Rrúnafall

The year is 793. The dead have risen in the north.

Churches burn on the coast. Villages smoulder in the taiga. Something old stirs beneath the frozen peaks. Rúnafall: Tales of Valhalla is a fast, brutal co-op action roguelike in a low-poly, retro-styled Viking-age Norway. Pick a hero, raid a cursed region, grow stronger with every kill, and earn a death worth singing about.

Five black-metal Vikings

Corpse paint, curled horns, spiked armour and torn capes. Each hero fights and moves in their own way:

• Berserker: dual axes, throwing axes and a whirlwind. His sprinting jump is a long, low pounce.

• Skjaldmær: spear and shield. She keeps her guard up through slides and blocks blows head-on.

• Bugi: a charged longbow with real arrow arcs. The fastest hero, with a double jump of her own.

• Seiðr: rune bolts and a frost nova. She glides on the wind when she falls.

• Huscarl: a Dane axe and a war cry. His slide is a shoulder barge, and he drives down from the air in a ground-shaking stomp.

Every hero has a three-hit combo, a charged heavy, a dodge roll, an aimed or guarded secondary and a signature ability. Movement is quick and full of momentum: slide downhill, jump out to keep your speed, and swing, shoot or block in mid-air.

Three cursed regions

• Lindisfarne Coast: a black stave church burning beside the trail, meadow grass to the waist, and the drowned dead crawling out of the sea.

• Dense Taiga Forest: red flowers in the clearings, a log-house village still on fire, and wolves in the trees.

• Frost Peaks: aurora, blizzards, knee-deep snow that slows you down, and frozen lakes where you skid and slide.

Every raid lays out a fresh map. Foxes, red deer and snow-white rabbits roam the wilds, and ravens cross the sky overhead.

A bestiary that fights back

Each region has at least nine kinds of foe, and each one moves and fights its own way. Draugr shamble, limp and sprint. Grave crawlers scuttle on all fours. Hanged Maras drift in and scream. Hel-Witches cast homing hexes and raise the dead. Trolls pound the ground, throw rocks and heal if you leave them alone. Wolf-headed Vargr run you down, and undead bears charge with spears still in their backs. Valravn, the corpse-ravens, circle out of reach and then drop in among you to peck. That is the moment for blades.

At the end of each raid waits the region's boss:

• Sæormr, Spawn of the World-Serpent, strikes like an adder, spits brine and bursts out of the earth beneath you.

• Hati Hróðvitnisson, the Moon-Hunter, circles, leaps from afar and howls its pack in.

• Hrímþurs, the Frost Jötunn, sweeps, slams and stomps with an icy club and hurls boulders.

At half health every boss turns savage and calls its kin.

Build your saga

• 37 relics in four rarities, from plain stat boosts to chain lightning, dragonfire, venom clouds, homing souls and the Aegis of Heimdall. Take one again to stack it.

• Runic tomes on lecterns across the map grant 14 kinds of blessing that last the whole run.

• Clear draugr camps, open chests, collect XP and survive the waves. Then wake the boss at the runestone altar.

• The Mead Hall: spend hacksilver on new heroes, cosmetics, the Frost Peaks and starting perks. Upgrade each hero's weapon through ten levels, with new mechanics at the milestones: twin throwing axes, a shield bash, split arrows, ricocheting bolts and a shockwave cleave.

Raid together

Play solo or bring up to three friends in online co-op through Steam lobbies and invites, or over LAN. Levels are shared across the warband, and fallen friends can be revived. Weapon upgrades carry into co-op.

Blood on the snow

The world is drained to cold grey, and only red stays vivid: blood, fire, poppies and raven banners. Killing blows cut real limbs from the body. Blood pools across the ground, heavy blows fell trees, and the bosses come apart spectacularly. Gore and the colour effect can be adjusted in Settings.

Original soundtrack by Melt Motif

Rúnafall is scored with original music by Melt Motif, an experimental band from Norway that blends industrial metal into its sound. It is music from the land the game is set in, as cold and heavy as the raids it drives.

Features

• Five playable Viking heroes, each with their own weapons, ability and movement trick

• Three regions, each with its own bestiary and boss

• Original soundtrack by Melt Motif, an experimental Norwegian band blending industrial metal

• 37 stackable relics, 14 tome blessings and 10-level weapon upgrades

• Online co-op for up to four players, plus LAN

• Steam leaderboards and Steam Cloud saves

• Full controller support