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Dark Point Games recently released a new title, Achilles: Legends Untold, to the Steam Early Access Program. This isometric souls-like action RPG will immerse players in a conflict between mythological gods. We decided to check out the new entry to the Early Access program. Find out how it is in our review of the Dark Point Games release Achilles: Legends Untold.
Story: A shallow telling of gods and humans
Achilles: Legends Untold kicks off during the Bronze Age, particularly during the Trojan War. This conflict and its existence are debatable which the Greek Army and the Army of Troy are fighting. Stepping into the shoes of the legendary figure Achilles, you and Agamemnon assault the city of Troy. The beginning of Achilles: Legends Untold begins toward the end of the assault of Troy, where Achilles fights Hector.
For those who don’t remember, this conflict is kicked off because Helen, the wife of the king of Sparta, had fallen in love with one of the princes of Troy, Paris. Achilles: Legends Untold is based more on the mythology of the gods, which is relevant because this conflict is caused by the gods initially in the myth. With Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite forcing a choice upon the young prince. Eris, the goddess of discord, brings a gift “for the fairest,” causing her namesake between the goddess and seeing the choice placed upon Paris. Offered power, wisdom, or love, Paris chooses love and the goddess Aphrodite, leading Helen to fall in love with Paris.
A game of gods and heroes
Brings us back to the fall of Troy and the fall of Achilles by the hand of Paris, and his descent into the underworld, the realm of the god Hades. Hades offers Achilles a chance to return to the land of the living. In exchange, Achilles must do Hade’s bidding, to which he agrees. Upon his return, he must set out to recover the necessary gear and power to take on the task set out ahead of him.
Unfortunately, you will get more out of our review of Achilles: Legends Untold in terms of story than you will from playing the game. The story at this point is shallow will only a handful of quests before. There is just nothing, one last quest marker in the menu labeled “unavailable.” But, of course, this game is in Early Access, so hopefully, the developers are still working on story content.
Gameplay: Interesting isometric combat that needs polish
Dark Point Games will have players running through Achilles: Legends Untold in a souls-like manner. Given a basic set of gear, the player will be able to explore these areas freely. The player will meet and fight a couple of different enemies as they explore and find new equipment and items that can be upgraded or crafted. Players will also have access to an equipable skill that can also be found through the game. Of course, you’ll find much of the basics in just about any action RPG on the market.
Players can also improve their character through a skill point system. The skill point system is formed through a constellation-shaped ability tree which will boost all the usual stats that you’d find, excluding one. However, instead of MP or something like that, Achilles: Legends Untold uses a wrath system that allows Achilles to utilize gear skills. Additional skills can be unlocked through this constellation system drain, counter skills, and shield throw skills.
Much of the gameplay in Achilles: Legends Untold will be centered around exploration, with a pretty large area of open-world and closed rooms for players to check out. Unfortunately, exploration is challenging, with no map for the player to use and a usable navigation trail that would take you to a generic area of a quest. As a result, it was really easy to find yourself getting lost while spending a couple of extra hours on the other side of the world.
Combat is relatively basic combat with a bit of advanced combo mixing with skills and gear. Combat is hindered by the need for heavy investment into the constellation tree to unlock these abilities for use. As of this moment, players can expect to put a lot of time into exploration and general combat between leveling their skill and playing through the few quests there are.
Graphics/Audio: A gorgeous isometric world hindered by bugs
Achilles: Legends Untold will offer a Diablo-like feel using an isometric camera. Exploring the countryside, caves, and temples is a great experience with beautiful detail. The world is meant to be built so that the player has to deal with loading screens as little as possible. This intent is commendable, but unfortunately, during play, the game often and every time, we would experience a frame drop of 10 or more fps.
There were also various bugs that we encountered during our review of Achilles: Legends Untold. Achilles would often clip against different environmental items. Additionally, when descending off something of a higher elevation, Achilles would land on top of the screen, hovering about everything else. These aren’t the kind of issues that will ruin this game, much of these issues will be fixed with a couple of future updates.
Conclusion: Good foundation, needs more time
The Dark Point Games release Achilles: Legends Untold offers a solid foundation, with the beginnings of an interesting plot. Unfortunately, it’s too early to tell what the full release of Achilles: Legends Untold will look like. So, for now, if you are interested in supporting the team at Dark Point Games. You can pick up their newest release, Achilles: Legends Untold, for $19.99 on the Steam Early Access program. But beware, there isn’t much to the game just yet. Additionally, if you are interested in learning more about the team at Dark Point Games, you can check them out on their development page.
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