PLATFORM: PC, PS4/5, XBOX ONE/SERIES (REVIEWED) | RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
Looking and playing like a simplified single-player Diablo, Achilles: Legends Untold is an isometric action RPG that follows its hero through an alternate version of Greek mythology where Achilles has been brought back from the dead to forge his own path amidst an age-old battle between Hades and Ares. Using three offensive skills and a decent amount of weapons and projectiles, Achilles follows a fairly linear path to each of his objectives, fighting all manner of skeletons, soldiers and monsters along the way.
Combat is intended to be modelled on the Dark Souls playbook, holding your shield up and jabbing your sword at opportune moments, with attacks and dodges tied to a stamina bar. Unfortunately it’s all a bit clunky and unresponsive, particularly when locking your aim onto a single emeny, and you’re often swarmed by so many foes that your best option is to wildly swing your sword around and hope for the best. Your first hour or so is likely to be especially tricky, as a severely underpowered Achilles can be quickly taken down even by the weakest of enemies. After upgrading your attributes though, things shift dramatically as you’re able to slice your way through large groups with almost no effort at all. Boss enemies sadly don’t pose too much of a threat either, with most being easily defeated thanks to some easily avoidable attack patterns and very generous hit boxes. Later in the game, however, things swing back the other way again, with some severe difficulty spikes turning what had managed to become a fun if limited brawler into a real test of endurance.
Legends Untold‘s world is quite expansive, relatively speaking, and straying off the main path can reward you with some fancy new loot. However, if you’ve spent any time upgrading your favourite weapon, you’re unlikely to find anything better than your current equipment, taking away the motivation to fully explore your surroundings. The skill tree used to upgrade your gear seems incredibly haphazard, based around star constellations that house countless stat boosts with special abilities seemingly thrown in at random. It’s easy to miss the more useful perks amongst the plethora of unmarked nodes, and working your way towards them by connecting a path between surrounding upgrades often feels like more trouble than it’s worth.
Achilles: Legends Untold isn’t without its merits – the combat definitely has its moments, and everything generally looks really nice – but many other games have done this sort of thing with much more imagination, creativity and ambition. Unfortunately, balancing issues, underwhelming skills, questionable voice acting, and an undercooked loot system make this a difficult one to recommend.
