Achilles: Legends Untold Review Summary

Enjoyable gameplay and immersive experience: The game offers engaging gameplay with fluid combat, RPG elements, and satisfying progression. Players praise the graphics, immersive atmosphere, level design, and the overall fun factor, making it an enjoyable experience.

Challenging and fluid combat: The combat system is a standout feature, offering a blend of challenge and fluidity. It requires strategic use of dodging, blocking, and various attacks, with some reviewers drawing comparisons to the Souls-like genre due to its demanding nature and emphasis on timing.

Diablo and Souls-like blend: Many reviewers compare the game to a blend of Diablo and Souls-like games, noting the hack-and-slash gameplay combined with strategic combat elements. This fusion creates a unique experience that appeals to fans of both genres.

Appealing Greek mythology setting: The game is set in Ancient Greece and incorporates Greek mythology, which many reviewers found appealing. Playing as Achilles and encountering mythological creatures and NPCs adds to the immersive experience.

Enjoyable early game, simplifies later: Some reviewers noted that the game's initial appeal diminished after around 10 hours, with character progression making the game too easy. However, they still enjoyed the early stages and found the game to be a decent time killer.

Poor game balance, becomes too easy: The game's balance is poor, with some weapons and builds becoming overpowered quickly. This trivializes combat and reduces the challenge, making the game too easy, even on higher difficulty settings.

Shallow skill tree, poor progression: The skill tree and character progression systems lack depth and meaningful choices. Most skills are simple stat upgrades, and powerful abilities are often locked behind progression, limiting build diversity and strategic options.

Generic, uninteresting story: The story is generic, uninteresting, and lacks depth, failing to engage players. Some reviewers felt the story was rushed and lacked sufficient content or compelling characters.

Poor map, navigation issues: The game lacks a map or has a poorly implemented map, making navigation difficult and exploration unrewarding. The UI is also awkward, and the fixed camera angle can obstruct the player's view.

Weak Greek mythology implementation: The game fails to capitalize on its Greek mythology setting, lacking compelling story elements and unique enemies. Locations are repetitive, and special skills are visually uninspired, diminishing the overall experience.

Mixes ARPG, Souls-like, Hack-and-slash: The game blends elements from multiple genres, primarily ARPGs, Soulslikes, and hack-and-slash games, viewed from an isometric perspective reminiscent of Diablo or Titan Quest. Combat involves stamina management, dodging, parrying, and utilizing light and heavy attacks, with mechanics borrowed from Dark Souls. The game also features a co-op multiplayer mode.

Constellation skill tree with stat boosts: The game features a constellation-based skill tree where players allocate points to improve attributes like strength, vitality, luck, and endurance. Additional combat skills and passive perks can be unlocked, but the skill tree is criticized for primarily offering stat boosts rather than impactful new abilities. Leveling up is fast, and the game relies more on player skill than character progression, especially early on.

Varied weapons with upgrades/abilities: The game features a variety of weapon types, including swords, axes, spears, and shields, each with unique stats and abilities. Weapons can be upgraded using materials found in the world and some can be enchanted to deal elemental damage. Weapons are also used to solve puzzles.

Large open world for exploration: The game features a large, open world that encourages exploration, with areas gated by specific abilities. The map is divided into larger parts and contains chests, boss fights, and teleport waypoints. The game involves frequent combat and exploration.

Choices impact story/rewards: The game includes normal, elite, and boss enemies. Defeating mini-bosses allows players to choose to spare or kill them, impacting the story and rewards. The game features mini and larger dungeons and sidequests.

Inconsistent performance, optimization issues: The game's performance is inconsistent, with many players experiencing stuttering, frame drops, and overheating issues, even on high-end hardware. Some players reported improvements after patches or by adjusting settings, while others found the game unplayable regardless of their configuration. This suggests optimization issues that need to be addressed.

Inconsistent graphics, blurry textures: The game's graphics receive mixed reviews, with some praising the visuals on Ultra settings and others criticizing blurry textures, outdated graphics, and a lack of environmental variety. Some players also noted issues with dark screen edges and poorly locatable sound effects, indicating inconsistencies in the game's presentation.

Runs well on Steam Deck: The game runs well on Steam Deck and older hardware. Players report smooth performance, good FPS, and intuitive controls on Steam Deck. This indicates good optimization for these specific platforms.

Various bugs encountered during gameplay: Players have encountered various bugs, including getting stuck in terrain, enemies getting stuck or ignoring the player, and progression-blocking issues. While some consider these bugs expected in early access, they still detract from the overall experience.

Stuttering when entering new areas: Stuttering occurs when initially entering new areas, then disappears after running through the same area again. This suggests the game is loading shaders or other assets on the fly, causing temporary performance dips.

Generally recommended, especially on sale: Many reviewers recommend the game, especially when purchased on sale. They highlight its enjoyable gameplay, fair price, and suitability for casual play. Some suggest it's a good fit for fans of action RPGs, Soulslike games, or Greek mythology, while others find it a decent way to pass the time.

Good for genre enthusiasts: The game is often recommended for fans of specific genres like action RPGs, Soulslike games, or those interested in Greek mythology. Reviewers suggest that players who enjoy these elements will likely find the game appealing. This targeted recommendation helps potential buyers determine if the game aligns with their interests.

Potential with future updates: Some reviewers express hope for future updates, DLC, and improvements to address existing issues. They believe the game has potential and a solid foundation, making it worth watching for future development. This suggests that while the game may have shortcomings, there is optimism for its future.

Good for short, solo play: The game is recommended for short, solo play sessions, making it suitable for casual gaming on the go. This suggests that the game is well-suited for players who prefer to play in short bursts or enjoy single-player experiences.

Better with a controller: Some reviewers recommend playing the game with a controller for a better experience. This suggests that the game's control scheme may be better suited for a gamepad than a keyboard and mouse. One reviewer specifically recommends using a sword and shield for a Soulslike experience.

Achilles in mythological ancient Greece: The game's story centers on Achilles in ancient Greece, drawing from Homer's epics and Greek mythology, though some reviewers found the narrative generic or secondary to the combat. The game features voice acting and a set of main and side quests, but may take liberties with historical accuracy. Some reviewers noted similarities to other games like Titan Quest.

Early Access, incomplete content: The game is in Early Access, with content limited to the first chapter of a planned five. While updates are frequent, some reviewers feel they don't address core issues, and the story ends abruptly in the current version.

Inconsistent cultural representation: One reviewer found the use of modern profanity out of place in ancient Greece. Another reviewer felt the Troyens' oriental Turkish appearance was inappropriate, indicating potential issues with cultural representation.

Low player engagement, unnoticed game: Some reviewers noted that a significant portion of players didn't progress far into the game, as evidenced by achievement data. One reviewer expressed surprise that the game had gone largely unnoticed.

Indie game, small development team: The game is an indie title developed by a small team. One reviewer specifically mentioned supporting the studio after seeing them at a gaming event, highlighting the appeal of supporting indie development.