Tiny Thor | Steam Deck Review

Tiny Thor, from developer Asylum Square and publisher Gameforge 4D, GmbH, is a beautiful platformer showing a fresh take on 16 and 32-bit platformers of generations past. Gifted with his trusty hammer, Tiny Thor works his way through a mythical world full of armored beetles, vindictive bees, venomous snakes and other forms of creatures with the intent of taking out the ambitious god of thunder. This challenging platformer has visuals that are clean, difficulty that is manageable, and even a whimsical story that any fan of any universe Thor resides in would enjoy.

It’s Hammer Time

The story starts like an active comic strip with single scenes of Tiny Thor traversing the rainbow road without a care in the world. Suddenly, he observes a mysterious orb crash through a village below and he, himself, falls off the rainbow road he was traveling on. When he comes to, he’s met by two ravens who tell him of a surprise upon his return home. Excited at the prospect of a surprise, Tiny Thor comes to his feet, and the player helps him move along the way which allows the opportunity to learn the basic movements in the game.

Before long, Thor meets his father, Odin, to give him his birthday present. An iPad? No! His mighty hammer! This hammer will prove quite useful in his journey for both attacking and environment traversal. Not long after receiving this gift, he is met by a mysterious stranger who alerts him to the Queen Bee, who has gone berserk and is attacking their magical land. As Thor continues his journey, the intentions of the mysterious stranger are brought to light rather quickly and expands on the adventures he will take.

The Tools of the Trade

Tiny Thor players will be faced with a very thought-provoking platformer that will require their hammer to help them move forward. Some blocks in the way can be cleared out with the mighty tool and can activate certain items on Tiny Thor’s path to help him reach higher platforms. The hammer can also bounce around the environment to either chain link certain features of the path being faced or collect unreachable gems.

Speaking of collecting gems, completionists and/or perfectionists will notice that, upon completion of levels, the numbers of blue and red gems that were collected in the levels are shown. The number of blue gems vary depending on the level, but there are always three red gems that are the hardest to find. These gems can be used for different features of the game. The red gems can unlock challenge levels along the way, while the blue gems can be used to purchase enhanced skills for Tiny Thor to use. If desired, the levels can be repeated to obtain these gems.

To get these gems, players will face enemies of many types with varying attacks. Bouncing off the enemy’s heads in some instances will be enough to dispatch them, but the hammer Tiny Thor is carrying will be the popular choice during his adventure. Some enemies will have evolved armor that will require strategy to dispose of them. Other enemies will fire projectiles that become more treacherous upon striking the enemies.

Bosses encountered during the game appear ominous and difficult to dispose of. Each boss will have unique attacks requiring different strategies to survive and various stages of attacks depending on the amount of health remaining. Tiny Thor will only have his hammer as means of offense but, when weaknesses are found, will be enough for victory. In some sequences, using the hammer to bounce off the environment and finding the vulnerable sweet spot may incur a sizable amount of damage.

Bringing Down the Thunder!

It can’t be stated enough: Tiny Thor is a beautiful platformer. Visuals are on the level of a Disney-like quality in color and animation style. Enemy movements are very fluid and match the actions being performed. Traversal is difficult but fair in the fact that when it is discovered how to move forward, many “Aha!” moments will be made. Difficulty of enemies and the game as a whole does match that of platformers of years past, but not so much to want to quit out of sheer displeasure with such a challenge. The challenge also exists with the evolution of boss fights. Within the fights themselves, pattern changes and attack types keep players on their toes.

As glowing as those features are, some areas miss the mark. The challenge levels mentioned earlier that can be unlocked with red gems collected along the way are simply that; to challenge the player with no reward but internal satisfaction. Of course, nothing wrong with that euphoric moment of completion, but it does nothing to enhance the game.

Another item that falls short is Tiny Thor acquiring skills when obtaining runes after defeating bosses. These include double jumps, wall jumps, and ground pounds. While these are obviously useful as the journey continues, it doesn’t yield desirable opportunities for level repeats with such skills…almost as if the game tries to be gear-gated but does not take better advantage of those features. The enhanced skills purchased from your companion ravens’ shops are minimal and not desirable, let alone necessary for game completion.

Hits the Nail on the Head!

Tiny Thor is an absolutely beautiful platformer that is enchanting yet challenging. Very clever level layouts and enemies to face match the story being told, with good twists that play close to the heart of the Thor legacy. Very little disappointment, in spite of the minimum shortcomings of gameplay, will be felt and might enthrall the player to work his/her way through this game at least once more.

To hear me talk more about Tiny Thor, be sure to listen to the June 7, 2023 episode of The Gaming Outsider podcast around the 1:05:43 time stamp.

This review is based on a Steam copy of Tiny Thor provided by Uber Strategist for coverage purposes. It is also available on PC via Epic Games Store and GOG.