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Tiny Thor from Asylum Sq. has been a very long time coming. After one among its lead builders got here up with a tough reduce of its idea in a 48-hour sport jam in 2012, its improvement proceeded in matches and begins for a bit over a decade earlier than it lastly noticed launch this previous June. Video games that spend that lengthy in improvement hell might be notoriously uneven, however we’re blissful to report that Tiny Thor has confirmed to be well worth the wait. It is a powerful, beautiful, and altogether nice retro platformer that you simply ought to contemplate choosing up.
The 16-bit-inspired sport follows the adventures of the titular Asgardian warrior throughout a time lengthy earlier than he was the buff, long-haired hero you all know—the story right here opens on his eighth birthday. As a gift, Odin presents him the legendary Mjolnir hammer, which Thor instantly takes to. Whereas he’s out playing around together with his new toy, the boy is approached by a sure mischievous particular person, who tips him into destroying the anchor of the Bifrost, reducing off all of Asgard from Midgard. Joined by his father’s ravens, Tiny Thor thus units out to restore the harm and stop Ragnarök from inflicting the tip of the world.
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Gameplay follows a simple 2D action-platforming template, whereby you journey between powerful ranges, accumulate an entire lot of goodies, and wreck home along with your new magic hammer. Every stage takes about 10 to fifteen minutes to clear, that includes an assortment of platforming gauntlets and puzzles that you simply normally have to unravel by one way or the other utilizing Mjolnir. Holding down the appropriate set off will trigger Thor to spin it up and, as soon as thrown, the hammer will bounce off partitions, ceilings, and the edges of the display screen indefinitely till you both name it again or it makes its means again to you. It’s a easy, however efficient mechanic, and Tiny Thor will get numerous mileage out of artistic methods to make use of it in each fight and puzzle situations.
Degree designs are usually linear, with a smattering of secret rooms and facet routes you may take right here or there to gather gems. There are a couple of hundred blue gems and three purple gems in every stage, with the latter positioned in particularly tough-to-reach locations. When you take any harm alongside the way in which—and boy will you—Thor will die in a single hit until you lately touched a coronary heart field. When you did so, a coronary heart will leap out of his chest and bounce away from him as a timer ticks down, a bit just like the well being system from Yoshi’s Island. Fail to choose it up, and also you’re by yourself, however it will probably typically be equally dangerous to chase after it when it goes careening over spike pits or behind enemy traces.
Total, stage designs really feel fairly stable, however they are typically a bit inconsistent with the problem curve. Typically you’ll be progressing simply high-quality till a nasty part all of the sudden stops you in your tracks for a number of makes an attempt, solely to be adopted by extra simply handed areas. Or on the puzzling facet of issues, you’ll generally be confronted with an environmental puzzle that expects you to use an answer utilizing a mechanic that you simply weren’t taught but. Fortunately, Tiny Thor will get sufficient proper with its stage design that it’s nonetheless a totally satisfying expertise, simply be ready for it to be a bit ‘cease and go’ in some locations.
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Problem spikes apart, Tiny Thor nonetheless is not for the faint of coronary heart. It’s not fairly at Tremendous Meat Boy ranges of ache, however that is undoubtedly not a platformer you can sleep via and discover some problem within the endgame. Even the sooner ranges can put up extra of a combat than you might count on, and issues solely get harder as you beat bosses and unlock extra motion talents like a wall leap or a double leap. Typically you’ll get ganked by a horde of enemies and never be capable of retrieve your coronary heart earlier than the moderately brief i-frame window ends. Typically you’ll be racing to outrun a rising flood and leap only a second too late, drowning Thor. Most often, it seems like such deaths are the consequence of foolish errors and gradual reflexes, however there are nonetheless many instances when it feels just like the physics are at fault.
For instance, one widespread early-level gimmick is a vine that rapidly swings backwards and forwards, which Thor ought to seize onto mechanically when you’re inside vary. But in our expertise, there have been many instances the place we made a leap of religion solely to observe him fortunately sail proper via the vine and to his early demise. A wall leap needs to be initiated by first holding the stick away from the wall you’re clinging to after which rapidly urgent the leap button. Even after getting the texture for it, there have been nonetheless many situations the place Thor would simply fall off the wall and die. We’ll concede that most of the errors we skilled might feasibly be chalked as much as a ‘talent concern’, however Tiny Thor nonetheless seems like its controls generally fail you, which might be damning given how a lot precision the extent designs demand.
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Although there aren’t any issue mode choices, you may take the sting off by spending blue gems in an improve store, netting you boons like a sooner recall for Mjolnir or a slower countdown when your coronary heart leaps out. None of those are a alternative for easy talent, however they definitely do assist tone down the problem, particularly for those who’re a completionist. Going for 100% completion on every stage isn’t any joke, and this goes double for the facet ranges you unlock with purple gems, which provide devastating, no-checkpoint gauntlets demanding nothing wanting perfection.
As for its visuals, Tiny Thor options a few of the best 16-bit spritework out there on the Swap, courtesy of Henk Nieborg. Animations are clean and color palettes are extensively assorted, making each minute of this expertise a visible deal with. Whether or not you are sliding down the grassy slope of a mountain, slaying a mighty kraken, or exploring the chilly halls of a frost big fortress, every locale is realized in spectacular element and all of it runs at an unbroken body fee. It’s the little issues like tiny mice scurrying across the flooring of caves that actually promote Tiny Thor as such a visible marvel, and whereas it could be that an precise 16-bit console might’ve by no means hoped to hit this stage of constancy, it’s satisfying to see what pixel artists can do once they’re let free on {hardware} that may comfortably ship their full imaginative and prescient.
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These visuals are then matched by an equally wonderful soundtrack by Fabian Del Priore and Chris Hülsbeck, delivering catchy chiptunes that completely match the commonly lighthearted tone. We might have appreciated a bit extra selection—it seems like some tracks get recycled a bit an excessive amount of—but it surely’s practically unimaginable to complain in regards to the high quality of the music right here.
Conclusion
Tiny Thor is a well-crafted retro platforming journey that no fan of 16-bit gaming will need to miss. Although its controls could be a tad irritating and its issue might be often inconsistent, there’s no denying that this a totally satisfying expertise from stem to stern, particularly for many who get pleasure from a fittingly old-school problem. We’d give this a powerful advice to anybody in search of one other solidly constructed neo-retro platformer so as to add to their assortment, although we’ll warning anybody with slower reflexes to brace yourselves for a tough time. In all the most effective of how, Tiny Thor seems like a misplaced Sega Genesis sport, simply value your money and time.