The graphics was made by Joan and Leif-julian, all from scratch :-)
We tried to apply the theme several times: throwback to Nes games, throwback to the viking era, story with throwback to a defenseless state, throwback bullets to enemies and even whirlpools that throwback the player to early stages of the level.
The timeouts are too strict, I agree. I'll tune them better for after the game jam. For the boat acceleration on windy areas, I have an idea for making it feel better, also for after the game jam :-)