In the Halls of Asgard

In the Halls of Asgard takes you to a setting heavily inspired by Old Norse religion and mythology. You play as one of the many Gods in Asgard, perpetually embroiled in all sort of quarrels and conflicts, sometimes within, and sometimes with other factions like the giants.

Given the substantial word count, I was actually expecting something wordy, but to my surprise, the prose felt just right, being well-written while using just the right amount of text to tell a story. The story and setting is pretty interesting, although the chapters and plot feel a little disconnected as a whole.

You create a gender-ambigious character, choosing their name and domain, along with setting up your stats with some early choices. Afterwards, it's off to put these selections to the test, as your fellow gods find themselves in trouble (or start the trouble), leaving you to help them out (or not).

The gameplay design is pretty straightforward, using the time-tested system of specifying your strong stats and putting them through a gauntlet of stat checks. That said, this game can get tough, and I was constantly failing stat checks and dying. (The game does give you a fair warning at the start.) You have the option to restart the chapter if you die, although there were a small number of times where I found my character simply unable to handle most of the choices without dying, and having to opt for the 'walk away' choices to live to see another chapter.

I tried the game with two builds, a magic-warrior type build and a diplomat build. Still, I got myself killed quite a bit with both characters, although reaching the end isn't difficult since you can still retry the chapter until you find a way through, now matter how narrow the path is. The final event was pretty epic, and felt like a good way to cap it all off.

Overall, it's a fairly enjoyable read, if the setting interests you, although the gameplay might not be to everyone's liking.