This Week In Retro: Nidhogg (Patreon)

January 13, 2014: A good death is its own reward

by Diamond Feit

After millennia of research, countless hypotheses, and straight-up speculation, the human race remains unaware of what happens to us after we die. I can think of no more important question for us to answer as a species, and yet the knowledge we so desperately seek continues to evade our grasp. At our current rate of progress, I suspect I will find out the answer for myself before any scientists or philosophers solve this riddle.

Naturally, the looming specter of death, the afterlife, and whatever else comes next have all served as ample fodder for millions of stories over thousands of years. There's even an entire genre called Bangsian fantasy focused on presenting deceased characters who exist on a plane of reality other than our own. I'm particularly fond of any depictions of Heaven or Hell as tragically mundane places; give me fewer floating angels or flaming demons and more clerical offices.

Plenty of video games have likewise dabbled in tales of the great beyond, though in my experience most of them place too much weight on drama and terror. Don't get me wrong, I'm as terrified as the next person when it comes to contemplating eternity, but not every game about death needs to feature the Grim Reaper or lakes of blood.

I take great pleasure this week in celebrating the 10th anniversary of one such game, a small project from a two-person studio. While it features plenty of action and raw competition, it also offers non-stop laughs due to its absurd nature, a rare quality in the medium. Indeed, I can seldom remember another launch that had me gasping for breath quite as hard as the first night I played Nidhogg.

To explain Nidhogg, we must begin with its unusual title. Unrelated to any breed of pig, Nidhogg comes from Norse legends, specifically the name of a giant dragon/serpent fond of chewing on the roots of the world tree Yggdrasil. When not chowing down on the very wood holding all of existence in place, Nidhogg also gobbles up sinners in Nástrǫnd, a section of the Norse afterlife occupied by "those guilty of murder, adultery, and oath-breaking." Shoutout to Wikipedia for all this 101-level mythology since I don't know anything about Scandinavian folk tales outside of what I've seen in Thor movies.

Nidhogg the video game features surprisingly few trees or Vikings, instead presenting four different arenas for one-on-one combat. A pair of stick figures face each other on the field of battle, each brandishing a sword and ready to duel. The two featureless player characters have no names or gender markers; they are functionally identical save for their colors.

Whoever the warriors of Nidhogg are, their only objective is to advance. With no lifebars, every wound is fatal, but "death" only pauses the action rather than concluding it. Corpses in Nidhogg dissolve instantly into a puddle of goo and the fighter will respawn within seconds. The game does keep score of kills and suicides—each area has its share of bottomless pits—but these numbers ultimately mean very little as players have an infinite number of lives. Matches last until one player successfully makes their way to the far end of the arena where a roaring crowd of onlookers cheers as Nidhogg flies across the screen and devours the victor.

Nidhogg neglects to offer any narrative or justification for the conflict it depicts, so I'm forced to make educated guesses based on its imagery and title. The duelists seem immortal, repeatedly clashing swords and spilling blood but never resolving their contest until the "winner" escapes into the jaws of the eponymous beast. The game unequivocally celebrates this moment as a successful outcome.

To me, this says Nidhogg likely takes place in some version of the afterlife where departed souls suffer in eternal torment, doomed to spar forever. Even if these people were once soldiers or athletes, the prospect of perpetual combat without the threat of death tortures them. Their only recourse is to outlast their opponents and find freedom in the oblivion of Nidhogg's belly.

I see Nidhogg's simple pixel art and abstract environments as further evidence to support my theory. Every stage bears the name of earthly concepts like Mines or Castle, but nothing on the screen suggests these spaces have a function or occupants. Clouds strikes me as the most fantastic, since the gladiators stand on vaporous surfaces which can disintegrate under their weight. That doesn't make sense on our planet outside of a Looney Tunes cartoon.

Speaking of modern mythology which I believe heavily influenced the creation of Nidhogg, it's high time I expressed how hilarious this game is to play or even just watch in action. Even as the two rivals stab, slice, and tear each other apart, the violence carries no ghastly connotations because none of it matters. The only consequences for failure are a few seconds of inaction before players get to jump right back into the fray. Nidhogg is competitive in that one participant wins and the other does not, but in my experience, the outcome of the fights means far less than the entertainment they provide.

Nidhogg comes to us from Messhof, a small team initially formed in 2013, meaning that this ended up as their debut creation. Four years later they released a sequel, Nidhogg 2, one that offered more of everything from the first game but failed to recapture its magic. I for one could never get past the new art style which replaced the simple stick figures with hideously detailed freaks. As explained above, I feel the abstractness of Nidhogg only adds to its charms, so I have no desire to play the same game again only now starring homunculi.

10 years later, Messhof doesn't have many credits to their name, but as of this writing they've announced Ghost Bike as their next release. If the title and trailer are any indication, it seems they're still fascinated with exploring the afterlife via video games. Perhaps they know something the rest of us don't? I certainly hope not; if I pass on and wake up in a "better place" only to receive a rapier and be sent off to battle, I won't be laughing about Nidhogg anymore.

Writer/podcaster/performer Diamond Feit lives in Osaka, Japan but xyr work and opinions exist across the internet.