The Lost Vikings is a platform video game in which we must use the skills of the 3 Vikings protagonists to solve puzzles that are presented in each phase.

This video game was released in 1992 and came out on Super Nintendo, Genesis/Mega Drive, GameBoy Advance, PC, and Amiga. Now, after more than 20 years, the company that developed the game, Blizzard Entertainment, offers gamers a full and free version of the game for the PC platform.

The story of The Lost Vikings begins when the 3 main characters, Olaf the Stout, Baelog the Fierce, and Erik the Swift, participate in the hunting competition organized in their village. When they return home, they are abducted by an interplanetary ship piloted by Tomator, an intergalactic zookeeper whose aim is to pick up 3 human specimens for his zoo. Luckily for the Vikings, the teleportation system failed and stood the 3 protagonists in the ship's corridors instead of the specimens room. This will be our opportunity to escape from the ship and return to our home by using the Vikings' skills and vortex and dimensional space that we will find throughout the game.

To complete each phase, we must find an exit door and place the 3 main characters in it. Each character has a different skill:

• Olaf: it is slow, can't hit, and doesn't jump, but it has a shield that can stop enemies' attacks or block the enemy advance, and it also can be used as a parachute in height jumps.
• Baelog: does not have any protection and doesn't jump, but he has a sword to hit the enemies at short distances and can use his bow and arrow to take down the enemies at long distances or activate switches that we find throughout levels.
• Erik: it doesn't possess any weapon or protection but is very fast; he can jump and also uses his hard head to open holes in walls.

Along the phases, we will find some difficulties, which we have to solve by using Vikings' skills or joining several of them. We must be careful because Vikings can't die, and every one of them should reach the end of the phase. An enemy can beat every Viking up to 3 times per phase before he dies. This facilitates the task of returning our protagonists to their beloved village.

As we move forward in the game, some messages explain how to manage Vikings and interact with the scenario. Even so, here is a summary of the main keys of the video game:

• Arrow keys: moves selected Viking around the screen.
• Control: switch Viking
• F: selected Viking makes use of his primary skill
• D: selected Viking makes use of his secondary skill
• E: selected Viking makes use of the selected item
• S: activate a switch

Every time we finish a level, a password will be displayed that we can annotate to start from that point of the game. This is very useful since the game has almost 35 phases, and there is no possibility of saving the game.

The graphics of the game are very colorful. Both the platforms section and puzzle component make this game a perfect choice to play on any PC because, in addition to being fun, it works on any current machine because it doesn't require a powerful processor or graphics card.

As a curiosity, this game uses the MS-DOS emulator named “DosBox,” which is not necessary to configure or install since it's integrated into the video game. The game is compatible with all Windows versions, including the most current version, Windows 8.1.