one of my fav game soundtracks
some of the best npcs in any game (sus)
lots of bugs
slingshot sound effect makes me coom
want to finish this but i keep forgetting to

I see the vision and understand why this would resonate with a person. Unfortunately I found the experience bogged down by its insistence on putting me in open areas against either a massive wave of enemies or a swarm of small evasive ones. The weapons are not easy to use and most of them are redundant, which makes walking in circles and chipping away at a horde all the more obnoxious. The later levels were the worst the game has to offer, and I think the bosses were largely terrible. I also got frustrated about getting caught on minor level geometry or sliding off cliffs.

It's an interesting game with cool moments but I take too much issue with the game's flaws to think much of it.

*you can barely see my face behind a big book labelled "zingers"*

art game for people who are marginally into source engine speedrunning.. mneh.. *i tear out a page, crumble it up and toss it behind me*

game made by someone who has played every FPS.. nonono.. game made by someone who has played no FPS before ever... nah... bleh.. cruelty squad if it was in my backyard? is that something? *tapping my chin*

AHA! *takes out comically large feather pen and writes "spiders are scary dawg😂 i peed"*

an excellent example of what a single dev can do. this is the fricking best adventure game I've ever played and there is what it features:
- an incredibly atmospheric soundtrack that will immerse you in the first seconds of gameplay
- various types of enemies and bosses
- well-built locations with hidden secrets and beautiful scenery
- the time you need to beat the game is just about 10-15 hours (it took 13 for me) so you don't get bored of all this

I strongly suggest playing this ESPECIALLY if you like scandinavian-themed stuff and dungeon synth music

one of the most gorgeously atmospheric experiences I've ever had in any work of art in any medium. there's a fair bit of clunk and the combat's pretty mid but the world you explore, the freaky denizens within, and the bizarre scenarios you partake in will stick with me. this is a weird ass game that draws from a lot of norwegian mythology but in its own specific and unique and strange way that sets it apart from everything else with similar mythological inspirations. add on top of that the fact that this entire game was designed by a single guy as his first real game design project (if i'm not mistaken) and I'm more than willing to forgive the game's lesser qualities in favor of everything it gets so unbelievably right. I don't mind a clunky boss fight when afterwards I get to zipline through one of the most gorgeous vistas I've ever seen in a video game while beautifully haunting and ethereal music plays. You'd think for a solo dev project it'd be pretty short too but no it's a fully fleshed out and featured game with multiple detailed and interconnected levels with a good amount of environmental variety that have a real sense of exploration to them. granted very linear exploration but it still feels great regardless. plus while the combat's nothing special the sheer variety of enemies puts most AAA games to shame. I think including one-off encounters like bosses there's over 50 unique enemy types in the game, and similar kinds aren't just copy/pasted either. like there's a ton of spiders but each type behaves differently enough to feel distinct.

the fact that so few people even know this game exists is a crime. the only reason I'd ever not recommend this is if you have serious arachno or entomophobia. seriously there are so. many. giant buggoids and spiders.

eu não acho que o que me interessa nesse jogo é o foco dele. ele é esquisito e interessante, bonito pra caramba, tem um design de som maravilhoso, e uma movimentação meio quake que me faz muito feliz. PORÉM, ele também tem um design de combate que me deixa meio irritado pois: eu não enxergo muito bem. talvez eu rejogue ele em um momento em que minha fila esteja menor, mas se você já quis um quake meio conto de fadas com senso de humor misterioso, esse é o teu jogo.

mas se dá vontade de fazer uma coisa nele, é speedrun.

Northern Journey is not just a hidden gem, but a truly unique piece of art, and a masterpiece of its genre. As anyone can tell you, the art and music is beautiful and extremely immersive. Sound design on the whole is great, especially involving the environments and combat. The crack from the impact of your rock sling, to the crashing of water down a fall, everything sounds so visceral and satisfying - exactly what you would hope for from an fps adventure game. It's not just that the game looks and sounds nice though, but there's a real sense of cohesion. Seemingly based on Norwegian folklore, the game has a rife bed of inspiration to pull from for its worldbuilding. Enemies are pretty varied, interesting, and sometimes scary, while characters you meet can be strange and freaky but also have nice, subtle comedic moments. And while the game is filled with an air of melancholic, fantastical whimsy, I never found myself lost or confused. I always knew what, how, and why I was doing things. The game does a very good job of guiding the player, but without being annoying or overly hand-holdy. The level design is very nice, and I'd say the game is broken up into two distinct parts. The first half features very intricate areas that loop in on themselves with different shortcuts and paths as you acquire new weapons and items that allow you to access new parts of the map, sorta metroidvania style. The second half is much more linear, and the puzzles take a bit of a backseat to exploration and combat, I would call this the "journey" half of the game. Speaking of combat, the game plays very well. Your character is fast and you have infinite, togglable sprint, controls are responsive and platforming feels good. The weapons are fun and there is decent variety, especially in function (though if you like crossbows you'll be having a field day). While health and ammo are technically limited, there is usually plentiful amounts laying around. If you run out of either you have a small supply of emergency HP potions available to you, and the trusty rock sling you start the game with has infinite ammo and relevant damage through the whole game, so you can always scrape through. The one difficulty the game has never felt too hard or too easy necessarily, it's just a really well tuned and accessible experience. There's also permanent HP and ammo capacity/emergency HP increases hidden around to reward exploration, which I really appreciate. Northern Journey is a truly artful experience, and feels deeply intimate in a way. It's really inspiring that this game was made by just a single developer. Everything about this game blew my expectations out of the water, and it absolutely deserves more eyes on it.

The best folk outsider art fps ever made. No game LOOKS like this, plays like this, or feels like this. It's wonderful

I recommend watching this video about his dev process because it's honestly very inspiring: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIjt1mKWn4o

This dude put all his hobbies into a game and it whips. It feels so personal and intimate with both its interests and the folklore it is inspired by, whisking you away on a fantasy journey unlike any other. We need more folk games, games steeped in history and personhood and the stories your grandmother told you about as a child.

Northern Journey é um conto folclórico contemporâneo nórdico, muito semelhante a contos escandinavos e eslavos, mas desta vez transmitido pela experiência em um jogo vivo que se desdobra em uma sensação de fantasia que só tive em poucos jogos.

Esse jogo me deu a sensação de estar em uma aventura cativante e lúdica que não cansa de surpreender e não tem medo de ser um videogame. Sua escrita é tosca, mas de uma forma cativante e honesta. No começo do jogo, estranhei e fiquei um pouco com o pé atrás com o quão seco esse jogo trata seus desafios. Admito que ainda penso que o jogo não confia muito em seu design de missões (que são um pouco obtusas) e acaba refletindo essa insegurança no tratamento do jogador. Muitas vezes, esse jogo é direto ao ponto: "faça isso para resolver o quebra-cabeça".

Essa forma de dizer o que fazer e falar abertamente "Isso é um quebra-cabeça!" demonstrou, para mim, o quanto esse jogo sabe que as pessoas vão ficar perdidas nele. E realmente, me vi perdido em vários momentos e a confiança do jogo é oscilante por causa desses momentos em que sinto que o jogo não vai me preparar para o que está por vir, e o bloqueio de progresso é iminente. Não ter auto-save é uma coisa que deixou isso ainda pior, e o próprio jogo sugere que devemos ter saves diferentes para evitar bloqueios de progresso, o que não ajudou.

Na verdade, essa insegurança do jogo é tão evidente que ele se sabota constantemente. Além dessa situação dos saves, o jogo trouxe em si um problema que até então eu não tinha enfrentado. O jogo tem muitos insetos, principalmente aranhas, e isso não é um problema para mim! Na verdade, faz todo sentido, e eu gostei dos insetos, que são extremamente bem feitos. Mas perto do final do jogo, ele nos promete que a próxima aranha chefe seria a última aranha com a qual teríamos que lidar. Logo depois de enfrentarmos esse chefe, uma nova área se abre, e um dos inimigos é uma aranha esqueleto (aranhas não têm esqueleto). Eu AMEI isso, achei super engraçado e maravilhoso. Meu maior problema foi algumas horas depois mergulhar em um poço de aranhas comuns, o que matou a piada e fez com que perdesse o carisma e a sensação de autoconsciência da obra.

Outro ponto que me incomodou pessoalmente foi a trilha sonora. Em certo ponto, é excelente, quando se apega ao folclórico. No entanto, o jogo dá uma reviravolta europeia média e incorpora um techno que polui absurdamente o jogo e torna a trilha sonora desagradável em grande parte do jogo, principalmente em seu clímax. Veja, eu seria super a favor disso se, tematicamente, o jogo mesclasse o moderno com o fabuloso medieval. Não é o caso, torna-se uma aventura medieval com techno, o que eu pessoalmente detesto.

Enfim, um jogo LINDO, uma aventura única com personagens e escrita curiosa, mas com alguns conflitos substanciais que me deixaram um pouco desconfiado em relação ao jogo.