The Legend of Nidhogg

 The Legend of Nidhogg

Today I would like to introduce the first game in my blog. It is a 2D fencing game called Nidhogg. So the first random note I have is that apparently when you don’t press anything on the menu, like most games, it basically plays itself. The game has 4 modes, a learn to play mode, singleplayer, multiplayer, and tournament. Single Player basically is a campaign. You have to defeat all the opponents, which is a set of computers. You face the same computers each run-through but their strategies may adapt. You fight across 4 maps mainly. Mines, Clouds, Wilds, and Castle are the names of the four maps which I will mention in detail later. 

In terms of equipment, you need basically a computer and possibly a controller, depending on how you like playing games. 

This is the controller I am using. It is a wired controller.

Movement is somewhat basic. You can go forward or backward using D and A buttons or pushing the left thumbstick on a controller left or right.. Really it’s left and right but this game has no turns. You can Jump using A on a controller. You can crouch by holding down on the left thumbstick. You can fence using left and right on a thumbstick slowly. You can change the height of the sword and possibly disarm your opponent using up and down on the thumbstick. You can lunge using X on the controller. You can do a masterful dive kick by jumping and hitting X on a controller. You can kind of crouch jump which makes you flop like a fish by pressing down with the thumbstick and pressing A and moving. 

Let’s talk about how the game reacts to movement. The computer will look at your moves and try to guess what you’re doing. It will move even if you don’t. The view itself will not move at the start of a match until someone dies. The view moves with the player who lived. 

This is Niddhog. This would be the Mines. The yellow blob is me falling because I stopped to take a screenshot.

Mines is a somewhat basic map. Your starting location is the moving walkways at the top corners of the screen. It goes from this to a narrow hall, to a bigger room where the right side is raised, to a room with walkways pushing you to a hole in the center of the floor. Those are all the separate rooms to this map. On this map it’s advised you jump at first. Going through the hall you have to fence or crouch, as the game has a ceiling that prevents movement. In the last room, one must avoid falling into the giant hole. Movement is restricted by the game in tight corners and if you are on the moving walkways on the map. 

This is the map Clouds.

Clouds is an interesting map because you’re in the clouds. Your first thought might be that the floor is solid and you’re walking like a god. This is not at all the case. Player location is important. The solid clouds are solid. The bridge will vaporize as you move on it. It basically slowly disappears. This is not a map that allows you to stand still really. This is the start. The bridge in the above picture is the only obstacle. There are some platforms on this map too. Then you have a map with two platforms you have to jump over. Then you hit the last space which has two very long, thin bridges. The player just keeps moving basically because the game reacts to a player standing still. Swords can have weight. You can throw your sword and if it lands on a thin bridge it will cause the bridge to disappear. 

Welcome to the Wilds map. 

The image above shows the start of the Wilds map. This map has platforms and holds.  There are two platforms you can jump on if you want to. You cannot jump through the platforms but you can go above and below them. The next area has a hole and then a bunch of platforms. 

A note that I forgot to mention: When I describe one side, the other side is a mirror image as everything is reversed except the starting place is the same for both players. It is a balanced part of the map. There are two other parts on each side that are supposed to give you the advantage on movement such as having the high ground, making a player jump so you can stab them or throw a sword at them. The sword can, and will, catch player movement in midair. The last area is a field that leads to a house. 

There is one new thing which is a breakable window through the house. This is the only time you can move through walls so to speak. You can also sweep the leg by pressing down on the left thumbstick and pressing X to attack. What this means is you crouch and then kick them and knock them over. 

This is the pause menu. The more important part is the yellow guy is doing a divekick.

This is Floppy the Fish- just kidding. The yellow guy is crouch jumping. I know that’s hard to see. Sorry, getting moving screenshots is difficult.

I was giving you a break from the wall of text and from me describing maps and movement. 

This is the Castle.

The Castle map starts you in a ditch as opposed to the mines and clouds maps, which start you up high. The Wilds map starts at normal height. On the high ground, in both directions, there are buildings. 

Building. Most buildings here are small and have two doors as shown.

The next part of the castle is tricky.  

This is a map where there are two holes in the floor.

There is a platform you can’t see on the left that leads to this. There are two holes and basically the only way across is to jump. 

This is the part immediately after you jump past the two holes.

Your only way to move is to jump. Now you are sent into a small room where you can only swordfight to move forward. 

There is a bit more that is game related. Should both you and the other player die at the same time, the map won’t move. Sometimes it will go into a glitch phase where everything is out of focus. Movement is still basic but you are seeing three of everything. The game kind of has its own programmed glitches. I’ll explain that next.

Glitch number one- There’s more than one computer player.

Glitch number two- The computer player seems huge. Also, if you notice, part of that bridge is degrading. I took the screen shot before he fell right through. 

Glitch 3- The computer player is huge and multi-colored because multiple images present. 

Glitch 4- The computer player is big and multi-colored. There’s more than one image there.

The yellow figure is the human player’s character. Now I will explain why I call these glitches. Any normal solid colored computer will have the same speed and movement of the player basically. These four glitches are the bosses for the single player campaign. They move faster and they tend to glitch on screen so they can appear to be in two or three or even four places at once. 

Now let me tell you the legend of Nidhogg. The idea is basically you fence an opponent and beat them in battle. You are shown victorious in something like a Roman Coliseum and the crowd cheers you on because you are the chosen one who won the battle.

Crowd!!!

After each battle they cheer you on because you are amazing. You rush past them. Then you come face to face with the great god of the game. 

NIDHOGG!

The snake-like, worm-like creature comes and eats you while the crowd cheers for your valiant sacrifice. You cannot destroy the Nidhogg. You can try to run away. You will not last long. This is the great legend that is Nidhogg. 

I do realize there was not really a lot about movement in here and the majority is probably me describing the game but that is because movement in this game is pretty basic. The way you move is either pressing keys on a keyboard or using a wired controller hooked up to your computer. The game doesn’t have a lot of recognition of your movement other than the computer player, the map scrolling with you, and some map effects like the floor disappearing on the Clouds map. It does force you to move the most it can. 

I hope you liked this post. I would love comments and feedback. If you have an idea of a game you might want me to look at, I will take suggestions. I do have some more interesting games for the future. This sums up the legend of Nidhogg. If you are interested in playing this game and seeing the movement for yourself, personally I recommend getting it from steam. Steam is basically a website or desktop app that has a bunch of games for sale for computers mainly and also some for VR too. I will be using games from steam for some of my posts. Here is a link to steam. Accounts are free and some games and things are free. Accounts aren't required if you want to just browse games and things. 

Welcome to Steam (steampowered.com)