Discover the brutal challenges and new features in Volgarr the Viking II. Read Nintendo Life interview with Kris.
“I Want You To Be Mad” – Crazy Viking Studios on the Brutality of Volgarr the Viking II
“We didn’t have any intention of ever making a sequel.”
When Volgarr the Viking launched in 2013, it might have slipped under many gamers’ radars, but those in the know quickly recognized its brilliance. The game scored a solid 8/10 from us on the Switch and has since built a devoted fanbase, with players constantly speedrunning and mastering its precise level design and enemy placement. Despite its acclaim, Crazy Viking Studios had no plans for a sequel—but things have changed. With Volgarr the Viking II set to release on the Switch eShop on August 6th, we sat down with Kris Durrschmidt, co-founder, CEO, and creative director at Crazy Viking Studios, and Calvin Vu, producer at Digital Eclipse, to uncover what prompted this surprising development and what players can expect from the new game.
Nintendo Life: Can you talk about how you got together with Digital Eclipse to work on Volgarr the Viking II?
Kris Durrschmidt: I was actually working with Digital Eclipse for a while. About six years ago, Mike [Mika, DE’s Head of Studio] reached out to me and said, “Hey, we have this new initiative where we’re working on these collections and documentary games, and I really need your help.” So I started with that because I didn’t know what to do with Crazy Viking Studios. I worked with Mike and Digital Eclipse for many years on SNK 40th Anniversary Collection, TMNT: The Cowabunga Collection, Blizzard Arcade Collection, etc.
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During that process, people got loud about wanting a sequel to Volgarr. An external publisher approached Digital Eclipse with a publishing deal, putting me in a dilemma because I was working two jobs. I spoke with Mike about it, and since Digital Eclipse has a history of making retro games and wanted to start self-publishing, the timing was perfect. They made a counteroffer, which allowed me to merge my roles, reducing stress significantly.
Calvin Vu: Digital Eclipse was looking to get into self-publishing, which was not something it was known for before; we did lots of licensing and creating collections for larger companies. Kris was just in there at the right time and happened to have an IP for which everybody was happy to make a sequel. The cards just kind of lined up well there.
Nintendo Life: You mentioned you weren’t sure what to do with Crazy Viking Studios. Did you always have a sequel in mind for Volgarr, or were you thinking about moving on to something different?
Kris: There’s a bit of personal history here. Volgarr did really well. When we made Volgarr — when I say ‘we’, it was Taron Millet and I back then — we didn’t have any intention of ever making a sequel. We accomplished everything that we wanted to do in that game, and we felt that it was a good standalone experience. If people wanted to play Volgarr, they could just play that game.
We were going to move on to make other games. This is probably something that a lot of people don’t know, but we prototyped follow-up games with different characters in that universe, and they’re all in various states. We were gonna expand the universe, make other sequels, well, kind of spiritual sequels, not direct sequels, but games in that universe where you play different characters with different abilities and things like that.
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We experimented with things, took our time, tried some different games and stuff like that, went through prototyping… And I say this in a way that we were very blessed to do that, to just have the money to explore and fool around. But the unfortunate side effect was that we didn’t actually produce anything. Then Taron, right before helping with Digital Eclipse, ended up with a minor medical condition that made it so he couldn’t use the computer very much. So he decided to retire. And that’s another benefit of the original game, that he could do that.
So that put the company, initially, in a state of self-reflection, and trying to figure out if we were gonna continue or shut it down. I took a break, too. It was at that time that Mike reached out about Digital Eclipse. So I’ve always been working on prototypes outside of that. I have several things that are in the works. But yeah, that’s how that happened and where we ended up.
Nintendo Life: What was it that gave you the push to move forward with a direct sequel instead of heading in a new direction?
Kris: 10 years of getting endless emails and Twitter reachouts! “Where’s Volgarr 2? When are you guys going to do something again? What’s happening?” The thing with prototyping and making other games and things like that is, depending on what it is and what you’re trying to achieve, you can’t always do open development. I prefer open development, personally. But sometimes you can’t. Like if a game is a particular kind of game, it doesn’t work well for open development because the game in itself is a surprise. So we have a lot of prototypes and stuff that are in the treasure chest that we haven’t spoken of because we haven’t committed to anything.
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So that’s where that went. We had a lot of fans that, because we were so quiet, were wondering what was going on because we never shut the company down. We were always kind of semi-active and talking about things. So they’re like, “Well, where’s Volgarr? How come we can’t get more stuff? Make some DLC, make something.” DLC doesn’t work for that game, it’s self-contained, so it would hurt it.
In my mind, I was never really gonna do that game in particular again. When the situation presented itself, it took several months of deep diving into it and trying to figure out how a sequel could be made that didn’t feel like it was just DLC or just more of the same. Volgarr II had to be Volgarr II, not Volgarr 1.5 or something.
Nintendo Life: With that in mind then, can you talk about what’s new with Volgarr II?
Kris: In the original, there is a series of treasure chests that you unlock, and you get particular abilities and armours in a certain order. The amount of hits that Volgarr can take has been changed. In the new game, there are more abilities, more armour, different magical items, and things like that. I could probably talk about this aspect alone for about an hour, but the second game is more complex, for sure.
In the original game, you start off with a wooden shield, and it could only take two hits before it broke. Then you take another hit and you die. The helmet gave you sped-up attacks and then, of course, you had the famous fire sword. In the second game, we added boots and a belt, and those add abilities—I don’t want to spoil too much about what they are—but they add new things that Volgarr can do that weren’t seen in the first game. Volgarr can take more hits now because of the things that we’ve added to the game, so basically a larger health pool before he can die.
A lot of the things that I did in the second game were addressing the primary complaints, wishes, hopes, and dreams of what we collected from the fans and reviewers about what could have been done to make the game better. We went old school with the game design, like really old school, and several of the reviews said things like, “There aren’t enough checkpoints.” People were frustrated that you had to complete an entire map in one life to make any kind of real progression. The game only had one checkpoint halfway through the entire level. You transition from outside to inside with the boss fight. So if you fail in the boss fight, you’re playing half the level every time, right?
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That’s how we wanted it, but we were surprised to see that so many people wanted a little bit more modern convenience. So there are more checkpoints in Volgarr II. But at the same time, to make the really old-school fans happy, we also allow you to destroy those checkpoints for extra points, lives, scores, things like that. So you can really be a hardcore gamer if you want, or if you need that little bit of extra help throughout the stages, you could keep them there and have more checkpoints.
The game is overall bigger than the original, but because there are more checkpoints, we felt that we could make the world bigger. You can run out of lives like in the original game’s Valkyrie Path. In the original game, you didn’t have lives, you just died over and over again unless you got to the proper path. But in the second game, you do have lives, you do run out, and you do continue. But you also have unlimited continues. So then someone might ask, “Well, [why] bother having lives or continues?” It’s because it’s tied into the narrative and what endings you get based on your performance. So it is beneficial for players to play as well as they can and it does drive that practice and speedrunning and that type of culture with the game.
Nintendo Life: That’s interesting. I enjoyed the old-school nature of the original in the sense that each level felt almost impossible to get through at first, but you kept inching forward step-by-step until you could do it all without getting hit. It sounds like you had a lot of balancing to do with Volgarr II to get it right again.
Kris: I’m glad that you felt that way because there are folks that didn’t quite get that. And that’s okay, there are lots of games out there for everybody. But that was the goal. Of course, Volgarr is fun and it’s cool, you’re playing a Viking
, and he does neat things and all that stuff. But the actual core of the design, why we did what we did, was we wanted the game to create that player experience of frustration through success, overcoming all the obstacles and that kind of thing, and feeling the mastery. So it took several hours and months of pouring over things, thinking and talking, and trying different prototypes. It wasn’t easy to come up with a satisfying answer of how to bring that feeling back while making it feel fresh, while also addressing the complaints and wishes of the fans.
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Nintendo Life: You mentioned the Valkyrie Path. Volgarr’s multiple endings made that final secret path really rewarding. Have you kept that kind of thing in Volgarr II?
Kris: There’s a little bit more going on in Volgarr II. To avoid spoilers, let’s just say the players can look forward to some things like that. There is a special ending. There’s more to it than that, but again, no spoilers.
Nintendo Life: Fair enough. One thing I’ve noticed is that Volgarr is known for its tight controls and fair difficulty. How did you go about maintaining that balance in the sequel?
Kris: Lots of testing. Tons and tons of testing. We had a lot of input from our fans and players who were kind enough to help us out. The game was in beta for a long time. The difficulty and the controls were very much shaped by the community. I think if we hadn’t had that input, the game wouldn’t be as good as it is now. We owe a lot to our community.
Nintendo Life: Volgarr the Viking’s pixel art style was a huge part of its charm. Have you made any changes to the art style in the sequel?
Kris: Yes, we have. We wanted to keep the core aesthetic of the original while also making some improvements. The art is more detailed, the animations are smoother, and the environments are more varied. We wanted to make sure that it still felt like Volgarr, but with a bit more polish and refinement.
Nintendo Life: That sounds fantastic. Can you tell us more about the new environments players can expect to explore in Volgarr II?
Kris: Absolutely. In Volgarr II, we really wanted to expand the world and give players a variety of new settings to explore. We’ve added more diverse environments, including ancient ruins, dark forests, icy mountains, and even a few surprises that I don’t want to spoil just yet. Each area is designed to challenge players in different ways and to provide a fresh experience as they progress through the game.
Nintendo Life: One of the hallmarks of the original game was its brutal difficulty. Have you made any changes to the difficulty level in Volgarr II?
Kris: The difficulty is still a key aspect of the game. We wanted to maintain that sense of challenge and accomplishment that players felt in the original. However, we’ve also tried to make the difficulty more approachable for new players. As I mentioned earlier, we’ve added more checkpoints and made the game a bit more forgiving in some areas. But for those who want the full old-school experience, you can still play it in a way that will give you that hardcore challenge.
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Nintendo Life: With the sequel’s development, what has been the most challenging aspect for your team?
Kris: I think the most challenging aspect has been balancing the old and the new. We wanted to stay true to the original game’s spirit while also bringing in new ideas and improvements. It was a fine line to walk, and there were many moments where we had to take a step back and re-evaluate our choices to make sure we were staying true to what made Volgarr special.
Nintendo Life: As a final question, what do you hope players take away from Volgarr the Viking II?
Kris: We hope that players feel the same sense of accomplishment and mastery that they did with the first game. We want them to enjoy the new challenges, explore the new environments, and experience the thrill of overcoming difficult obstacles. Most of all, we hope they have fun and feel that it was worth the wait.
FAQ
Q: What platforms will Volgarr the Viking II be available on?
A: Volgarr the Viking II will be available on the Nintendo Switch eShop starting August 6th.
Q: Is Volgarr the Viking II a direct sequel to the original game?
A: Yes, Volgarr the Viking II is a direct sequel, building on the original game’s story, mechanics, and universe.
Q: Will the game have multiple endings like the original?
A: Yes, Volgarr II will feature multiple endings, including special paths and challenges for players to discover.
Q: How has the difficulty been adjusted in the sequel?
A: The difficulty remains challenging, but the sequel includes more checkpoints and a larger health pool to make the game more accessible. Hardcore players can still enjoy a tougher experience by destroying checkpoints for extra points.
Q: What new abilities and items can we expect in Volgarr the Viking II?
A: Volgarr II introduces new armour, abilities, and magical items, including boots and a belt that provide new capabilities. Specific details are kept under wraps to avoid spoilers.
Q: Will the art style remain the same as the original?
A: The art style retains the core aesthetic of the original but features more detailed environments, smoother animations, and improved visuals overall.
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Q: Are there new environments to explore in the sequel?
A: Yes, Volgarr II includes a variety of new settings such as ancient ruins, dark forests, icy mountains, and more, each designed to provide unique challenges and experiences.
Q: What inspired the development of Volgarr the Viking II after so many years?
A: Persistent demand from fans and the right timing and support from Digital Eclipse inspired Crazy Viking Studios to develop a sequel that honors the original while introducing new elements.