Odin: Valhalla Rising, originally going by the name of ‘Project Odin’, is an upcoming Korean MMORPG for PC, Android, iOS and Chrome OS that’s being developed in Unreal Engine 4 by Lionheart Studios which was founded by Kim Jae Young. The game releases later next year and will be based on Norse Mythology. A handful of things about this upcoming gem have us really excited. Here’s everything you need to know about the game so far.
Odin was initially teased on October 5, 2019 with the trailer above and Initial impressions gave us high hopes of it being another premium game coming to mobile. It give us straight up Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla vibes in some ways. A few days ago, Lionheart Studios officially unveiled a 4K gameplay and cinematic trailer which shows a vastly different and more in-depth look at the game world and play style than the teaser did.
The Game World and Mechanics
The game will feature a massive, beautiful Norse world with open traversal and no loading zones, aside from instanced dungeons, according to the developers. Players will explore diverse environments across the different realms of the Norse mythological world including Midgard, Jotunheim, Niflheim, Alfheim and more. There will also be a large scale PVP system with loads of content. In the trailer we see some Breath of the Wild climbing mechanics as well. You’ll be able to climb buildings as well as cliffs, so that will be interesting. We see the player riding a wyvern or a dragon which suggests aerial mounts as well as those that will help you across the terrain.
The trailer got our blood pumping at the end by revealing thor who came down in a bolt of lightning before everything cut to black.
For those unfamiliar, the word Valhalla comes from the Old Norse Valhöll, “the hall of the fallen” and is the hall where the god Odin houses the dead whom he deems worthy of dwelling with him. One enters Valhalla by dying an honorable death in combat, so the title of this game alone promises plenty of bloodshed.
“Odin: Valhalla Rising will revolutionize the mobile games market.”
Valhalla Rising will use motion capture and is said to be “first mobile game to use 3D scan and motion capture for realistic and immersive play.”, so this would explain why the animations look so good across both characters and creatures. In fact, Kim says that the game is meant to be “ultra realistic”.
A lot of the mythological creatures seen here are directly taking inspiration from the new God of War game for PS4. You can see below that the World Serpent cinematic for both games is virtually identical, though we have to admit, the serpent for Odin looks way cooler. It’s still funny to see them side by side though.
About a week ago, Lionheart announced the first four playable classes for the game which include a Warrior, Sorceress, Priest, and a Rogue, pictured below. The gameplay for the game is very Korean, so that along with the class choices makes us curious about how they will fit such themes into a Norse setting.
Financial Backing
Immediately following the trailer, Lionheart Studios announced that they would be partnering with Korean publisher Kakao Games who made a “strategic equity investment” into them. The studio earlier partnered with WeMade Entertainment, so they’re working with a cool 9 million dollars to develop Odin: Valhalla Rising which Kim states “will revolutionize the mobile games market.” That’s a pretty bold claim, but they seem to have a good head start in fulfilling their promise. There is currently no word on whether or not the game will see a global release, including English speaking countries, but it’s likely. All we know at this point is that the game will be launched in South Korea first, which seems only natural given their partnerships.
We are incredibly excited for this game and want to hear your thoughts in the comments below. Be sure to stay tuned right here on Gaming Unboxed for future updates on Odin: Valhalla Rising!
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