I've had my eye on Eitr for a while now, but until recently the developers have only had a couple of gifs to show off—lovely gifs, admittedly, but I prefer having a bit more to go on when I'm banging on about a new game. Six minutes and 37 seconds of footage will do me just fine, so here's Eitr: an isometric action RPG with incredible pixel art, weighty (from the looks of it) Dark Souls-style combat, and the rich Norse mythology as its backdrop. You'll play as a shield maiden (for those unfamiliar with Norse mythology, that's a maiden with a shield), and just like the Vikings did, you'll spend a lot of time whacking giant rats and reanimated skellingtons in the face.
According to the developers, whose name doesn't appear to be listed anywhere but who go by the handle Derity, the word Eitr is "from Norse mythology, it is a black poison substance that corrupts whoever or whatever it comes into contact with. The story of the game is based around the world tree, Yggdrasil, the connector of the 9 Norse worlds, which becomes poisoned with Eitr, spewing darkness into each world".
They've been inspired by Diablo, Dark Souls and Path of Exile, which are all very good things to be inspired by, and I've noticed a big heaping of Diablo and Dark Souls particularly in the above video. The perspective and atmosphere are pure Diablo, while the stamina management and bonfire recovery system obviously remind of Souls. I'd say, based on this early footage, that Eitr has a character all of its own, however—the stunning art and character/enemy design helps a lot with that.
More info, and gifs, on Eitr's devlog. (Thanks, Siliconera!)
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Tom loves exploring in games, whether it’s going the wrong way in a platformer or burgling an apartment in Deus Ex. His favourite game worlds—Stalker, Dark Souls, Thief—have an atmosphere you could wallop with a blackjack. He enjoys horror, adventure, puzzle games and RPGs, and played the Japanese version of Final Fantasy VIII with a translated script he printed off from the internet. Tom has been writing about free games for PC Gamer since 2012. If he were packing for a desert island, he’d take his giant Columbo boxset and a laptop stuffed with PuzzleScript games.
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