The Frostrune (Android) Second Opinion Review

The thought of a point and click adventure based on Norse mythology brings many things to mind. It is a vast mythology with many interesting characters, myths, and rituals, and The Frostrune does a lot with its artwork and music to capitalize on this.

Everything feels handmade, and it is clear that the developer went for an experience that would feel authentic, to which they have succeeded. From the art to the songs sung, everything feels genuine and crafted, something that is very rare to see in video games nowadays. This creates a unique experience and framework for the story to take place.

Sadly, though, there isn't as much focus put on the narrative as on the aesthetics of the world. The most glaring issue with The Frostrune is the story, or rather, lack thereof. A modern point and click adventure is as much about telling a story as it is to create an interesting world to walk around and solve puzzles in. The story can easily be summed up in fewer than fifty words and mostly involves the main character, Liv, walking around and finding different mystical items to get more mystical items.

For long-time fans of the genre, this itself does not sound too bad. Point and click adventures about finding sacred objects weren't too unusual back in the day, and some successful modern titles have had little more than this as the main plot as well. The big problem is that The Frostrune does not have much else going on despite this all. There are, for valid story reasons, very few characters in the game to interact with, and therefore very little dialogue to help tell a story. Whenever there is some dialogue it is often twenty lines of someone telling Liv where to go next in a vague way that is often difficult to understand. Thankfully the game has hints helping the player out.

This does not only affect the story badly, but the gameplay as well. Landmarks are created by adding objects the player will keep on their minds. Sadly, most landmarks are objects that feel like background objects for half the game as people often feel no connection to objects such as landslides or a river until they get to interact with it. This means that it is extremely easy to feel lost early, which is the biggest pitfall a point and click title can fall into as it turns what is supposed to be a fun puzzle adventure into a pain as the challenge of trying to remember where different relatively similar looking places are located in relation to one another.

There is a lot of potential in the world's presentation, it is just sad that the developers barely scratched the surface. Very small and simple touches could easily have turned The Frostrune into a very good title. It is certainly worth a look for people interested in Nordic mythology, or looking for a game with great atmosphere since the art and music strongly enhances the experience, but if looking for a great point and click adventure it is better to look elsewhere.