More abilities does not make things betterįollowing the footsteps of the first game, The Lost Vikings 2 is a puzzle platformer, but with some moderation to its setup. There is a ton of hit and miss humour here, and when the tone can be all over the place at the beginning and end part of every stage, this playthrough can sadly drag. The vikings can also be charming at times with their banters, but it is just a shame that this rarely happens through the underwhelming dialogues, and the two new playable characters and the rest of the NPCs do little to help. Not everything is bad, as there are some decent events to this journey, like mixing a vampire wing for one from a fruit bat. Even when he ends up being relevant to the plot, this twist makes the story even worse. That is, except for one annoying little prick of a kid who constantly appears throughout the adventure, coming off as a forced inclusion. The humour is more stereotypical by containing shallow fat jokes and poor puns, with the characters you meet being all forgettable. Unfortunately, everything feels lost in this sequel. The Lost Vikings 2 tries to make up for its simple story with humour and personality, which was similarly done in the first title.
![the lost vikings 2 norse by norsewest the lost vikings 2 norse by norsewest](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/2Qce5ZfSpDI/hqdefault.jpg)
There is a clear feeling of déjà vu here, since this is basically the same plot as the one from the previous game, with not much else to it. Before the team can think about what they should do next, Olaf mistakes a lever with a “Do Not” sign above for being about donuts and pulls it, sending our protagonists to Transylvania in the year 1437 A.D. Thankfully, the ship they are on starts malfunctioning and the trio takes out the armoured alien, while also stealing his equipment. The three viking heroes from the last game are returning home from a fishing trip, when they are suddenly captured by evil aliens once again and about to be taken away by a guard. Just to clarify I will be mainly looking at the SNES version, as I cannot stand the visuals of the 2.5D versions that almost look like old and poor bluescreen technology.
![the lost vikings 2 norse by norsewest the lost vikings 2 norse by norsewest](https://www.bestoldgames.net/img/games/lost-vikings-2/lost-vikings-2-19-big.png)
It is far from a terrible title, but a fascinating one that feels like a product made from awful marketing analyses depicting what is popular and sells well.
![the lost vikings 2 norse by norsewest the lost vikings 2 norse by norsewest](https://www.satakore.com/satengine/photos/photosmodif/T/T-12522H_1,,Sega-Saturn-Photo-1-Norse-by-Norsewest-The-Return-of-The-Lost-Vikings-USA.jpg)
Known also as Norse by Norse West: The Return of Lost Vikings, The Lost Vikings 2 is a strange example of a sequel expanding upon the original’s concept and simultaneously killing the series.