged with attempting to reach the end of the stage if killed by the respawning player they have their chance to retake ground and escape towards their side of the stage. It sounds simple but the number of variables in each round keeps the action from getting stale. 

Players respawn with a random weapon after dying. The 3 weapons include a sword, bow, or dagger;  bows can shoot but lack close range combat, swords are longer and can deflect arrows, and daggers are quick. If your unarmed players can knock the enemy player down but must finish them before they get up with a curb stomp. This level of violence is heightened with a cartoonish flare as colorful pools of blood drip from the body of the avatar before bursting into bones and pieces of flesh.

Since the player respawns indefinitely after each death this creates a simple yet complicated layer of strategy. Do you chase the enemy player or head off screen to respawn? Should you toss your weapon and hope you land a killing blow or keep it? This moment to moment action creates a constant level of excitement as both players try to defeat the other.

Graphically Nidhogg 2 looks like an old Max Fleischer cartoon with similar nightmarish animations but if they were in color. Each of the 12 stages, 2 exclusive to the Xbox One, are wonderfully animated and are consistent with the overall theme of the game's style. Characters can be customized to fit an array of options without changing the overall gameplay at all. It won't please everyone, especially fans of the original minimalist pixelated style, but the brutal deaths are still both unsettling yet exciting to watch.

Nidhogg 2 provides a lot of options from public to private choices. A tournament mode with up to 8 players can join in and 10 different game variables are available. What the game lacks are reasons to continue playing. The single-player serves mostly as a tutorial to learn the basics and multiplayer doesn't offer any progression system. The longevity of the title solely depends on how much fun you're having with the dueling system but after 2 hours you've experienced all Nidhogg 2 has to offer.

Nidhogg 2 provides the same smart simple style of dueling found in the original game providing both intense and hectic battles. The multiplayer stages and quick battles that constitute each match consistently delivers a short burst of adrenaline rushed fights. It's unfortunate that there isn't a satisfying progression system to link everything together.

Adam Siddiqui, NoobFeed
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