Griefhelm is a title by a man named Johnny Dale Lomack - which is a pretty solid name - that takes a lot of inspiration from the ridiculous yet charming Nidhogg. The key difference is that this game demands that its 2D hack 'n slash combat be taken seriously. There's no silliness here. It's all about knights charging full force at each other with their weapons drawn until someone's head is no longer attached to their body. Griefhelm is going for a more gritty, realistic approach to multiplayer dueling, but in doing so, it lacks the charm of the more ludicrous games it's trying to compete against while still looking just as goofy.

Have At You!

Griefhelm's gameplay consists of two to four knights running towards their enemy as if they were King Arthur from Monty Python & The Holy Grail. The goal is to stab, skewer, bash, or decapitate your foe with a variety of different medieval weaponry. This includes broadswords, spears, halberds, morning stars, and my personal favorite, the war hammer. The big hook for the combat is that there are three separate fighting stances: high, mid, and low. To counter an opponent's strike you need to match their current stance. So if they go for a high stance attack putting your sword up will block it. Thus, it becomes a game of watching your adversary's movements to anticipate what kind of stance they'll take and then countering it to win the battle.

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Again, this is similar to how Nidhogg operates. But that game moves very quickly. It's also simple enough that players of any skill level can get a grasp on the mechanics and have a good time hucking their swords into their friend's face.

Griefhelm aims to be more tactical, but the matches I played still tended to devolve into swords and axes swinging about without much coordination. The weapons feel heavy, which makes every strike feel slow and awkward. It also tries to include more than two people by having three or four-player modes, but having more than two fighters on the 2D playing field makes things feel too crowded and chaotic.

Figuring out the attack animations can be tricky. The wind-ups to these animations can look very similar. Seeing your enemy go for an overhead strike is obvious, but it can be harder to discern the difference between a mid or low stance attack. In addition, since there is a decent selection of weapons to choose from, this means you also have to remember what the animations look like for each of them. After a while, it starts to feel less strategic and more like a guessing game that you get right half the time.

There was a bit of confusion when it comes to figuring how much damage these attacks do. Sometimes you hit an enemy only for it to knock them back instead of killing them. Other times, strikes will one-shot someone out of nowhere. Some weapons also seem to be more powerful, like the aforementioned war hammer that I found to more effective than just about anything else. It was almost pointless to try any of the other weapons since it was so devastating. I suppose there may be some mechanic involving critical or direct hits that do more damage. Or maybe there's an invisible life bar. Whatever it is, it's not adequately explained so it just feels like some strikes are randomly stronger than others.

A Medieval Murder Arena Should Look More Appealing

Another major problem is that some of the maps are just awful. There are some highlights like the campsite, which figures fire-lit tents that show the silhouettes of the fighters. But then there are levels like the forest or castle that feature objects that can block your view of the characters. Griefhelm is supposed to consist of fights where players move around the battlefield to get into the best position. If someone happens to end up obscured behind a wall or tree, it either becomes impossible to tell what stance they're taking or what stance should be taken to counter an incoming attack. The worst map of all is the crypt as it can be so dark that you can't even see what's going on. It also features a large gap at the end that is easy to fall into, and yes, that does count as a loss if that occurs.

I know that Griefhelm is aiming to be an authentic, gritty take on medieval combat, but that doesn't excuse its art style for being so drab. Most of the areas are dull, lacking in detail, and so washed out that it can hard to look at. Some places look unfinished or like a bunch of pre-made game assets were plopped down and that was it. This was made by a one-man team so some concessions might have been made. Even so, its attempt at realism leads to some very dull and dreary visuals.

Although, I will say the death animations can be delightful. Bodies will ragdoll and sometimes fly 50 feet in the air after being struck. If that's intentional, then I love it. If that's not intentional and is actually some sort of bug... well, I still love it and hope it's never fixed.

It's Dangerously Boring To Go Alone

As for the single-player mode, Griefhelm has one, but it's pretty weak. The player starts with three lives and then goes across a world map towards a series of levels. They then fight the A.I. in one of the available game modes: Skirmish, which is a basic match where the first person to win three rounds is the victor; Horde, which throws waves of enemies at you that will sometimes accidentally kill each other if they're on the same side of the screen; and Tug-O-War, which is literally just Nidhogg where you fight your opponent and try to reach the other side of the level. Needless to say, that last mode is inferior in every way since there's no flying worm swooping in to devour your triumphant swordfighter at the end.

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Winning these fights will either earn you new weapons and armor to equip or consumable items called Perks that will give you bonuses like extra health and the ability to ride a horse (that's obviously the best one.) There is some semblance of a story about your knight fighting for his kingdom, although the protagonist talks like a Dark Souls NPC, so it's hard to understand what the hell it's about. This mode is not that engaging and once you lose all of your lives you have to start the whole thing all over again.

This Doesn't Nidhogg The Spotlight

I don't know if this will appeal to either the hardcore or casual fan. Its mechanics aren't robust enough to attract fighting game enthusiasts, but it's also not as casual-friendly as games like Nidhogg. It lacks appealing visuals and the single-player campaign feels like an afterthought. It can be fun to jump into a Horde mode and knock around some A.I. players with the beefy war hammer, but it gets old fast. If anyone is going to gravitate towards this, it'll be YouTubers and streamers looking for a game to run around and fight their fellow content creators in. Even then, they'll probably play it for one video or stream and then forget all about it.

A realistic take on the Nidhogg formula does sound intriguing. However, after spending some time with Griefhelm, I would much rather go back to the outlandishly gross-out world of Nidhogg 2 than hang around this bland, grim-dark setting.

A PC copy of Griefhelm was provided to TheGamer for this review. Griefhelm is available for PC.

Griefhelm

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