The Lost Vikings

Three Vikings, one way out, and none of them can manage it alone. The Lost Vikings is a clever puzzle platformer that forces you to think in three bodies at once — and it carries a spicy pedigree to boot.

It is, after all, an early game by the studio Silicon & Synapse, which later renamed itself and became the legendary Blizzard. Long before Warcraft and Diablo, the creators here showed a knack for inventive design and humour. You control a trio of Vikings, each of whom can do something different: Erik can run and jump, Baleog fights with sword and bow, and Olaf shields himself — and can even glide with his shield. None of them is a complete hero; only their combination opens the way forward.

Each level is thus effectively a puzzle. You switch between characters, send them to different places, and coordinate their abilities to get all three to the exit alive. If even one of them dies, the level has to be solved again. The result is a clever game of interplay, where planning and observation matter more than reflexes.

And then there's the humour. The Vikings travel through time and bizarre settings during their adventure, commenting on events with a wry detachment that gives the game a light, entertaining tone that beautifully balances out the difficulty of the puzzles. The characters' banter remains charming to this day.

The Lost Vikings became a classic of cooperative puzzling and proof that a brilliant idea doesn't need a big budget. For Blizzard fans, it also offers a fascinating glimpse into the studio's beginnings, before it set out to conquer the world with strategy games and RPGs.

Why play it: For a clever puzzle platformer with three indispensable heroes, brisk humour, and the charm of an early game from a future giant, Blizzard.