Cloudheim Beta: When Vikings Meet Physics Chaos
Remember when Viking games were about grim warriors and historical accuracy? Cloudheim's open beta (July 18-21) said "nah, let's yeet draugrs into lava instead." And honestly? It's the most fun Vikings have been in years.
Physics Combat: Juggling Simulator 2025
Forget weapon stats. Your damage scales with airtime. Launch enemy, keep them floating, watch numbers go up. It's Devil May Cry meets Gang Beasts meets your drunk uncle at Thanksgiving. Credit where it's due: the physics feel genuinely satisfying.
Four-player co-op means four players trying to coordinate launches. One yeets, one juggles, one whiffs completely, last one steals the kill. Peak teamwork. When it works, you're combat gods. When it doesn't, you're the Three Stooges with axes. Either way, you're laughing.
It is clearly a beta, there is things that do not work, but most of these were communicated in the official Discord ahead of time. Some even included work arounds to help you navigate the fact that this is a beta. Which is probably one of the better ways to deal with bugs and glitches. Even better, half way through the beta weekend, there was a patch fixing some of the problems.
Odin's Shell: Mobile Home for Vikings
Your base? A giant flying turtle. Because grounded settlements are for games without physics engines to flex. Crafting works by literally throwing stuff at forges. No menus. Just faith and ingredient yeeting. Revolutionary. And surprisingly intuitive once you embrace the chaos.
Shared loot means no more "need before greed" arguments. We'll just fight about who launched enemies wrong instead. Human nature finds a way. But honestly, shared loot in 2025? Finally someone gets it.
The beta serves up frozen wastes where enemies slide like they're on ice (because they are) and lava zones where the environment kill-steals constantly. Different biomes, same solution: launch everything. If it moves, it flies. Each environment actually changes combat dynamics in meaningful ways. Rare for a beta.
AAA Devs Gone Rogue
Noodle Cat Games: where Epic and BioWare veterans go to make games about juggling Vikings. Imagine having Gears of War on your resume and deciding "you know what? Physics comedy." Based department.
Their polish shows. Most indie physics games feel janky. This feels like jank with a purpose. Calculated chaos. The experience shines through with responsive controls, smooth netcode, and physics that actually work as intended.
Worth Three Days of Your Life?
Tired of dodge-rolling through another soulslike? Want combat that's more Jackass than Dark Souls? Cloudheim gets it, and delivers something genuinely fresh in a sea of Viking clones.
Solo players will get bored after hour two. But co-op? That's content gold. Every session births clips nobody will believe. Your friends become either combo gods or comedy relief. No in-between. The game knows exactly what it is and leans into it perfectly.
Pro tip: That record button? Not optional. You'll witness physics crimes that demand evidence. But they'll be crimes you actually want to commit again.
