Cloudheim Review - Kicking Goblins for Profit

Review
Written By NLM Team

If you ever looked at The Legend of Zelda and thought, "This is great, but I wish I could punt these Bokoblins off a cliff like a football," then NoodleCat Games has read your diary.

The player character in Cloudheim faces a gigantic, spectral wolf statue glowing against a bright blue sky, framed by ruined stone pillars.

Cloudheim is a weird, colorful, physics-obsessed fever dream that takes place entirely on the back of a giant flying turtle named Odin Shell. It’s an action RPG that feels like a Saturday morning cartoon directed by a stunt coordinator, blending incredibly fluid movement with a combat system that turns every enemy into a projectile. I have spent the last week triple-jumping through the sky and managing a shop that I definitely did not ask for, and despite some baffling design choices, I can’t stop playing.

KICKING THINGS IS A LIFESTYLE

Let’s get the best part out of the way immediately because the movement and combat in this game are genuinely euphoric. You aren't just running around; you are quadruple-jumping, dashing, and gliding with a fluidity that puts most AAA platformers to shame. The game gives you an absurd amount of vertical freedom right out of the gate, making exploration feel less like a checklist and more like parkour practice.

Then there’s the violence, which is hilarious. The combat is heavily physics-based, meaning your positioning matters more than your stats. You can lasso enemies into tornadoes, smash pillars onto their heads, or my personal favorite, just kick them into the abyss. There is a primal satisfaction in chaining abilities together to launch a poor monster across a ravine that never gets old. The class system is surprisingly flexible too, letting you swap between the assassin-like Ranger or the tanky Sentinel just by changing weapons, or even mixing them up to create your own chaotic playstyle. It feels great, it looks great, and it’s the main reason you’ll put up with the rest of the game's quirks.

THE RETAIL NIGHTMARE

Here is where the "Early Access" reality check slaps you in the face. For some reason, Cloudheim decided that being a magical warrior wasn't enough; you also need to be a logistics manager for a retail store. The loop involves going out, killing stuff, getting loot, and then coming back to Odin Shell to... manage inventory.

You have to physically move resources from your bag to smelters, then to crafting stations, and then to your shop tables to sell to NPCs. It’s not just a menu click; it’s actual manual labor. You have limited carry capacity for these materials, meaning you are often running back and forth between stations like a frantic waiter during the dinner rush. It kills the momentum completely. You go from being a god of thunder on the battlefield to an overworked Amazon warehouse employee in seconds. The shop management aspect, where you sell loot to upgrade your base, feels less like a fun tycoon minigame and more like a barrier preventing you from getting back to the fun part.

PROGRESSION AND PUNISHMENT

The progression system is a bit of a mixed bag of candy and razor blades. On one hand, leveling up your weapons and unlocking new combos is addictive, and the "Mana Burn" system, which lets you spam abilities at a cost, adds a nice risk-reward layer to fights. On the other hand, unlocking new islands is gated by "World Stars," which you find by completing puzzles and dungeons.

If you are an explorer at heart, you’ll love this. If you just want to punch the next boss, scouring the map for these stars can feel like a chore. The biggest sin, however, is the multiplayer progression. As it stands, if you join a friend's world, you are basically an unpaid intern. You don't get to bring your world progress with you, and you are tethered to the host's tech level. It’s a baffling choice for a co-op focused game and something that needs to be fixed yesterday.

A gameplay screenshot from Cloudheim showing the main character, wearing an orange hood and cape, slamming a massive hammer into a pale, ogre-like enemy in a snowy cavern.

THE VERDICT

Cloudheim is a chaotic, beautiful mess that I mostly adore. The combat is some of the most fun I’ve had in an indie RPG in years, and the world is a joy to traverse. But it is currently held back by a tedious crafting loop and some multiplayer restrictions that feel archaic. If you can stomach the inventory management, there is a gem here waiting to be polished. It’s not perfect, but kicking a goblin into a barrel of explosives is a form of therapy I think we all need right now.

Score: 8.0/10 - Like playing hacky sack with a goblin's spleen.

We at NLM received a key for this game for free, this however didn't impact our review in any way.

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NLM Team
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