A Bird's World Suddenly Becomes A Puzzling Platformer In Munin For iPad

Munin ($2.99) by Daedalic Entertainment is the first Norse mythology-themed game I’ve ever come across on the App Store. As Aldrin shared with us, the game involves a raven named Munin who has been transformed by Loki into a mortal girl. In order to return to her usual state, she must gather all of her feathers with your help, as they have been placed all over the world of Yggdrasil. Whether you’re into Norse mythology or not, the journey to round up Munin’s feathers is magical and engaging, giving this platformer the potential to provide hours of entertainment.

Yggdrasil is quite a stunning place. The game’s graphics are beautifully drawn on the iPad’s Retina display, and after playing for a short amount of time, it becomes obvious why Munin is an iPad-only title. Everything on the screen is very small in order to make each level large, yet able to fit. Cramming something this big on an iPhone’s screen would be a mistake that, thankfully, the developers didn’t make.

The only powers that you’ll have in the game are the ability to walk, jump, and climb ladders using the arrows and button located to the bottom left and right of the screen, respectively. Other than this, the powers are not in Munin’s hands. Instead, they lie in yours to literally turn her world around to make the feathers more accessible.

In each level, each piece of land or platform available has the ability to rotate 90 degrees with the tap of your finger. This can get pretty complex, since not only do you have to rotate each square group of platforms in order to allow Munin to gather feathers, but in many cases, groups of platforms are also connected to each other, rotating in unison. It also doesn’t help that you’re not allowed to turn any platform you’re standing on, along with any connected ones. The result is a complex series of maneuvers that are required to get to all of the feathers in each level.

With each of Munin’s four worlds, you’ll find that each has its own characteristics. For example, you may have to use water to your advantage, roll balls around, or use gravity in order to unlock moving platforms. But I won’t give away too much, since the fun here involves making these discoveries on your own.

With 81 levels spanned across four worlds providing hours of gameplay, Munin is a great buy for the couple of bucks that it costs. Platformer enthusiasts will love this one, along with anyone who could spend hours playing puzzle games like I can. Optimized only for iPad, Munin is available on the App Store for $2.99.