it's impossible to describe why i like this game without talking about it in a way that makes no sense to someone who hasn't played it.

give it a shot.

This game was a great time. Impeccable atmosphere, enchanting soundtrack, strange critters of yore.... STRONG recommend.

insane very well done nostalgia trip visuals, gameplay is alright, the part through the end is a bit chaotic, confusing and at times feels frustratingly slow, but great all in all

Not the most polished or even the most fun game I've played recently (though it is plenty fun), but one of the most energising. This solo developed project radiates its creator's personality and enthusiasm for gaming and nature and adventure and folklore through every step of these stark wildlands. Every area a new enemy roster, every weapon a use, every zipline an opportunity to screenshot; no space is wasted, even if the final levels lose a little momentum.

Highly recommend to all adventure-lovers and non-arachnophobes.

Absolute peak.

These were some of the most enjoyable 10 hours I've had in a video game I can't lie. The atmosphere, art style, music, world and level design, weapons and enemies are all just so incredibly well designed and polished it's honestly really difficult to find any flaws in this game. If anything I'd say that the terrain can be a bit hard to navigate due to its low poly nature and it caused me to fall off a cliff or into deep water a couple of times. This issue was most prevalent in the last hour or so of the game and the final boss fight(s) wasn't quite as good as the other ones.

If I had to sum it up; this game is essentially Doom and Dark Souls combined while also removing any and all kinds of bloat and tedious game design choices. It's very linear but also has a very well thought out, interconnected, semi open-world that allows you to unlock shortcuts to areas you've already been in the more you progress through the game. Visually this game never loses its vision which is something I can really appreciate. It's a believable and at first fairly grounded world that progressively becomes more magical and otherworldly throughout your play-through, while still maintaining a cohesive art direction and style.

I've noticed the combat being the focal point of most negative reviews, which on one hand I can somewhat understand because it takes some getting used to, but also completely disagree with. I think the combat is great and absolutely fits this game. You have a variety of different weapons you unlock throughout the game, each with a unique animation, feel, damage, and purpose. Some are meant to clear swarms of weaker enemies while others can put out a lot of damage against single targets, plus everything in between. There are also a bunch of different enemy types that further enhance the feel of the combat and really make you consider all your available options.

I would definitely recommend "Northern Journey" and seriously hope the developer is already working on their next game.

9.5/10

Northern Journey

Positives:
+ Made in Norway
+ Mostly good sounds and music
+ In some way unique and charming
+ Retro feel
+ Quite large maps to travel along
+ A lot of the landscapes are beautifully crafted
+ Exploration is rewarded
+ Nordic folklore
+ The atmosphere and mystery in some parts
+ At its best quite fun and entertaining
+ Big waterfalls, steep hills, huge mountains etc
+ Mostly good in the walking simulator parts
+ Difficulty adjuster
+ 120 degrees FOV option
+ Can run smooth on even quite old computers

Negatives:
- Can get so annoying and frustrating at times
- You cant save where you want (the game has made some weird rules you must follow)
- At its worst, its no fun at all
- Inconsistent difficulty (some parts are very easy, some really hard)
- Tendious, boring and everlasting boss battles and ending
- You get stuck in the terrain way too often
- Inconsistent physics
- Jumping is uneven
- You will slide of the terrain a lot
- You will often die of fall damage or drown it the water because of this (most likely 100+ times during the playthrough)
- Some bosses and enemies are so annoying and way too many
- Combat is not good at all (mostly because the weapons have bad aiming, are slow and the enemies are way too fast and often small in size)
- The graphics are a hit and miss (sometimes its beautiful and sometimes it just looks awful)
- In some parts there will be a lot of back and forth
- The last "levels" are no fun and shouldnt really be part of the game

I have to say this was an impressive work of a single Norwegian indie developer, all things considered. Just the maps alone and all the different landscapes, is really impressive to say the least.
But its too bad no one told him that some parts arent good enough and shouldnt be in the game at all (about 1/3 of it).
And that the game needs A LOT more polish. I lost count on how many times I got stuck in the terrain, the jump failed, I slipped of the terrain and into the water or the abyss. And the weapons should be more precise and faster, and most of the enemies larger and slower.
So all in all, this game is not for everyone. If you can cope with all the problems, you will partly have a good time. But be aware that it gets really frustrating at times.
The game took me around 12 hours to complete, and about half of it I enjoyed.

Total Score: 5.5/10

PS I think this game would be a lot better if it was made as a pure walking simulator with puzzle elements instead.

This is the biggest pile of garbage I was ever baited into buying.

I will start with the good:
The atmosphere in this game is great and the soundtrack is also great. That's it.

The Bad:
It is extremely buggy, I was also glitching through the map multiple times.
The combat just feels awful, which is in large part also thanks to having a timer on some weapons.
Wtf is wrong with the hitboxes.
The further you get into the game the more enemies will swarm you at the same time, while you have to use slow af weapons.
The terrain design is an absolute nightmare, because you get constantly stuck on everything.
Navigating around the map is also an absolute nightmare, the map you get is useless, which would be fine, if every location in a zone wouldn't look almost exactly the same.

I really don't know, there are so many more questionable design decisions that were made in this game, which I just never encountered in all my years of gaming. And the best thing is, that I just played the first half of the game, so I don't know how many more there are in the last few zones. However, all of these weird decisions make sense, when you find out, that the dev rejected the advice most other game devs give. Which is to make smaller games first, before starting to make the game you really want to make.

But maybe he made the right decision, considering this game was "successful" and almost only got positive reviews.

Pretty great game, the world design is outstanding, it really nails that interconnected world feel (think dark souls) every route and environment connects together very fluidly. For the price you'd be hard pressed to find a better game.

Pros:
At its best, the levels look gorgeous
Soundtrack goes crazy
Nailing fools with the slingshot feels sooooo good (best weapon in the game)
World design is great
Art style is great
Some really good ideas (taking the sub through the lake and fighting the lake monster who's been annoying you for a while)

CONS:
Some levels overstay their welcome (scuba level, and glacier in particular)
At its worst some of the environments are just ugly (sour woods for example)
Has some definite jank. Some platforms don't mesh well with each other leading you to falling to your death, slippery landscapes etc.
INSTANT DEATH WATER! you WILL die 100s of times because of a SLIGHT misstep and touch the instagib water. I almost uninstalled a few times because of how frustrating it is.
Enemy balance is kinda all over the place, ranging from ezpz to wanting to throw something (GLACIER WHITE GHOSTS IM LOOKING AT YOU)

overall I'd give it a solid 7/10, the first half like every game is substantially stronger than the latter half, but it's all in all a great time.

Really incredible game. Absolutely nails the atmosphere, and the environments are incredible and feel perfect within their own aesthetic even if 80% of the game is just black and green. It certainly feels like a journey, a very quirky and absurd one at that, one that you won't soon forget.

Absolutely brilliant 10 hour adventure, can't recommend enough.