Tiny Thor review

Running and dashing through Tiny Thor’s succession of thirty stages is competent. But real fun occurs when you get to control the juvenile god’s potent hammer.

The best platformers deliver a constant sense of discovery. Games like New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe and Rayman Legends pack each stage with innovation. Novelties range from new play techniques, enemies, and environments- each helping to make each moment feel exhilarating. But as tremendous as these experiences are, studios don’t always have to try so hard. Sometimes just a single, noteworthy mechanic is all that’s needed to succeed.

With Asylum Square’s Tiny Thor, that vital hook is found in the eponymous character’s mighty Mjölnir hammer. Naturally, the game’s Nordic deity can hurl the weapon in front of him, instantly crushing most enemies. But Thor can also aim his hammer with an indicator similar to Puzzle Bobble’s launcher, where a dotted line shows the weapon’s trajectory- ricochets and all. And just like cinematic depictions of Odin’s son, Mjölnir bounces around with wild abandon.

Thor is More Skinny Kid Than Chris Hemsworth Beefcake

When rebounding between the walls of a crevice, the hammer can collect coins or become a whirlwind of destruction by smashing a succession of foes. You’ll also use the weapon to remotely activate switches or obliterate blockages in the environment. Some of the game’s best puzzles require you to bounce the mighty mallet at just the right angle, making it relentlessly rebound between two surfaces. Pleasingly, a button press instantly brings Mjölnir back into Tiny Thor’s hands, which is useful when adversaries get too near the astonishingly frail god.

Without the benefit of heart points collected from the grey blocks scattered around the stage, Thor will die when coming into contact with an enemy. However, by gathering these resources, the god can obtain a second chance. This plays out much like Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island’s Baby Mario, forcing you to collect a bouncing heart before a timer runs down. But between the unforgiving capacity of the countdown clock and the meager number of invincibility frames, young Thor feels too delicate. Odin should be mortified by the thought of having a son who can’t even swim.

The God of Difficulty

The level of challenge makes for laidback achievement in the first half of the game’s thirty-stage trek. But the difficulty increases substantially after the midpoint. So, if precision platformers like Celeste aren’t your thing, committing to Tiny Thor isn’t advised. Sure, you can collect sapphires to augment some of the protagonist’s abilities, but even these assists and a generous amount of checkpointing won’t eradicate the frustration found in the game’s final levels. Here, Tiny Thor apes the demanding difficulty found in some of Donkey Kong Country’s challenges.

Expectedly, you’ll earn an inventory of new abilities as you progress, with skills such as double-jumping, air dashing, and a ground pound. And while there’s little fault to be found in the level design, the margin of error is quite small. Obviously, that’s a design decision. Early on, you’ll encounter shelled opponents and it is easier to avoid these foes rather than attempt to Mjölnir-mash them during a lightning-quick window of opportunity.

Conclusion

Once you’ve honed your skills, collecting rubies can open challenge stages that provide some of the game’s stiffest tests. One thing that won’t be tough is appreciating Tiny Thor’s aesthetics. Henk Nieborg’s spritework recalls some of the elite artistry of the Amiga era. Meanwhile, Chris Hülsbeck (Turican) and Fabian Del Priore’s soundtrack will undoubtedly please. Expected, performance is flawless with the Steam Deck offering 60 fps performance at 8-watt TDP, offering over 4.5 hours of battery life.

Retro fans who have cultivated an ability to issue fastidious strings of jumps, dashes, and weapon throws will undoubtedly appreciate Tiny Thor’s main stages and the creative boss battles. Like the best titles of the sixteen-bit era, each stage has been meticulously tested, allowing those with cat-like reflexes and adept memorization skills to make it to the final credits crawl.

Tiny Thor was played on PC with review code provided by the publisher