Originally published at: Review | Asgard’s Wrath 2 - XboxEra
Asgard’s Wrath 2 is an enormous, 100+ hour RPG behemoth and it’s only on the Meta Quest. You are the same Cosmic Guardian as the first game, trapped by Loki in the prison you helped him escape from. The Weavers of Fate will guide you on a path of revenge through Ancient Egypt and the Nine Realms. It’s an epic, worthy of its $60 price tag (free with a Quest 3 purchase for a limited time). While I have a few minor issues, this game is worthy of being called a system seller. Let’s break down this gigantic title.
Previously On…
As you start the game Asgard’s Wrath 2 (AW2) will let you choose to sit through a short, fully rendered cutscene that depicts the events of the first game. Immediately you’ll see the graphical downgrade from the original title, and if you’re like me, be shocked at how small it is. AW2 is a Quest native title only this time, and it looks fantastic running on what is essentially phone hardware.
You are the Cosmic Guardian, plucked from near death by Loki to be his “protégé”. The trickster God did indeed trick you and you’re now stuck in the prison he was banished to for killing Baldur. You’ll quickly be rescued by three odd-looking, and one topless for some reason, beings who weave the Threads of Fate. A quick escape sequence and epic boss fight have you ending up in Ancient Egypt where you’ll spend the majority of the next 100+ hours fighting as a quartet of heroes.
Your God’s skill is in taking over the form of a mortal, at their request, and using their unique skillsets to run, jump, puzzle, and fight your way through enormous levels and dungeons. Asgard’s Wrath 2 feels like it has a big budget at all times. Every area has distinct voicework with a mix of solid and occasionally mediocre writing. I had roughly two very busy weeks to review this one and after 90’ish hours I still haven’t beaten the game. I’m right at the end and have played as every hero, unlocked all 5 companions, and spent a dozen hours in the game’s endless mode.
While it can feel a bit slow to start I appreciated the pacing of it all. This is a game you’ll want to take your time with. Not only because of how sore you may end up but the Quest’s battery life will be a constant issue if you’re not plugged in. On average I could get a roughly 2 hour play session in before having to recharge, thankfully that charging is quick and I was typically ready for a break by then anyway. Let’s get into the meat and potatoes of any good VR game, and how it feels.
The RPG
Asgard’s Wrath 2 is a mix of melee and ranged combat, with a lot of platforming in between. Your first character is a warrior archetype. He has a sword, shield, and throwing axe. The sword eventually becomes a whip that he can pull himself forward or pull enemies to his feet with. He is the slowest to level and is essentially the tutorial character. Up next is a water nymph who uses living beings as her weapons, which are a sword made out of a tongue (that is also a whip), a shield that is also a harp/bow, and a little squid turret that shoots your foes.
The third character was one of my favorites, a bow user with multiple types of ammo. Said bow is also a sword, she has a shield and a freaking grenade. Last is a magic user undead-looking guy who I had the least amount of time with. In the end, they all look and feel different enough that the variety made sure I never got bored. Each character has four weapon slots that you can upgrade through crafting as well as multiple armor sets to build. In my time I only built a few full armor sets and focused mainly on upgrading their weaponry. There are rune slots that can go into their gear that allow you to customize builds and it’s deep enough though never confusing.
You’ll have five companions you can swap to at any time. It’s less than the first game but the system is better overall. Each companion has armor sets to craft as well as a friendship leveling system. You can up this just by using them or through fist bumps and high-fives when they ask. Your character has a large leveling tree for each human they possess focused on improving your weaponry and unlocking super moves that use a divine wrath meter you’ll build up by hitting and deflecting enemies.
Enemy variety is solid with different archetypes embodying different looks in each of the various biomes. You’ll have crocodile enemies when you’re in the Nile Delta-themed area, huge flying spider bugs in the volcano zone, etc. Nothing here reinvents the wheel of what an action-focused RPG is. The key is how high quality it is for a platform that suffers routinely from a lack of budget and scope. While you can see the limits of having a mobile chipset powering everything the devs can make you feel that sense of scope and grandeur that these 100-foot-tall gods should offer in a 3d space.
The Feel
All of this is in service of some excellent sword, board, and bow-focused gameplay. Asgard’s Wrath 2 goes for a physics-based approach to combat, serving it greatly. The recent Assassin’s Creed: Nexus went for a more robotic approach to its melee and it felt extremely early VR. AW2 instead has you realistically slicing, dicing, and parrying enemies at close range. Every weapon can be thrown and then called back a’la Mjolnir with a flick of the wrist. Ranged weapons have light aim-assist by default. You’ll still need to get really damned close to your target so it felt satisfying to ping someone in the head for extra damage.
Successful blocks and parries can open up enemies for critical strikes. A red jewel-looking target will appear at specific spots per enemy and if you hit/shoot them you’ll deal a massive amount of damage. When an enemy is defeated you’ll slice through them like a warm knife through butter and the inner maniac in you can come out when you’re lopping off their heads and limbs in quick succession before the body turns to dust.
You have four weapon slots, both hips and shoulders. You can set your swords, shields, bows, etc. wherever you’d like and I tended to have ranged/shields on my back and swords/grenades on my hips. I did run into an issue with tracking a few times on the controllers as the inside-out system was blocked by my body when I went to grab a weapon. It didn’t happen often but when it did it was annoying. Holding your arms out at any time and clicking in the right stick will reset your positioning so you’ll want to do that occasionally if you’ve been moving around a lot.
While you have an epic campaign to get through I ended up spending a fair amount of time in the Chaotic Rift endless dungeon system. As you progress through the campaign you’ll open up more levels to be used in its procedural generation and it’s a fun system that should add a ton to the longevity of the game. It’s already huge, just campaign-wise, but the options for the chaotic rifts and its extra meta-leveling system for your Guardian are a welcome addition. You’ll fight your way through multiple rooms until you reach a boss fight, making choices on gear setups and buffs along the way. It’s a typical roguelike, but a solid one with promises of more to come over the upcoming months, content-wise.
There is a lot of asynchronous multiplayer hooks in the form of Dark Souls-style avatars dotted throughout the open world and inside dungeons. The more interesting use are the either helpful or harmful avatars left inside of Chaotic Rifts. If you’re not a dink you can leave a helpful spectre to fight alongside others during their runs. Conversely, if you want your inner Loki to run free you can set an enemy for others to contend with.
Graphics & Sound
For being only 30 GB and on a mobile chipset Asgard’s Wrath 2 is a bit of a miracle. I played on a Meta Quest 3 provided to me for the AC: Nexus review. The game’s development started on the Quest 2 and I’ve heard good things about performance there. It is a damned good-looking game overall. You’ll see the limitations of the system in some of the textures and environments, with low resolutions standing out. Enemies, NPCs, and main characters look fantastic overall even if I’m not the biggest fan of the ancient high-tech look.
One area the game is top class at though is the audio. While the voice acting is good, helped by solid writing, the soundtrack is phenomenal. It feels almost Gareth Coker’esque, which is the highest compliment I can give to anything. The sound effects do a great job of conveying what is going on, though some of the companion and quest-reminder dialogue grew thin over time. There is a request board for fetch quests in the main hub and the NPCs you’re gathering items for never shut up. They’ll constantly poke their way in, sometimes mid-conversation, reminding you about that thing they want for the 100th time.
Overall AW2 is a fantastic audio and visual package. I never once felt queasy when playing, despite using the full locomotion setup with minimal accessibility features enabled. There is a lot of platforming, running, jumping, and falling. I never once felt sick, though a few times when my character wasn’t allowed to move and I started walking in real life I felt ready to fall over. Few things are as disorienting as being locked in place inside VR and then trying to move in real life.
Wrapping Things Up
Asgard’s Wrath 2 is an epic action RPG, worthy of being Meta’s must-have game. It looks and runs great, plays fantastically, and has more high-quality content than most RPGs I’ve played before.
