Making a retro-inspired game ‘easier’ is a tricky tightrope act

Volgarr the Viking 2 is a retro platformer inspired by NES classics likeGhosts’ n Goblins and Rastan, so naturally it’s a challenge. Volgarr dies in just two hits, and checkpoints are spread out pretty far in levels. If handled poorly, it could drive someone who isn’t used to the unforgiving nature of old games to tear their beard out. Developers Crazy Viking Studios and Digital Eclipse recognized that challenge when creating its surprise sequel. An approachable solution was born: If players use enough continues, Volgarr becomes a zombie and won’t die from taking damage anymore. It’s a new bit of innovation in a very old game genre.

Speaking to Digital Trends ahead of the game’s release next month, Volgarr the Viking creator Kris Dürrschmidt tells me that this Undead Mode feature was made in direct response to feedback on Volgarr the Viking 2’s predecessor. The first Volgarr the Viking was a Games with Gold title when it launched on Xbox in 2014. While the reception had been warm and positive on PC beforehand, some Xbox players took much less kindly to it.

“The moment we went to Xbox, millions of people got access to it, and they had no idea what they were getting themselves into. They’re like, ‘What the crap is this? This game is stupid. It’s too hard!'” Dürrschmidt tells Digital Trends. “These people didn’t know what Volgarr was, and it was kind of shoved down their throats as a super-hard game that they didn’t have any way of warming up in.”

That’s a mistake that Dürrschmidt and Digital Eclipse didn’t want to make when they finally decided to make a sequel. They wanted Volgarr the Viking 2 to provide a feature that would allow people to get better at the game so they could learn to enjoy its old-school difficulty. As Dürrschmidt more bluntly put it: “Everybody should have a fair shot at deciding whether or not they actually like the game or not, rather than the game just punching them in the face and sending them on their way.”