You are Korvald, an old scribe who lives in a Nordic village.  When crusaders come and invade, you are kidnapped and tortured to near death.  But then a demon comes and gives you strength to fight back in this 2D action hack and slash platformer.  It kind of reminds me of a mix between Odin Sphere and Splatterhouse.  It’s available on PlayStation consoles, Switch, and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here.

Korvald can run, double jump, climb, dash, and later learn skills like sliding.  Along the way you’ll pick up companions, whether they be human, demon, or spirit, and they have special attacks of their own you can use when a meter is full.  You can attack enemies and collect loot such as armor and weapons you can equip, or medicine to heal yourself.

I think this game is trying to imitate the graphic style and gameplay of VanillaWare titles like Odin Sphere.  But it fails miserably at that.  Controls are janky and hit detection is all over the place.  And some of the game mechanics are disgusting, like having to have relations with female spirits or humans to keep auto regenerating health.  I could never figure out how to get it to work, but it’s just as well.  More importantly, I couldn’t figure out how to save the game, not that I wanted to keep playing anyway.  If you want to play a game like this, I suggest tracking down Odin Sphere instead.  It looks better, plays better, and is way more tasteful.

Kid Factor:

Book of Korvald is rated M for Mature with ESRB descriptors of Blood, Violence, Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol, and Strong Language.  Right off the bat they use the f bomb a lot.  Attacking enemies makes them explode into blood and turn into skeletons.  You can drink alcohol and you’ve already heard about the suggestive themes.  Definitely for adults only.

Tags: Game Reviews