_ “Sing, the goddess, about the anger of Achilles, Poleev’s son,
Damned anger, suffering without account to the Achaeans,
Many strong souls of heroes sent to Aida,
They themselves, for the food, who gave the prey greedy
Surrounding birds and dogs. “_
Homer, “Illiada”. The first song
If for some ridiculous reason you are not familiar with ancient Greek mythology, then I strongly recommend eliminating this gap in your general education. As a child, I was read out by the book “Legends and Myths of Ancient Greece” behind the authorship of Nikolai Albertovich Kun. It is clear that there were no details in her about the random sex life of the Greek gods and heroes, but the questions “Why Hercules” was married “immediately on Megara, Deal, Gebe?” I arose. And this is without taking into account his regular adventures “to the left” in the process of fulfilling the famous twelve exploits.
But not only Hercules was famous for ancient Greece, although he was certainly the most popular of the heroes. Many poets of those times sang the exploits of the demigods, rivaling among themselves in the art of versification. But, perhaps, the most fundamental of all the works is the poem “Iliad” of the ancient Greek poet-queen Homer. This work is considered the oldest of the preserved monuments of ancient Greek literature. And she tells about the events of one of the bloody confrontations of those years – the Trojan War.
The Trojan War can be divided into two cycles – a ten -year siege and a sad result for the Trojans, when a cunning Odyssey came up with a plan to penetrate Troy, creating a famous wooden horse, in which the best warriors of Greece took refuge. But we will talk about this somehow another time.
Dark Point Games, obviously, loves Illiadu and the theme of the Trojan War. And they also love games from from Software, more precisely, the mechanics of complex battles in which any mistake can become the final for the protagonist. When it comes to Soulslikes-games, the gameplay formula is not so complicated here-you pump the hero, it becomes stronger, but regardless of this, any careless movement sends you to the conservation point. But not all gamers may like this alignment. And the guys from Dark Point Games took this into account. In their new game Achilles: Legends Untold, they decided to slightly weaken the iron grip of Dark Souls and give the Gamer the opportunity to take a breath if something does not work out right away. And do not go time after time, causing attacks of completely explained rage.
Plot
As you already guessed from the headline, we play for Achilles or Achilles, if we speak for the western manner. But I personally like a traditional sound. The great warrior, leader of the mythical tribe of Mirmidonyans. Achilles was the central acting person of the decade of the Trojan War. It was he who struck the great hero and defender of Troy Hector (though thanks to the deceit of the goddess Athena), but he himself fell from the arrow of Paris (Apollo helped this). For the ignorant, I will explain: Achilles was practically invulnerable. His mother, the nymph of Fetid, decided to make her son immortal. Secretly from her husband, she rubbed him with Ambrosia and put him into the fire to “burn all the mortal from my father”. But the father of Achilles, the veils, saw how his son was lying in the fire stove and grabbed his son, expeling his wife to hell. As a result, the heel of Achilles, for which his mother was holding, remained non -custody. And it was in this vulnerable place that Paris got from onions.
Why am I retelling you a myth? This plot is important to understand, since the developers did not bother to explain anything in the game. There is a fact – you play for Achilles. Who is he, that he, why his health is instantly restored, is not explained, except for a short speech at the very beginning of the game, which still does not give answers to questions. Here the hero runs to Troy. He fights, wins and kills Hector (by the way, why did the developers give a QTE element, if he does not affect anything?). Further, Achilles meets Paris and always lose his battle, dying.
But this for the world of living Achilles was struck. In the world of the dead, it is not any more arrived to him, but personally Hades (aka Hades), and offers a deal – to return to the world of the living, to work a little to the god of the underworld and get an official resurrection. Naturally, Achilles agree to the proposal. But not everything goes smoothly. Achilles loses part of his strength, and most importantly, he ceases to be invulnerable. Well, this is not the first time for us to download the heroes from scratch.
gameplay
Achilles: Legends Untold is an isometric action with role -playing elements in which the diaploid and Soulslike are trying to get along. From the first game I got a camera (you can’t even bring it closer), the interface and general similarity, although the character controls here to the WASD keys (so, rather, here Victor Vran, not Diablo). And from the “Souls” a combat mechanic came, according to which you apply a lot of damage and very quickly, then you also very easily get damage in response, and if you are not careful or not cure the hero in time, quickly perish.
In the event of death, you will have to look for a place of death in order to choose lost souls – they are a local currency for which Achilles pumping. So I recommend that you forget about the habit of running forward, collecting a steam locomotive from mobs, and then cheerfully and fervently deal with them in one or two blows. In such a situation, you will most likely die from archers or you will simply be clamped in a corner and achieve. Patience and accurate calculation – this is the formula for success in this action.
combat system
Frankly, at the very beginning, when the player is only taught the basics, the fighting seems dull and monotonous. But here the lack of a choice of weapons is to blame. Achilles fights with one sword and closes with a small shield. And so the whole prologue will continue. At this moment, some players can simply turn off the game because of the piled boredom. In addition, the damn rapid energy is annoying, because of which you cannot jam to the death of the enemy. Moreover, energy is also needed to evade, and if you do not control the consumption of this element, then a hero is waiting for a quick death.
Already after meeting with Aida, when Achilles returns to the world of the living again, the variability of the fight increases simultaneously with the pumping of the hero. For example, you can take another weapon in the second hand, and the blows will change. And if you are armed with a spear, then you will also have to get used to it from scratch. In addition, I remind you that you are now not invulnerable, and each missed blow significantly affects the health of Achilles. Having died, you are returning to the nearest temple of Aida, but opponents are returning along with your resurrection.
Development of the hero
Souls that you use as local currency fly out of defeated opponents. Role mechanics in Achilles: Legends Untold is based on the tree of the skills that you pump. In addition to skills, the hero develops in attributes, such as strength, endurance, and so on. So do not rush at the start to grab everything in a row, but think that at this stage it will be more important for you (I first downloaded everything that gave me more endurance).
Exploring the world, you will find hidden chests from which you can get new weapons or valuable resources. In the future, when Achilles finds Hephaestus forge, he will be able to improve equipment, increasing characteristics. Of course, it will not do without magic skills.
In the end, Achilles will become much stronger than he was before his death.
Graphics and Sound
But with the visual and sound component of the game, everything is not very good. Frankly, I was extremely surprised to find that instead of adequate smoothing, the developers were trying to hide the jambs of models with the help of a solid portion of bluer. I have not met this, probably ten years like. You know, you can describe the beauty of the picture for a long time in those games where it is really good (hello, “witcher 3”!), But when you are faced with frankly outdated graphics and special effects, but this does not apply to stylistics, but simply is a short-lived Development, you fall a little into a stupor. The disadvantages are visible almost everywhere – in the animation of the hero and opponents, in special effects, in post -cutting. And everywhere, everywhere this devil is bluer.
Little of. The game is openly poorly optimized. Observing the drawdown from 120 FPS to 35 is annoying. Of course, for now, the game is in the status of “early access”, but let’s be honest: there is no faith that optimization will improve. The format of such a release itself puts the game in an extremely uncomfortable position, if we are talking about a single adventure-gamers evaluate the product here-and now, and they still do not care what this game will be through the conditional year, when a “full release” will happen.
The same can be said about the sound. He is frankly weak, the impression was that some free samples from public bases were taken. In addition, you will often fall in a situation where the sound is simply not recorded or confused. For example, Achilles runs through the water, and the sound is as if it spanks with sandals on stone tiles.
about the rest
Yesterday it became known that Dark Point Games decided to remove the Russian language from the game. Literally the day before the exit, he was, but now he is g1. As they themselves explained, this is their “fundamental position”. Well, the owner of the master, and I personally cannot underestimate the points for the game for this reason. But the fact is that the game is far from a masterpiece and without what happened.
Achilles: Legends Untold suffers due to the fact that he is trying to please the hardcore audience of the Soulslike genre, while not being that. Stuck somewhere half the way from the “diacoloid” to “Souls”, she did not receive her own face. Over and over again, you will compare it with some other product, and over and over again, Achilles will lose this comparison. Even despite the fact that the combat system receives a certain variety, it is frankly not enough for the entire distance of passage. It is likely that in a few hours fights will get bored. If in the “Souls” the fighting takes in quality, and even the ordinary mob is there a real challenge, then in this game you will regularly run from crowds of skeletons or bandits, trying to break them into small groups and thus cope. And this will also get bored quickly.
result
Achilles: Legends Untold – a good game. In general, she has an interesting idea, a good pumping system, and battles can (albeit rarely) give real pleasure. But it must be greatly polished, not only in the technical, but also by the gameplay plan.
For a clear reason, I will not evaluate this game, but the players can do perfectly without me, expressing their opinions on Steam. The trouble is Achilles: Legends Untold that you can always find the game better – whether it is Diabloid or Soulslike.