I already love Volgarr the Viking 2 (even though I couldn’t beat its demo)

I wasn’t able to beat the difficult demo for Volgarr the Viking 2 at Guerilla Collective this year, and I appreciated Digital Eclipse’s upcoming game all the more for that.

Playing demos for unreleased games at events like Summer Game Fest Play Days or Guerilla Collective can be stressful as most of the time, I’m trying something that I’ve never played before in front of developers intimately familiar with the game. Typically, I like to beat the demos I play at these kinds of preview events if possible. When I stepped up to play Volgarr the Viking 2 at Guerilla Collective’s rooftop event in Los Angeles, I knew that’d be a tall task.

Volgarr the Viking 2 is a sequel to a 2013 retro throwback platformer known for being quite difficult. It doesn’t miss a beat in keeping up that feeling of difficulty, although it still feels quite fair in its design. The limited time I had to spend with Volgarr the Viking 2 among a sea of other games, such as Pinball Spire or Grit and Valor – 1949, meant I wasn’t able to master it or reach the end of the demo Digital Eclipse brought to Guerilla Collective. I know I’m going to change that as soon as Volgarr the Viking 2 launches this August.

Volgarr returns

Like its predecessor, Volgarr the Viking 2 is a Nordic-themed platformer with beautiful pixel art. The Guerilla Collective demo was of a snowy level filled with skeletons, spikes, and other grotesque creatures. This sequel will feel immediately familiar to anyone who has played a retro platformer with a larger character like Rastan or Act Raiser, but that doesn’t make it any less tough. I could jump, dodge roll, attack by swinging my sword, and throw a spear to attack or create a temporary platform, and I had to try and fight my way through the level with only those tools.