Sons of Valhalla

About

Sons of Valhalla is a single player open world hack and slash game with fantasy, medieval and historical themes. It was developed by Pixel Chest and was released on April 5, 2024. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

Sons of Valhalla is a side scrolling base building strategy game that catapults you into the age of the Vikings. You slip into the role of the Viking Jarl son Thorald Olavson, who is leaving for England to save the love of his life.

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66%

Audience ScoreBased on 404 reviews

graphics32 positive mentions

story20 negative mentions

The pixel art and animation are stunning, creating a visually appealing experience.
The game offers a fun mix of combat and strategy, allowing players to engage in both direct fighting and troop management.
The developers are responsive to feedback and have committed to updates and improvements, which is encouraging for future content.

The gameplay can become repetitive and lacks depth, with many levels feeling similar and offering little variation.
Combat mechanics are often unbalanced, making it too easy to overpower enemies and diminishing the challenge.
The story is simplistic and fails to engage, with many players feeling it lacks depth and meaningful character development.

story
142 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
13%
73%
14%
The game's story is generally perceived as simplistic and lacking depth, often revolving around a generic "save the princess" narrative that fails to engage players. While some appreciate the visuals and the occasional interesting plot twist, many find the overall storytelling to be repetitive, underwhelming, and not compelling enough to sustain interest throughout the gameplay. Overall, the story is seen as a minor aspect of the game, with many players expressing a desire for more complexity and length.
- “You travel between 5 different stages and go through a simple but effective 'save the princess' story with beautifully drawn pixel art cutscenes and pretty good voice acting.”
- “I really enjoyed this game; it is a lot of fun and the story kept me wanting to keep going.”
- “The story is simple, but effective enough.”
- “The story is laughably short.”
- “It's repetitive, bland, and the story is embarrassingly bad.”
- “The story is very simple and sadly completely unexciting.”
gameplay
126 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
22%
56%
22%
Gameplay reviews highlight a mix of fun mechanics and engaging visuals, but many players find the experience repetitive and lacking in depth. While some appreciate the straightforward combat and strategic elements, others criticize the unbalanced difficulty and monotonous gameplay loop, leading to a sense of boredom after a short period. Overall, the game offers a casual experience reminiscent of the Kingdom series, but it struggles with variety and challenge.
- “Art is gorgeous, music is pleasant, and gameplay is fun.”
- “Gameplay is super fun and engaging; think of any Metroidvania game out there and add units you can control, and that's what Sons of Valhalla is.”
- “Straight to the point with simple and fun mechanics and easy to play, which is great for someone like me who is more of a casual player, valuing the overall experience rather than just the challenge.”
- “Gameplay is okay for the first hour, then it becomes quite repetitive.”
- “The main gameplay is very repetitive, without variety; even when passing the first level, I was tired of the monotonous process, but on each subsequent map, you will do the same thing, no options.”
- “I have hoped for expanding the idea heavily inspired by the aforementioned, but it lacks the punch: very repetitive gameplay loop, weak units, no real tactics or economy, no unit progression, just expensive upgrades not really improving survivability of the hero or your troops, thus rendering you super unworthy of Odin's favor.”
graphics
64 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
45%
5%
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with many praising the charming pixel art and beautiful animations, particularly in relation to its Viking theme and side-scrolling mechanics. However, some players criticize the pixelated graphics for being subpar on larger screens, suggesting that while the visuals are appealing, they may not meet everyone's expectations. Overall, the art style is appreciated by those who enjoy pixel graphics, but there are calls for improvement in both content and visual quality.
- “Gorgeous graphics and beautiful animations.”
- “Perhaps the greatest strength of Sons of Valhalla is the absolutely stunning graphics, great music, and some pretty fun gameplay.”
- “The pixel graphics charm and delight!”
- “The game may be great, but the terrible pixelated graphics that look really ugly on a big monitor and the pixelated font that is simply impossible to read made me just close this game and return it.”
- “If you make pixel graphics - look at how it's done in Factorio; if you can't do it even 50% right - don't start making it. These horrible 16 x 16 pixel multicolored squares look like a piece of crap from Minecraft on big screens.”
- “The art style is not even meh, it's pathetically weak.”
grinding
30 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The grinding aspect of the game is widely criticized for being excessively repetitive and tedious, particularly during boss battles and resource management. While some players find the combat enjoyable and the pixel art appealing, many agree that the overall gameplay loop lacks depth and variety, making the experience feel like a slog. Those who appreciate grinding may still find value in the game, especially if purchased on sale.
- “It's not a terrible game loop and definitely works on paper, but it gets pretty grindy and repetitive.”
- “The bosses are the most obnoxious and tedious messes imaginable.”
- “This game is in a tedious slog at the moment, too much waiting around for resources.”
music
24 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
37%
13%
The music in the game is generally well-received, described as solid, pleasant, and fitting for the gameplay, enhancing the overall experience without being distracting. While the soundtrack is praised for its quality, some players express concerns about its potential repetitiveness over extended play sessions. Overall, the music and sound design contribute positively to the game's atmosphere, complementing its stunning visuals.
- “Art is gorgeous, music is pleasant and gameplay is fun.”
- “Great soundtrack”
- “Perhaps the greatest strength of Sons of Valhalla is the absolutely stunning graphics, great music, and some pretty fun gameplay.”
- “The music is okay, although I have a feeling I would get tired of it after 10+ hours.”
- “The music and visuals are also designed just well enough to serve their purpose and not distract you from murdering your way through England - nothing you haven't seen before, but just right.”
- “Music and sound design is solid.”
stability
14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
14%
86%
The game's stability has been a mixed bag, with many players reporting glitches and performance issues that can disrupt gameplay. While some users have experienced significant bugs, others have not encountered major problems, suggesting variability in performance. The developers have acknowledged these issues and are committed to releasing updates to improve stability in the future.
- “Glitches, I did run into 2 situations I was confused on that made me have to stop the game.”
- “Unique game idea but still a bit buggy.”
- “Where it starts to fall apart is in terms of performance, glitches, and a narrative that quickly becomes the rote tried and true guaranteed to garner attention obligatory 'the church is evil and incompetent and Christians are bad' sort you can't throw a rock without hitting.”
optimization
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
17%
58%
25%
The optimization of the game has been a significant point of frustration for players, with reports of performance issues and glitches that detract from the overall experience. Despite being a smaller game, it suffers from heavier performance demands than expected, leading to concerns about its readiness for release. However, the developers have committed to addressing these issues through future updates.
- “The dev has pledged to provide updates to improve performance and address glitches, so these issues will likely see some attention in the days to come.”
- “It's far from the glitchiest experience I played this year, but between that and the weird performance drops it doesn't feel ready for prime time.”
- “The optimization is arguably the most frustrating aspect of the game.”
- “The game is small, but somehow the performance is heavier than expected.”
- “It's far from the glitchiest experience I've played this year, but between that and the weird performance drops, it doesn't feel ready for prime time.”
replayability
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
50%
25%
Overall, the game has been criticized for its low replayability, with many players noting a lack of incentives to replay after completing it. While some express a desire to tackle higher difficulty levels, the absence of achievements for such challenges diminishes motivation. Additionally, the horde mode is seen as unlikely to sustain long-term interest.
- “Depending on your difficulty, I started on normal first. Bosses are initially quite tough, especially if you don't pay attention to their move sets. Once you've gotten powerful enough, they become relatively easy. I even beat the final boss of the game on my first try on normal difficulty. I plan to replay the game on the hardest difficulty, though I wish there was an achievement for it to encourage players to replay the game on higher difficulty for added replay value.”
- “It's not a long game, but it does have replayability.”
- “Replayability is not very high, but I doubt the horde mode would keep someone's attention for long.”
- “It doesn't have much in terms of replayability.”
- “Zero replayability.”
- “Replayability is not very high, I doubt the horde mode would keep someone's attention for long.”
humor
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the humor in the game to be a mix of situational comedy and clever mechanics, with instances like a boss getting stuck during a fight providing both laughter and frustration. The use of items like fire pots adds to the comedic experience, making gameplay feel entertaining and lighthearted. Overall, the humor is described as simple yet effective, enhancing the overall enjoyment of the game.
- “I had a funny case where I shot the whip hound boss to death and it got stuck because the boss wouldn't move to the middle of the map, so I just ended up redoing the boss fight again.”
- “Which is both hilarious and sad.”
- “The fire pots are both fun and funny and really useful, get those quick.”
atmosphere
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The game features a captivating atmosphere that enhances immersion, complemented by charming animations. While some sections may feel generic, the overall ambiance is consistently praised for its appeal.
- “It had a mesmerizing atmosphere that was truly nice to be immersed in.”
- “The animations are cute and well done, as is the atmosphere of the area.”
character development
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Character development features engaging designs initially, but players find that the novelty wears off quickly, leading to a sense of monotony after the first few characters.
emotional
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users note that while the game may involve grindy mechanics, it successfully evokes strong emotional responses, enhancing the overall experience.