Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel Review

Once again, a highly regarded bullet heaven shooter switches from PCs to consoles. After almost eight months of Early Access on PC, the amazing Norse-themed Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel is now at 1.0, and consoles are joining in on the fun as well. It's time to play the complete release of the game after spending a lot of time with it on Steam.

The "survivors-like" or "bullet heaven" genre has been quite popular in recent years. It formerly lacked a well-known game with excellent production values, one that felt and looked as well-made as a major studio release.

These days, it is rarely the case. In 2025, there are several eye-catching and sophisticated titles with the survivors-like label on the market. However, there's always space for one more, particularly if it offers a novel perspective. Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel; With gods and divine inspiration, Hordes of Hel enters the fray. 

Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel has a strong foundation in Norse mythology. The powers of the gods are the source of all abilities, skills, and attacks. Odin releases ravens to torture foes, Skadi wields ice, Loki brings cunning, and Thor bestows powerful lightning bolts. These divine favors shape your armament, and your build changes throughout a run depending on the deity you choose to align with. 

You explore the worlds of Norse myth through the levels themselves. You'll go to Midgard, Helheim, and other places, each of which is home to folklore-inspired foes like enormous insects, skeletal remains, and burning demons, as well as creatures straight out of mythology. What might otherwise be just another auto-shooter is given a mythological flavor by the visual motifs, powers, and enemy designs that firmly anchor Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel within its scenario. 

The gameplay loop isn't overpowered by the narrative. It serves to establish a clear tone and frame the roguelite's growth, allowing the gods' presence and mythological foes to give the never-ending battle a sense of purpose. The gods are more than simply ornamentation; they establish playstyles and provide opportunities for cross-build synergy. 

At its core, Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel is a top-down roguelike arena shooter. With little power at the beginning of each run, you progressively gain strength as you defeat the innumerable hordes. Combat is automatic; after you select your weapons and skills, they will activate automatically, freeing you up to concentrate on moving and avoiding oncoming strikes. 

You must overcome particular obstacles at each stage rather than just surviving a timer. You can have to seal demonic gateways, gather mushrooms on a map, or face curses that slow you down and make the screen full of area-based dangers.  

Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel avoids aimless movement, a prevalent problem in other auto-shooters, thanks to these objectives. Rather, they force you to actively traverse surroundings while balancing survival. 

You can unlock permanent enhancements by spending resources and gold in between runs. In addition to the skill trees that each character has, there are god-related global upgrades. You can experiment with new skills, diversify your builds, and progressively raise your base stats with their progression system.  

The ability to rewind character progression is what makes Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel unique. You can invest a lot of money in one class, observe how their abilities work with supernatural abilities, and then later return points to try a different strategy without facing permanent consequences. 

The loop works well despite being well-known. You level up fast, acquire experience points, grind through foes, and select among randomized upgrades that fortify your build. While losing still provides resources for meta progression, winning unlocks additional content. 

Even if you don't make it, every run seems worthwhile because your efforts are carried over to subsequent runs. The experience is defined by combat. Positioning and timing become your primary duties because every skill you gain adds to your arsenal and fires automatically. Strategic god selection adds depth.  

Will you use many deities for hybrid builds, rely on Loki's chaotic antics, or stack Thor's lightning powers for devastating bursts? Synergy is important, and trying out various routes results in a wide variety of playstyles. 

Boss confrontations top off levels, necessitating effective builds and concentrated dodging to survive. These encounters disrupt the mob-mowing action and determine if your selected skills are capable of handling more difficult dangers. 

With every realm, the difficulty increases. As you advance, new enemy kinds emerge, adding variety to the fight. Some enemies overwhelm you with their sheer numbers, while others use missiles that require you to move constantly, and expert enemies present additional challenges. Every run requires adaptability due to the variety of adversaries, so you're never just mindlessly strafing. 

Each stage's complex objectives serve as puzzle-like components as well. These activities, such as gathering strewn-about objects or shutting portals, make you decide where to go and how to put survival first. Additional gold is earned for enhancements upon success, further connecting goals to advancement. 

It is essential to grind for experience. You get level-ups and ability selections by collecting XP gems that foes drop during each run. Leveling moves quickly, providing you with lots of chances to improve your build. This keeps the action interesting and guarantees that runs don't seem monotonous. XP is long-term meta advancement that determines your overall power level outside of runs. 

Overall, the combat system functions effectively; however, several issues remain. Framerate drops can disrupt fluid gameplay, and some enemy animations feel jerky. The controls are still responsive, but your avatar's sporadic jerky motions disrupt the experience. Overall, however, fighting is enjoyable because of the combination of quick evasion, continuous leveling, and god-driven build variation. 

Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel has a powerful visual impact. With a strong emphasis on Norse imagery, the environments are distinct and well-detailed. Demon portals saturate the battlefield with a foreboding aura, and Helheim-set levels are suitably gloomy, although Midgard has a distinct tone. 

Enemy designs range from mythological beasts to hideous monsters. As confrontations intensify, flashing abilities, lightning bolts, and particle effects fill the screen, showcasing Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel's love of spectacle. Even if some of the assaults appear somewhat repetitive, the sensation of overwhelming warfare is enhanced by the sheer pandemonium of overlapping impacts. 

Animations of characters are a mixed bag. The movement of your avatar can seem choppy, and enemy animations can occasionally lack refinement, even while powers seem strong and devastating. These defects, when coupled with performance problems like framerate drops, detract from an otherwise eye-catching presentation. 

The majestic Norse-inspired tunes in the music give the battle more weight. Encounters seem larger than life thanks to dramatic melodies and driving rhythms that enhance the turmoil of combat. With weapons thudding into foes, ice breaking, and lightning crackling, the sound design of assaults is too, satisfying.

In a game where the screen is frequently covered in effects, audio clarity is crucial, and Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel excels in this area. Amid the confusion, you may make out the noises of level objectives, monster attacks, and divine abilities. The only disadvantage is that some ability sounds can get monotonous after extended runs. Nevertheless, the effects and music enhance immersion and maintain interest in battles.

Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel is a lot of fun. Listening to a podcast while destroying many waves of mythological foes is quite fulfilling. The god-driven build mechanism produces a great deal of variation, the battle is quick, and the controls are sharp. Runs are kept interesting by the inclusion of boss fights, meta advancement systems, and difficulties within levels.

Nevertheless, there are issues with Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel. When compared to rivals such as Soulstone Survivors or Vampire Survivors, the content is limited. Only a few classes and levels are available, and while endless modes and difficulty scaling provide replayability, depth is limited by the absence of additional modes or cooperative choices. 

The experience is also severely hampered by technical problems, such as game freezes, framerate decreases, and even disastrous bugs like save file wipes. It is upsetting to lose everything due to a problem after hours of work.

Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel is still among the best auto shooters of the past few years despite these problems. It is above average because of its hard objectives, satisfying battle loop, and mythology-driven design. It might establish itself as a noteworthy addition to the genre with additional updates to add more content and fix technical problems.