This one slipped in under the radar didn't it? While we were all busy playing Ghost Blade and looking forward to Elysian Shadows, Hypertension and AMEBA, Marc Hall was beavering away porting Xbox One and Steam platformer Volgarr The Viking to Sega's little white box of tricks. I must admit that before learning of this port I wasn't familiar with Volgarr, but from what I've read it is a game that garnered almost universal critical acclaim upon launch in 2013. And yes, you read that right - Volgarr The Viking is an Xbox One and Steam game. Now on the Dreamcast. Pretty impressive stuff.
As stated in the ' Read First or Die ' section from the Dreamcast port's website , Marc Hall was allowed access to the game's assets and source code by the original developer Crazy Viking Studios. What this means is that while it is not an official release, the port does have the blessing of the creator so it's all above board. The best bit about all of this? The game is totally free and available to download and burn to a CD-R right flipping now!

But what's all the fuss about? Surely a freeware game can't be worth all this excitement? Well, once you discover that Volgarr received some stellar review scores and was nominated for several awards back in 2013 it all starts to make sense. Featuring a brutal difficulty level and some fantastic retro-themed, almost 16-bit visuals Volgarr is considered one of the best games of it's type on Microsoft's beast of a system. You control the titular Viking warrior through 7 levels of platforming action, rolling, jumping and sword-slashing your way to the final boss Fafnir.
Under the guidance of Odin, you must collect your sword, shield and helmet as these essentially serves as your 'life bar.' Get hit once and you'll lose your helmet, again and you'll lose your shield. Get hit a third time by an enemy and you'll explode in a gloriously gory cloud of blood and entrails. So just like real life, then. As I don't have any CD-Rs in the house I haven't been able to play Volgarr myself just yet but rest assured I will be doing so very soon. If you do have CD-Rs though, head over to the website to download and burn the CDI image now.

Update
Having ventured out into the real world, I secured myself some CD-Rs (from the 99p store, no less - so quality is guaranteed). Using Boot Dreams I very easily managed to burn a self-booting copy of Volgarr and have been sampling its delights. My initial thoughts are that it is superb. The game runs very well on the Dreamcast and has everything you might expect of a full, official release. Hints and tips pop up on the screen, you can 'zoom out' the camera to see what lies ahead, the pause menu features all manner of options to tweak. Controls are very tight - perfectly responsive (and I was using the DreamConn bluetooth controller too). Also, the music and sound effects are just great. One thing to note though is the game is devilishly difficult. I must say that Marc Hall has done a sterling job porting this game to the Dreamcast and I look forward to seeing if he produces anything else in the future. Go and download this thing now!


Official Volgarr The Viking website
Dreamcast Volgarr The Viking website