Thor

Lore & Background

The game begins in medias res with Asgard being invaded by the Jötun (frost giants from Jotunheim). Thor, meanwhile, is training with Sif and his brother Loki. Their training is interrupted by the arrival of the Frost Giants. While Loki leaves to inform Odin about the invasion, Thor is left to fight alone after Sif is frozen by one of the arriving jötun. After quickly fending his enemies off and setting Sif free, Thor goes to Odin's castle to defend Asgard. The invasion is stopped, but Sif is fatally wounded in the process. After Thor is denied retribution for the invasion and Sif's condition by Odin, Thor disobeys his father's orders. He travels to Niflheim, aided by one of Loki's projected clones (revealed to be the mastermind behind the invasion). While Thor travels to Niflheim, it is shown that Odin manages to save Sif from death, and then he proceeds to enter the Odinsleep.

In Their Own Story

As Thor arrives in Niflheim, Loki tells him to find Ymir, Lord of the Jötun and Ruler of Niflheim. After a long battle, Thor finds and defeats Ymir inside the Cave of Ages. There, Thor finds the source of a power that, as Loki says, can destroy the entire realm of Niflheim. Ignoring Ymir's warnings, Thor activates the source, which transforms into a golden, metallic, minotaur-like creature known as Mangog that instantly vaporizes Ymir. Loki then sends an unaware (and guilt-ridden) Thor to Vanaheim rather than Asgard, as Thor wanted. Loki (who wants to prove himself to Odin as a rightful heir to Asgard's throne) had previously struck a deal with Ulik (Lord of the Vanir-trolls and ruler of Vanaheim) for him to 'delay' Thor's return to Asgard, whilst Loki stops Mangog. In exchange, Loki promised to repair Vanaheim's Frostgrinder (the Vanir's faulty replica of the Bifrost) and allow Ulik to leave Vanaheim.

Reader's Guide

Thor battles through the numerous worlds of Norse mythology to save Asgard. The player uses Mjölnir, Thor's hammer, to fight enemies of an immense scale while controlling the elemental storm powers of lightning, thunder, and wind to vanquish enemies. Thor must overcome foes derived from the comics, including Ulik, Ymir and Surtur as well as other enemies. There are also a variety of collectibles to be found and collected, including Runes, Concept Arts, and alternate Thor costumes. The Nintendo versions received 'mixed' reviews, while the non-Nintendo versions received 'negative' reviews, according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. Brett Day of 411Mania gave the DS version 8/10 and said it was 'quite possibly the best movie game I have ever played.'

Did You Know?

• Thor: God of Thunder marks Thor's first standalone appearance in a video game.
• The game features the voices of Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston and Jaimie Alexander, who reprise their roles from the film.
• The PS3 and Xbox 360 versions can be played in 3D on 3DTVs and on 2DTVs via TriOviz Inificolor 3D glasses.
• Despite the game's existence outside of the canonicity of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, some characters from the game, such as Surtur and Hela (from the Nintendo DS version), eventually appeared in the 2017 film Thor: Ragnarok.
• Sega cancelled the PlayStation Portable edition of the game without any explanation.