You could be jockeying for an advantage against your opponent, attempting to find an openingвЂ¦or you could throw your weapon, slide underneath to trip and stamp his brains out. The crazy thing is how Nidhogg 2, like the original, takes all of these fundamentals and provides such intense, fast-paced matches. The objective is to reach the final screen before your opponent and leap straight into a disgusting wurmвЂ™s mouth. TheyвЂ™re still plenty lethal with their bare fists and jump kicks can also disarm if youвЂ™re not careful. With some quick flicks, you can change the orientation of your weapon before a strike hits and disarm your opponent. If both fighters have their weapons at the same level, theyвЂ™ll deflect each otherвЂ™s attacks. This allows you to get the upper hand on an opponent.

You can change the orientation of your weapon, holding it at head, chest or knee level. Of course, thereвЂ™s a lot more nuance involved than that. The controls are simple вЂ“ you can jump, strike with your weapon and execute more complex moves like sliding (while running, simply hit down), dive kicking (strike while in the air) and throwing your weapon (hold up and the attack button). If you donвЂ™t know the drill by now, Nidhogg 2 encourages you to customize your character with some potentially horrifying possibilities, pick up your starting weapon and fight to the death against an opponent across a side-scrolling environment. 'The crazy thing is how Nidhogg 2, like the original, takes all of these fundamentals and provides such intense, fast-paced matches.'

Brutality and the psychedelic have never been married as lovingly and yet uncomfortably as they are in Nidhogg 2.

Nidhogg 2 signals the return of that insanity but with a brand new highly-detailed visual style, even more mind-warping arenas and some new weapons to spice up the proceedings. It was fun learning the nuances of the combat system, attempting to one-up your opponent. Pixelated figures battled across trippy arenas, competing to see who would be fed to a giant wurm first. MesshofвЂ™s Nidhogg was as baffling as it was addictive when it released in 2014.

Nidhogg tournament