Achilles: Legends Untold
- November 2, 2023
- Dark Point Games
- 10h median play time
Get on Steam"Achilles: Legends Untold" is an action RPG set in ancient Greece, where you play as the warrior Achilles. With souls-like combat and a variety of enemies, mastering defense and attack tactics is crucial for success. The game features over 20 hours of gameplay, an open world to explore, and a unique combat system where you can choose your preferred weapon and fighting style.
PC
Steam Deck
Windows
Reviews
- Engaging combat system that combines elements of ARPG and souls-like mechanics, providing a satisfying experience.
- Beautiful graphics and well-designed environments that enhance the immersion in ancient Greek mythology.
- Decent skill tree and weapon variety, allowing for different playstyles and strategies.
- Clunky controls and targeting system that can lead to frustrating combat experiences, especially in crowded situations.
- Voice acting and dialogue quality are subpar, detracting from the overall narrative experience.
- Performance issues, including stuttering and frame rate drops, particularly on certain hardware configurations.
- story217 mentions
- 28 % positive mentions
- 67 % neutral mentions
- 6 % negative mentions
The story of "Achilles: Legends Untold" is a mixed bag, with some players appreciating its original take on Greek mythology and engaging quests, while others criticize it for being generic, repetitive, and poorly written. The game features a fully voice-acted narrative with a blend of main missions and side quests, but many reviewers noted a lack of depth and variety in both the story and gameplay mechanics. Overall, while the setting and premise have potential, the execution leaves much to be desired, making it more of a backdrop for combat than a compelling narrative experience.
“The story is interesting and there are just enough side activities to make you explore the map without being too many.”
“The story is fully voice acted and covers 16 main missions, 14 side quests across a pretty large variety of beautiful maps which include Greece and its surrounding districts.”
“The game is exactly as expected: perfect experience for a single player, great combat and interesting story.”
“The story couldn't have been more generic.”
“The quests are unimaginative.”
“The story of the game is dull and manages to be even worse than the gameplay, with atrocious voice acting from most of the cast, forgettable characters, uninspiring design, and too much 'not now, I will explain this later' going on.”
- gameplay133 mentions
- 32 % positive mentions
- 56 % neutral mentions
- 12 % negative mentions
The gameplay of "Achilles: Legends Untold" is a mixed bag, with some players appreciating its addictive mechanics and engaging combat that blends ARPG and souls-like elements, while others criticize it for being repetitive, clunky, and lacking depth. The game features a variety of weapons and skills, but many feel that the combat mechanics are underwhelming and fail to deliver the challenge expected from a souls-like experience. Overall, while the game has its enjoyable moments, it struggles with balance and polish, leaving some players feeling unfulfilled.
“The gameplay is a mixture of ARPG with souls-like mechanics, featuring a stamina bar for rolls and attacks along with a 'fury' bar for your weapon skills.”
“This game managed to attract me due to its gameplay and precise controls.”
“Excellent and addictive gameplay; I hope for more content in the future!”
“Higher difficulty gameplay is, like most of these types of games, a simple bullet sponge scenario.”
“Gameplay feels like the game is 15 years old in a bad way.”
“The developers tried to make a good game, but for some reason they decided to build it around the mechanics of hyped souls-like games, which negatively affected the final result and only made the game worse.”
- graphics87 mentions
- 57 % positive mentions
- 39 % neutral mentions
- 3 % negative mentions
Overall, the graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with many players appreciating the art style and visual aesthetics, particularly the ancient Greek influences. While some describe the graphics as beautiful and solid, others note issues such as blurriness, dated visuals, and performance problems on certain hardware. Despite these criticisms, the graphics are often seen as a strong point that enhances the gameplay experience, even if they don't always meet high expectations.
“The combat is addictive, the graphics are awesome, and the storytelling is great.”
“Great visuals, great skill tree, ancient Greek mythology... what's not to like?”
“The world and graphics are really beautiful; character design is nice.”
“Art style is largely ancient Greek, with minor fantasy embellishments... but not quite proper Mycenaean or Trojan.”
“As far as graphics go, of course I wasn't expecting anything fancy given the fact this is an indie game, but I have to say, I'm a bit disappointed with how it looks overall.”
“The graphics are okay, but no one will be picking up their jaws from the floor.”
- optimization34 mentions
- 9 % positive mentions
- 59 % neutral mentions
- 32 % negative mentions
The game's optimization has received mixed reviews, with many players experiencing significant stuttering and loading issues, particularly when entering new areas, regardless of hardware specifications. While some users noted stable performance and quick load times, others reported severe frame rate drops and technical problems, indicating that the game still requires substantial optimization work. Overall, it appears that while there are moments of smooth gameplay, the frequent performance hiccups detract from the overall experience, especially for those accustomed to high-performance gaming.
“Steam Deck compatibility: the game is optimized for the Steam Deck, ensuring a seamless and enjoyable gaming experience for players using this handheld device.”
“Great improvement vs EA, especially on a performance front.”
“I thought performance would be worse for an early access, but most of the time it had stable 120fps.”
“Terrible stutters (unoptimized shader something, once shaders are loaded there are no stutters, but the first time you are in an area expect stutters, regardless of your hardware).”
“I was unable to get satisfactory performance out of this game on two different machines.”
“However, there are notable technical problems such as audio issues, stuttering, and freezing, particularly when progressing in the game.”
- stability22 mentions
- 14 % positive mentions
- -9 % neutral mentions
- 95 % negative mentions
The game's stability has received mixed reviews, with many players reporting various bugs, glitches, and issues with combat mechanics, such as poor collision detection and unresponsive controls. While some users experienced minimal problems during gameplay, others highlighted significant frustrations, including freezing during cutscenes and unbalanced difficulty. Overall, the game appears to have a range of stability issues that detract from the experience, though some players remain hopeful for future fixes.
“I didn't encounter any bugs during gameplay; there were no glitches or crashes.”
“The game runs smoothly without any stability issues.”
“I experienced a seamless gaming experience with no interruptions or technical problems.”
“Clunky combat, horrible collision detection, the UI is an unrefined mess with buggy quests/side-quests and a lackluster amateur presentation.”
“The game is broken and buggy in so many different ways.”
“I personally give it a thumbs down right now because of how buggy and broken the game is.”
- music21 mentions
- 62 % positive mentions
- 24 % neutral mentions
- 14 % negative mentions
The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with some players praising the soundtrack as "badass" and fitting well with the game's atmosphere, while others find it forgettable or lacking. Overall, many appreciate the music's ability to enhance the experience, though there are criticisms regarding sound design and inconsistency in voice acting. The consensus leans towards the soundtrack being a strong point, contributing positively to the gameplay.
“I love games that have a good soundtrack and this game definitely delivers on that.”
“The atmosphere is really great, and the same goes for music and sounds.”
“Addicting gameplay, beautiful music, just tons of fun!!”
“The soundtrack is forgettable.”
“Sound design is not great, and the music isn't either.”
“Music is nonexistent.”
- grinding8 mentions
- 13 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 88 % negative mentions
Overall, players find the grinding aspect of the game to be somewhat tedious, especially in the later stages, where it can feel repetitive and drawn out. While the game avoids excessive length, the need to accumulate resources and enhance skills can detract from the overall enjoyment, particularly for achievement hunters. However, the engaging combat and enjoyable story help balance the grind for many players.
“You'll need a second life for grinding.”
“This wouldn't matter for non-achievement hunters, but it is rather tedious to rack up the kicks.”
“All of these things on their own wouldn't be too bad, but together it just makes playing through the game tedious.”
“Whilst I am a sucker for skill trees and diversifying the character build, it felt somewhat grindy towards the later stages, and I was slightly let down that the skills were more or less the same in that you enhance strength, health bar, stamina bar, and maybe a few special moves.”
- atmosphere7 mentions
- 57 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 43 % negative mentions
The atmosphere of the game is generally praised for its polished world design and immersive qualities, effectively capturing the essence of mythological Greece. While some critiques mention shortcomings in voice acting and graphics, the overall ambiance, complemented by strong music and sound, contributes to a haunting and engaging experience.
“The atmosphere is really great, and the same goes for music and sounds.”
“Just soft and lacking in impact; art, story, and atmosphere are all pretty good.”
“The atmosphere of mythological Greece permeates from all sides.”
“Creates a proper, haunting atmosphere.”
- replayability6 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
Overall, the reviews indicate that replayability varies significantly among games, with some offering multiple paths and unlockable content that enhance replay value, while others are criticized for being linear and lacking meaningful choices. Games that incorporate higher difficulty levels or rich exploration tend to extend their replayability, but technical issues and limited content can detract from the experience.
“Some games you just know that there will be replay value within the first 20-60 minutes.”
“Good exploration, good replay value, good mechanics, and a nice little lore that roots in Greek mythology.”
“But if you can go down 2 paths (or more) and thereby unlock other story content & weapons (ideal for replayability!), that's awesome!”
“For replayability, it needs more content, but if you go to a higher difficulty, you can extend the fun.”
“Dark Souls but Greek, and isometric, also short and linear with extremely limited replay value (defeating the Paris the impossible boss at the start doesn't change the course of the game) but overall I had fun.”
“But it has almost no replayability; it's an unknown investment, and it's filled with bugs and glitches that ruin the fun.”
- humor6 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game's humor is characterized by quirky glitches, such as dead enemies continuing to speak, and a consistent use of playful language, including the repeated use of "malaka" and humorous insults like "horse son of a beach." Players find the comedic timing and voice acting, especially when characters voiced by the same actor interact, to be particularly amusing, contributing to an overall endearing and funny experience despite its low-budget presentation.
“The game has some humor too, and even has a few swear words.”
“You can hear the word 'malaka' in the dialogues like a hundred times and it is funny every single time.”
“Being constantly called a horse son of a beach is hilariously endearing.”
- emotional2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players find the emotional aspect of the game compelling, as it combines a basic yet intriguing story set in a unique dimension between life and death, enriched by mythological elements. The narrative and lore provide a deep emotional motivation that enhances players' connections to the characters and the overall experience, making the journey worthwhile.
“The game features a compelling narrative and rich lore, providing players with a deep and meaningful story that enhances their emotional connection to the game world and characters.”
“In regards to the actual story, you are thrown into a very basic premise, but the fact that it takes place in a strange dimension, somewhere between life and death, ruled by intriguing mythological monsters and devious men, gives the main character just enough emotional motivation to make following through till the end a worthwhile endeavor.”
- character development1 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
While the visuals and character design are praised for their beauty, there is little mention of depth or progression in character development, suggesting that the focus may be more on aesthetics than on evolving narratives or character arcs.
