Introduction

"Einherjar" was an entry in the 2017 Indie Game Maker Contest that was developed by watermark studios. As a whole the game did rather well in the contest managing to tie with Icebound for 15th place based on the decision by the judges as well as earned 15th place in the people's choice vote. Sadly, I think this game would have went further if it wasn't for some questionable design decisions, but I suppose I'll get into those when they become relevant. For now I'd like to dive into the game's story and where it succeeds and fails.

Story

Brooke is a rather odd choice for a main character. After all, in my vast experience of playing countless RPGs I've come to expect the main character to be someone whose noble and self-sacrificing. A person that's willing to take a bullet for the innocent in order to help them live just a second longer. Brooke is nothing like that. In fact, she kicks off the game by revealing that she's the queen bee of the mean girls in her school. The kind of girl that goes out of her way to crush the hopes and dreams of others in order to feel better about herself and her own lot in life. A characterization that would usually serve as a death knell for a game as far as I'm concerned.

Thankfully, "Einherjar" manages to make Brooke seem a lot more three-dimensional and sympathetic than you'd expect based on her introduction. To make matters even better the game actually makes Brooke's characterization a major plot element of the game's first and only chapter. On the downside the game probably isn't going to be expanded anytime soon. So, it's not exactly clear how the game will truly end or how Brooke's change of heart will effect her relationship with Penelope in the future.

Gameplay

On the combat side of things the game tends to teeter back and forth between mind numbingly easy and frustratingly difficult. The game really never seems to strike up a good balance between the two positions. After all, I really don't feel like I'm constantly being strapped to the fuck barrel while a dragon with a razor bladed penis is taking up a position behind me, but I also don't want to give up on a game out of sheer boredom either. And sadly for this game it tends to get rather boring as you near the end if you've built your party right.

In fact, certain party combos in this game are so disgustingly powerful that they are basically unstoppable. A good example of this was my final party which centered around Sinbad's ability to slow down entire enemy parties, Zhang Fei's ability to nearly stun lock every member of an enemy party ever turn, and Medea to deal out monstrous amounts of magic damage. As you can imagine, Sinbad and Zhang Fei made for a near unbreakable defense. After all, if the enemy party is slowed down then it's likely they'll be unable to act before Zhang Fei stuns them. This allows Medea to blast them with magic while Sinbad cuts them down with his blade on subsequent turns. In fact, this strategy was so powerful the game's final boss was unable to injure me at all during our battle.

Graphics

On the graphical side of things the game does alright for itself. Albeit there is one minor bug where the game switches Brooke's sprite with her aunt Hilda's in the early game.

Sound

One of the weirder design decision in "Einherjar" was to include a song with lyrics in the background for a small section of the game. To be fair, it's not entirely unheard of to do this. After all, my favorite moment in "Atelier Iris 3: The Grand Phantasm" is the battle with Ashe. A moment that pumps up just how significant this fight is to the story as a whole by including a sweeping background song that comes with lyrics. On the other hand, "Einherjar" wastes this idea on battles that serve as a tutorial for the most basic aspects of the game's combat system.

Conclusion

All and all I'd say "Einherjar" is game whose strengths and weaknesses tend to balance out rather well. On the plus side, the game features some pretty solid writing and manages to make a rather unlikable protagonist work. On the other hand, the game's combat system isn't properly balanced yet. As a result the player either feels overwhelmed by their enemies are so utterly in control of the fight that you feel like you need to hold back in order to enjoy yourself.