The last few years of gaming have seen no shortage of Norse theme titles, which is all good to me as mythology has plenty to offer. Such is the case with Final Stand: Ragnarok, a cooperative online multiplayer game that pits you and your friends against the forces of Hel.

Making One Hel of a Stand

Final Stand: Ragnarok puts players in the shoes of legendary champions based on Norse mythology. Ragnarok has arrived, as with any Norse-themed game. However, unlike plenty of other Norse-theme games, Final Stand: Ragnarok sets out to recreate the epic battles told in tales. As the name suggests, this is your final stand, and it’s against the forces of Hel as you roam across the battlefield, doing all you can to prevent Ragnarok while fending off against an endless wave of enemies. 

In some ways, it’s almost like a 3D version of Vampire Survivors, as countless hoards of enemies flood the screen. When I say hoards, I’m not talking about groups of tens or hundreds. Thousands upon thousands of enemies will quickly swarm you and your teammates for what can only be described as an epic battle fit for a tale. It can be overwhelming, but like Vampire Survivors, overcoming those odds comes with an endorphin-filled satisfaction. 

It’s not just about stomping your enemies and killing hundreds in a flash, as the game relies heavily on planning and coordinating things with allies. Sure, you can solo a good portion of the early sections, but as time passes, the difficulty ramps up, and teamwork becomes absolute. 

That’s where having other heroes on the field is crucial, as some abilities can be synergized with other heroes. An alley that can easily freeze a group with ice blasts, while another follows up with an AoE, shattering them to bits. 

There are objectives to complete, but the jist seemed mostly to defend crucial points around the map, which you are guided to with a compass. On-field pick-ups will also spawn around the map, giving you buffs, limited-quantity moves, and other stuff. There are even some crafting and building that you can do, like setting up barricades and such. 

Due to time constraints on our end, I couldn’t try out any of the other heroes beyond my first pick, which was the axe wielder with the before-mentioned Ice abilities. Still, I could see where a lot of the fun was forming, and roaming around these massive battlefields with friends, back to back, with enemies engulfing the screen and chaining one ability after another was pure fun. 

I know, graphically speaking, Final Stand: Ragnarok isn’t what we call pushing the envelope by any degree. But that’s not the goal anyway, and instead, the studio has opted to take advantage of the low poly-toned World of Warcraft visuals to favor performance with a sheer amount of enemies occupying the screen. I’ve mentioned that thousands of enemies can spawn on the battlefield at any moment. On my screen, I had witnessed what could only be described as pure chaos, as enemies filled the entirety, leaving almost no gap empty. 

Typically, this is where the issues come in, as even massive AAA games tend to take a toll on performance whenever they’re pushed into highly intensive CPU-bounds scenes. Despite the thousands of enemies, my performance barely, if at all, took any hits. I do have to point out that my PC is on the higher end of the spectrum, with an RTX 4090, but I’ve played plenty of other games, and that power hasn’t always been there to save the performance.

It’s pretty impressive to see what engine Unchained Entertainment is dubbing the Unchained Engine can pull off. It is a fitting name, as it can handle loads of enemies with ease, all with enemies, attacks, and a variety of them, without having a major impact on a player’s setup. This being a game based on Norse Mythology, being able to create these epic battles thought to only exist in myth is an incredible feat. and a fun one at that. Visuals aren’t always everything, and Final Stand: Ragnarok proves that. 

All in all, Final Stand: Ragnarok has plenty of potential, and with early access kicking off later this week, the studio’s reaction to community feedback will determine a lot of that potential. I think what essentially serves as the foundation is, as of now, in great shape, but there’s room for improvement. That’s mostly in the content department, some of which the studio has already outlined on Steam and what players can expect to arrive later. Otherwise, if you’re looking for something new and exciting, I suggest trying Final Stand: Ragnarok; you may end up being surprised by what the game has to offer.