Cloudheim

In Cloudheim, the world was shattered by Ragnarok, and the gods have chosen the player to shape the next one. This co-op action-adventure game for one to four players blends crafting with physics-based combat in a colourful, destructible world inspired by Norse mythology. The physics-driven combat shines, where players can chain together abilities to inflict massive damage and use the environment to their advantage - exploding barrels included. This creates a sense of chaotic fun, with greater damage resulting from longer air time. Exploration feels agile and encourages chest-hunting across procedurally generated islands and dungeons filled with enemies, puzzles, and loot.

Rather than an open world, the game features a central hub from which players embark on various adventures. This hub is the Odin Shell, a flying turtle. When players return, they can expand their workshop, customise their space and run a thriving shop. It is possible to craft hundreds of weapons and pieces of gear, as well as powerful attacks, on the fly by throwing materials into real-time forges — there are no menus or waiting time. All loot and crafted items are shared, though player progression is not. In this host-based (peer-to-peer) system, progress is tied to the host's world save. This means that unless the same player hosts next time, guests lose any advances in the story and in building their base when sessions end.

However, this issue was one of the things players complained about in the Early Access version, so it has changed relatively quickly. The developers have therefore started to make selected progress elements overarching. The latest patch (#5) introduced the Frostfall Winter Event, along with a host of quality-of-life improvements and stability updates, and, most importantly, it introduced cross-world XP progression. This means that hero and class experience earned in one world can be carried over when players join others, though this can introduce new balance issues. Currently, base-building, crafting loops and shop systems feel a bit slow-paced with unclear progression, but these aspects can and should be improved in Early Access, as can the content, balance and bug fixes. Nevertheless, the fundamentals are promising.

"We're extremely excited to launch Cloudheim into Early Access. The response to the demo has been incredible, and we can't wait for players to experience everything we've added. We have retooled a lot of Cloudheim with the help of players - like improving the physics-system, majors upgrades to the shop, and jump behavior. Cloudheim in Early Access already includes the campaign, up to 4-player co-op, and all main systems in place, and it's just the beginning - we have big plans for future updates with new weapons, characters, islands, and other content shaped by community feedback. We're eager to build Cloudheim together with our players." - David Hunt, CEO, Founder, and Game Designer at Noodle Cat Games.

Cloudheim was created by Noodle Cat Games in 2022. This indie team comprises veteran developers who have worked at Epic, EA, Bioware, Codemasters and Disney. Team members have held leadership roles on legendary titles such as Fortnite, Star Wars: The Old Republic, and Infinity Blade. "We leverage new technologies like AI tools to not replace creatives but assist teams in their work, empowering our teams to achieve more, faster," the team states. The company is led by David Hunt, who was Lead Systems Designer on Fortnite for almost a decade.

"Cloudheim blends the exceptional talent of a veteran team with an experimental, iterative development process informed by science and modern psychology. Every member of the team has a meaningful creative impact, allowing us to push exceptional gameplay quality for our team size, budget, and development time. I'm proud of what we've built, and how the team has proven this process is ultimately better for the ones who matter most - our players. (...) 'Our core gameplay began with a simple question - what if we take the juggling from fighting games, and make it the combat foundation in a co-op action RPG?' Mix in a hauntingly beautiful world, a chaotic symphony of physics combos, and base customization - that's Cloudheim. We can't wait to see the creative combat gameplay players discover and share with their friends." - David Hunt, CEO and Founder of Noodle Cat Games, said at the game's announcement

Cloudheim was released on Steam and the Epic Games Store via Early Access on 04 December 2025 for $29.99 / €28.99 / £24.99, together with a Supporter's Pack DLC containing four cosmetic characters, emotes, and Bifröst styles for 26 characters. The Noodle Cat Games team is committed to working closely with the community throughout Early Access to improve and grow Cloudheim, providing consistent updates shaped by player feedback, such as bug fixes and localisation. An Early Access end date has not been announced. But this is the roadmap.

Conclusion

The combat in Cloudheim is chaotic fun, particularly in co-op mode. The overall experience is good, but it would benefit from more content and a clearer structure — though that's to be expected as it's currently in Early Access.

Features

• Engaging physics-driven combat
• Customizable and upgradeable hub with a direct crafting system
• Agile movement in an atmospheric world