The story of Too Human is an interesting one. The game began development way back in 1999, and bumped around to multiple different publishers and systems for almost an entire decade until finally releasing in 2008 for the Xbox 360. The game was ultimately a flop, but would also get tied up in a lawsuit that would see it delisted, and would then reappear with no announcement or fanfare years later. Now, you can also get it for free.

You can see the listing in the Microsoft store for the game here. While not a particularly great game, it’s an interesting one to revisit, because it has a Norse mythology inspiration, which is all the rage right now, and also had a big focus on loot, something that was rare for a single player title at the time but now extremely common.

Technically, Too Human is a Xbox 360 game, but it has been added to the Xbox One backwards compatibility list, so it will be playable on any 360 or One hardware. It’s unclear if this is the standard price now or just for a limited time.

Silicon Knights are having a tough time lately, after suing Epic Games for what was a suicidal decision because they were definitely going to lose, they are now seeing the after effects of that move.

The company has to destroy all their games like Too Human, X-Men Destiny and others having Unreal Engine code. So yeah… head to your nearest store or eBay website and get this because it’s going to be rare soon.

According to this court document spotted by a Neogaf member, they need to do this before 10th December this year. Considering how less Too Human sold, it shouldn’t be a hard task.

But one thing is for sure, the publishers like Activision and others who helped with these games also have a say and they won’t be too pleased with this move. It’s fair to say it does not rest in the hands of Silicon Knights. However, if the publishers oppose, bankruptcy is certain for the studio because they have to comply with court rules and pay off the publishers for the damages.

They also had to pay $4.45 million to Epic Games, so I don’t they they have enough money left to appease the publishers. They can negotiate though, but doesn’t look like it will work out.

Too Human was in development for 10 years and ended up being a massive critical and commercial failure. It’s something that also got the studio boss Denis Dyack banned from Neogaf in a humiliating way, and yeah.

Tell us what you think in the comments section below.

There was one game, though, released in 2008, that took a rigorous approach to the source material. The game wouldn’t be about Vikings and their vulgar raids, but rather the player would be in control of the recently resurrected god Baldur, set in a technologically advanced civilization in humanity’s distant past, the Norse gods are cybernetically enhanced humans in control of a large corporation, which controls every facet of human’s lives. It was called Too Human.

Released on the heels of one of the coolest and most intriguing guerilla marketing campaigns in video game history (which included a fascinating faux-documentary about scientists finding the centuries-old body of a mechanical goblin, one of the chief enemies of the game, in a glacier in Norway http://www.norwegianfilmcommittee.org/en/home.html), the game was full of promise. The demo showcased a unique and fun combat system, wonderfully integrated mythology through the level design, cutscenes, character models, and enemies and seemed to be the kind of game that would stick with a player until far after he was done playing.

Too Human was, at its inception, intended to be a trilogy. The games would cover the bulk of Norse mythology in its fancy new cybernetic digs, from the beginning of Ragnarok all the way to the end. From a storytelling perspective, it got quite a lot of it right. Baldur’s return is met with uneasiness among the rest of the Norse gods, who are innately aware that his return bodes ill; in the Eddas, his return is the first sign of the imminent apocalypse. The other gods were equally well-crafted. Thor was what could be expected for Thor; he was muscular, bearded, terse, and carried a very large hammer. Freya was beautiful, mysterious, and powerful. Heimdall was a watcher-god who projected power and confidence, even in the face of grave dangers. Valhalla, filtered through the game’s idea of it being a large corporation, was well designed, even if the effect came off as a bit stodgy and ostentatious (one might expect the drinking halls of heaven to have more of a lived-in feel, and maybe a bit more mead-stink). There were also elements of unapologetic poetic beauty, like when the player character died and a blind, teched-up Valkyrie would descend from the heavens to carry the corpse into Valhalla. Add in a lot of nods and references to other facets of Norse mythology, such as the world-tree Yggdrasil, the Norns, and even a little known pseudo-god/talking head Mimir, who in the mythology guarded the well of knowledge. All were, of course, filtered through the odd mix of future-tech and vague social commentary, which meant that Yggdrasil was a cybernetic network where the NORNs (Non-Organic Rational Nanosystems ) lived, and Odin was ODIN (Organically Distributed Intelligence Network ).

If the idea of a game where the player takes control of a Norse god on the eve of Ragnarok doesn’t sound awesome enough, it also had the distinct advantage of having one of the most intriguing villains of all time as the main antagonist. Loki, who in the Eddas was an irredeemably entertaining but frustratingly enigmatic pseudo-god, starts most of the shit in the game. Upon his escape from prison (he’s trapped under Yggdrasil, with adder venom dripping onto his forehead for eternity – at least as far as eternity gets before the world ends), he immediately begins to collect allies – giants, goblins, and even other gods – in his war against the Aesir. This is where Baldur, and the other gods, have to come in to club him into submission. Though his characterization, at least in the first installment, is somewhat banally villainous (there’s none of the enigma, as in the source material), there remains enough of a mystery about him to be intriguing, and his escapades, as long as they’re viewed above some of the stodgy missions that they elicit, are entertaining and drive the story along as a brisk pace.

It’s the game itself that slows it down. Billed by Silicon Knights to be an original mix of RPG elements on an Action core – which is itself problematic, since there are dozens of other games, most notably the Fable and Legend of Zelda series, that embody that ideal – it was largely manifested in a control-stick based combat system over a series of never-ending improvements to your armor and weapons. If a player makes it for more than one solid progressive hour (that is, not an hour of constantly dying and respawning) in an unchanged suit of armor or with the same weapon, he either doesn’t know how to alter it or is incredibly stubborn. Weapons and armor fall from the sky with a regularity that is frightening, and ultimately irritating. A player can spend time and effort on getting a full-suit of matching armor that adds defensive or offensive bonuses, only to find pauldrons or a cuirass or greaves that not only trump the full suit, but also look ridiculous in comparison with the rest of the armor. It’s a frustrating time-sink in a game that should have a much faster pace. So it was a mixed bag, mixing the most boring elements of the RPG genre (and lacking the depth of other games’ armor/weapon combinations) with a combat system that was best described as simply unique, and it’s no surprise that it hasn’t been adapted by other games.

The game largely embodies the idea of a spectacular failure. Though there was some seriously awesome conceptualization, the execution as wobbly and inconsistent. Reviews were polaric; some reviewers raved, some hated it, and few were anywhere in the middle. The end result seemed to be that every single element of the game that was good had a caveat: the combat system started off being fun, but soon became endlessly repetitive and eventually outright boring; the level design was fantastic and intricate, but it was showcased in a cleverly-conceived-but-poorly-executed camera control scheme, which gave the player no direct control of what they were seeing and when; the cutscenes were stylish, but found a weird niche that occupied the area between a John Woo and a Zack Snyder film – there was a whole lot of unnecessary slow-motion and characters belting out bombastic lines with unironic intensity.

But if any game deserves a sequel, it’s Too Human. The meat and bones of Ragnarok have yet to be touched, and for my money, there are few contemporary retellings of Norse mythology that have come so achingly close to capturing the mournful spirit of the source material. The game certainly has an enthusiastic following – the Silicon Knights message boards are still buzzing, and at E3 fans eagerly awaited to see if SK’s announcement had anything to do with Too Human: Rise of the Giants. It didn’t. But if SK can drag Rise of the Giants out of the same development hell that plagued the first installment, and most importantly, listen to the criticism of fans and critics, the sequel could be a spectacular installment, and finally get the attention that the franchise ultimately deserves.

And if you haven’t played it, there’s no excuse: SK released the game for download on Xbox LIVE, and is available for around $20.

Although you play as a lesser known character named Baldur who’s past is slowly revealed throughout the story.  There is a twist to the story however.  The ancient mythology is fused with cybernetic and future technology.  While some say the combination may sound clunky, it is an extremely interesting concept.  If you think about it, it really isn’t that difficult to come up with.  Future+Past=Awesome, but the way they implement it is phenomenal.

The gameplay in Too Human is almost taking a cue from current gen sports games like the 2K Sports basketball games and Tiger Woods games by having the main combat take place on the right analog stick (actually Too Human has had the concept longer).  To attack an enemy with a melee weapon, you must simply point it in the direction of the enemy.  Of course having the right analog stick control combat, there is no manual camera control which is not a problem because 99.9% of the time, the fixed camera is always in the best possible position.  There is also gun combat in which you pull one or both of the triggers and the gun(s) is automatically locked on to the nearest enemy.  Sometimes the targeting can be a bit finicky, not targeting the correct enemy.  As an example that many people are getting annoyed with, once you kill an enemy with guns, the auto-lock will stay on the dead body.  Apparently people don’t have the patience to figure out that if you let go of the trigger for just a split second then press it down again, you will target the next enemy.  The combat is deeper than most people give it credit for with air juggles, very strong AoE attacks called ruiners, sliding, and a few others.  People might complain about the consequences of death in this game.  When you die, a Valkyrie comes down, picks you up, and carries you away. It lasts about 15 seconds and is unskippable.  Is it incredibly annoying?  At times yes when you are dying over and over.  All in all though it is not horrific by any means.

Now as said earlier this is not just a third person action game.  This definitely has some heavy RPG elements with skill trees, skill points, weapon customization with runes, percentages, there’s loot all over the place; in short not only is the action gameplay addictive, but trying to get better and better loot gives you the “I’ll finish this room then I’m done… ok I’ll be done after this one,” syndrome.  In short, the RPG elements are implemented beautifully.

As far as graphics go, it is no MGS 4 or COD4.  Sure the character models aren’t 100% crisp, the framerate in the cutscenes can drop, and there are some clipping problems.  However artistically, the game is beautiful.  The integration of futuristic technology into ancient mythological ideas brings a very interesting fusion.  On a slightly separate note, all armor and weapons show up uniquely on your character so it is very unlikely that any two Baldurs will look alike. When it comes to the audio, Too Human is outstanding.  The music really encapsulates the epic sense of the game and the voice acting is brilliantly done.  The sound effects also all sound as they should.  However a reviewer on a big games website that will remain unnamed, complained awhile about the sound when you jump then land just sounding “wrong”.  If you are really going to nitpick a game over the landing sounds, that is going a little bit overboard.  Does it really affect your experience with the gameplay or the game itself?  Yeah I didn’t think so.

The single-player campaign in Too Human lasts anywhere from 8-30 hours depending on how much time you take to find the secret areas on each level and tweak your equipment.  The game has five different classes, each of which can be taken down two differently aligned skill paths, along with campaign+ equals a ton of replayability. That’s not all!  There is also a two-player online co-op mode that is very fun.  You and a friend can play through the whole campaign together although this is probably my biggest criticism of the game.  It seems that Silicon Knights took a step backwards with the co-op not including any of the single-player cutscenes.  So multiplayer is basically the single-player with no cutscenes which is disappointing.  If I have an awesome game that has online co-op, I’d like to experience the whole story with my friend.  If you can get past that, this game could be on the same level of hours put in as Oblivion if you like the game enough.

Too Human is the unfortunate recipient of what I call the Duke Nukem syndrome.  This game has been announced and planned in one way or another for over a decade (development started on the Playstation 1, then moved to Gamecube, then to 360).  When a game is on hold for that long, impossible expectations accompany the game at launch.  While Too Human might not live up to some people’s expectations, it is a solid game in its own right and one that people should try out.

This game was reviewed on the Xbox 360.