Grizzleheim’s Glory
Grizzleheim’s existence within the spiral has been regarded as one of the greatest worlds that KingsIsle has ever decided to release. With the inclusion of Norse mythology, Grizzleheim has many compelling structures and features that have been implemented, acting as an undisputable paragon for the rest of worlds in the spiral. Many of the important NPCs consist of three main races being bears, wolves, and ravens, with each of them showcasing a unique testament to the Viking lifestyle. Moreover, with its fascinating soundtrack and design, Grizzleheim illustrates a unique storyline that sparks interest within even the most aloof of wizards.
With the instruction by Merle Ambrose, you enter Grizzleheim under the notion to reunite its contact with the spiral, and you travel into Northguard to see King Bjorn IronClaws. However, King Bjorn seems to push you aside, only for you to prove your bravery and strength. Realistically, he is not wrong about that statement as the world’s enemies provide a reasonable challenge above the usual skill level of your wizard’s current progression stage. In the meantime, you start exploring the world of Grizzleheim and uncovering the mystery behind the broken link. Slowly but surely, you overcome trials and defeat enemies such as Grendels and the Red Claw, to which then the ravens are introduced as the main enemy. Before confronting the Coven, you are tasked with ending the feud between the wolves and bears in order to reunite a united front against the ravens located within Ravenscar, eventually learning about the Coven.
Before confronting the Coven, you are tasked to fight Jotun within Nidavellir as ordered by Bjorn which is an ancient location that contains a lot of spiral history. Nidavellir is by far one of the most interesting locations within the spiral because of the structures and lore that is behind it. As you
walk in, you see three different gates showcasing three different challenges, and to the next of those side doors, there are identical paintings of two ancient titans fighting being the Fire Dragon and the Ice Titan. Up to this point, they were mythical creatures that existed from the very beginning of the spiral, and Nidavellir definitely exemplifies Norse mythology to its fullest.
Before we continue, I just have to admire the scenery of the buildings that are structured within the mountainside, portraying the Coven’s strength as a formidable opponent. After finally exploring and defeating the Coven, you originally think that Grizzleheim is over, but then it seems that there is an entire second part to Grizzleheim. The coveted Wintertusk awaits, and the running gag of the entire game… that there’s actually good experience!
During your adventures in Wintertusk, you stumble over an old raven lady, unlike many others, to eventually reveal herself as Grandmother Raven, the mother of all ancient titans and the sister to prehistoric Bartelby. She is by far the most developed NPC within the entirety of Grizzleheim, especially due to her prominence within the Grizzleheim story as a divine being, but also with her involvement with other major characters later in the storyline (Empyrea).
It is discovered that the Coven desire far more than all of Grizzleheim, and they pursue into Wintertusk in order to pursue their malicious plans. The Coven seek to awaken the legendary Ice titan Ymir, and so you are tasked to stop their plans. In order to do this, you must convince all of Ymir’s sons for their seals by completing of their requests, and then you finally enter into Nastrond in order to stop the Coven from bringing an everlasting winter.
The absolute most shocking part of Nastrond is that you get to fight all of Ymir’s sons within one entire battle, and with Ymir sleeping in the background, it actually feels like Grizzleheim is at stake. I mean how cool is that!? At first, it seemed that they were just a bunch of apathetic giants who wanted you to do their bidding, but who know they were the final opponents behind Coven? As a plus for Ice wizards, they get to cast Ymir as the Frost Giant as part of their level 48 spell quest.
Other than the subjective standpoint that Grizzleheim is such a great world, there are objective features to the world that can bolster its greatness. Vestrilund, located in Wintertusk, acts as the hub to the farming gold as you can fight Halfang Bristlecrown to which he drops gear that can sells for thousands! Moreover, as an alternative to some legendary gear, you can also craft Wintertusk gear by buying gear recipes from Carax Strongthread. As equip-able items at level 56, they provide remarkably high numbers for damage, critical and resist, and can even be interchangeable with some pieces of Waterworks gear depending on the school of your wizard. Just make sure you keep up with those crafting quests! And if you do have leftover crowns, I highly recommend everyone
to buy Vestrilund for 1995 crowns.
And so, with all of these features combined, Grizzleheim can be seen as one of the greatest worlds ever seen in the spiral.