It's Thor's birthday, and Daddy Odin has the perfect gift for his son. What could be a more appropriate gift for a young god than Thor's mighty hammer, Mjolnir? Tiny Thor is a 2D pixel art platformer from developer Asylum Square with some pretty big names behind it. For this adventure, you'll take control of the son of Odin on his birthday, platforming your way through over 30 levels and three worlds. You'll begin your gameplay with nothing more than a standard jump and gain new abilities along the way, the most important of which is the toss of THOR'S MIGHTY HAMMER. Oh, editing genie, can I get some echo and lightning there? Thanks. You can direct the trajectory of this projectile, say that three times fast, to pull off strategic attacks on foes of all shapes and sizes, including some pretty intimidating boss battles. Not only will you be rewarded with new moves as you progress, but you can also purchase upgrades using gems you collect, like a longer guideline for your hammer throws. Platforming requires a fair bit of precision and practice, though checkpoints scattered throughout the levels prevented me from pulling all of my hair out in frustration. When it comes to your hammer, there is a definitive brick-breaker feel to the aiming mechanic. This aspect makes it feel less like brainless bashing and more like premeditated murder of your foes. Some enemies require multiple hits of the hammer to disarm, which can be achieved in one throw by ricocheting your hammer on nearby platforms or environmental elements. This tool isn't just good for brutality, though. You can also use it to solve a great deal of platforming and environmental puzzles in Asgard. Fling your weapon at just the right angle to hit hard-to-reach switches, boost boxes onto higher platforms, or jiggle gelatinous goo over deadly spikes to keep Thor safe from harm. You could also toss your hammer at dirt piles to dig your way through, which can be more stressful than it sounds in chase-based situations. Taking damage, for the most part, results in Thor's heart quite literally jumping out of his chest. If you don't grab the heart before its time runs out, you'll be vulnerable to a one-hit kill. Kind of like in Disney's Hercules, where when he drinks the vial as a baby, he becomes mortal and then he has to be, like, human and stuff. Same deal. Of course, with all the chaos, enemies, and hazards in some of these levels, losing your heart was practically a one-hit kill anyway. As you might expect, gameplay is easy to pick up but very challenging to master. Though the bold among us can take on various challenge levels which can be unlocked by locating rare red gems within the standard levels of the game. Bosses, which are defeated using a mastery of the skills you've learned thus far, are definitely punishing with some pretty hefty health bars. The overworld map reminded me of many of the retro platformers I played back in the day, with the ability to return to prior levels and try and find all of the secrets and collect all the loot. It's obvious that the tiny Thor devs really tried to embrace the retro platformer with this title in gameplay, challenge, and style, with some lovely pixel art graphics throughout designed by the fantastic Henk Nieborg. Love or hate pixel art style, you have to give this game credit for staying true to its roots and committing to the style. Environments were well detailed and lovingly crafted, with everything from dripping honey to tiny background bunnies hopping around. My biggest qualm was I feel like so much more variety could have been added to the game by making less levels per world, but more worlds with unique environments. I'll be honest, I grew a little bit tired of the same backgrounds towards the end of each area and craved a bit of something different. So much more could have been done with such a legendary character as Thor. It just felt like a missed opportunity. Also, those bees can buzz right off. They were the bane of my existence for at least bane of my existence for at least one evening of my life, and that's one evening I can never get back. Music also commits to the era with synthy tracks fit for a god, or at least a tiny god. If these blips and bleeps sound a little familiar to you, you may recognize Chris Holzbeck's work from the likes of the Turrican series and the Giana sisters. The music is a huge part of the personality and presence of this title, and the game wouldn't be nearly half as fun without it. It feels both familiar and fresh at the same time. Tiny Thor is a challenge fit for those with the retro platforming mindset and a great deal of patience, so don't let the cute visuals and fun soundtrack fool you. This title will push you to your limits and then push you some more. It's not a bad game as long as you aren't expecting to breeze through it without taking a few deaths. For an immortal god of thunder, Lil Guy sure died a lot at my hands. For me, the platforming didn't always feel as precise as I would have liked, particularly when the wall jumping mechanic was introduced. And it made certain sections of levels more frustrating than others. A few of the levels as a whole felt longer than other levels, which created a bit of an imbalance as well. Maybe I'm sounding like a Thor loser, but it made some of my deaths feel a bit cheap. There's no fate worse than dying in a video game with a checkpoint in sight. Tiny Thor doesn't feel like anything new per se, but if you know what you're signing up for and you've done your meditation for calmness and mental clarity today, it's a worthy challenge for platforming loving mortals. Thank you so much for supporting clickbait-free independent content here on YouTube. 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