Achilles: Legends Untold, the proven isometric souls-like inspired by the Trojan War
Achilles
Imagine. Your warship reaches the sandy shore as the battle between the hoplites resounds in the distance. Ilio is under siege, the Greek troops are trying to break through the Trojan walls and now that you have arrived they have a real chance to succeed. You are Achilles, the hero destined to end the conflict between Ares and Hades. This is the basis of Achilles: Legends Untold, a new isometric action RPG inspired by souls-like.Released in the second quarter of 2022 in Early Access, this new adventure has been made available to us in demo format: here is our tried-and-true Achilles: Legends Untold.
Souls-like
Achilles: Legends Untold begins with the attack on Troy Achilles: Legends Untold, as already mentioned, is an isometric action RPG. Don't expect a Diablo approach though, as the real source of inspiration for this adventure is the souls-like genre.This is an official comparison, but still easy to make. Our character, in fact, has all those skills that one would expect from a Miyazaki title, with even the same key assignment. We will then have the light and heavy attack on R1 / RB and R2 / RT. We will be able to parry with the shield (but no parry, the view would probably make it too complex), make small dodges or real rolls. There is also the stamina bar, which forces us to keep our actions under control.
Let's continue with the comparison. Defeating enemies earns souls, which are lost if defeated (but can be recovered from the ground if you don't die a second time). Then there are checkpoints, in this case represented in the form of altars of Hades, where to heal ourselves, recover heals and objects (according to the mechanics of Bloodborne, that is, we will also have to farm basic heals) and make enemies reappear.
What else? The weapons have a moveset: in the demo there were two swords and a spear, all with unique moves. Our stats also recall those of the souls-like and influence the damage increase of the weapons (the "scaling", for the more experienced).
Differences
Achilles' view: Legends Untold is isometric Achilles: Legends Untold, however, is not a copy of a souls-like classic, mind you. First of all, as you have already seen, the view is isometric and this significantly changes the type of approach to combat. The camera allows you to always have a clear view of what surrounds us and managing groups of enemies is easier. At the same time, don't think you can go into trouble and face masses of opponents as if you were in any dungeon of Sanctuarium.Every hit counts in battles and enemies know how to be aggressive. In the demo their power is remarkable, since the most powerful warriors can eliminate us even in two or three attacks. Achilles: Legends Untold, however, asks us to play calmly, attracting one enemy at a time and playing in reaction to his moves, so as to take advantage of the openings. There are shielded enemies who stay on the defensive and await your mistake, powerful opponents who break your defense and archers who target from a distance. Fortunately, the game is inspired more by mythology than history and therefore there is no shortage of creatures of various kinds: in the demo it is possible to face a troll armed with a club and resurrected skeletons. Variety will be important: switching from one human enemy to the next would risk boring players soon.
There will also be enemies such as trolls in Achilles: Legends Untold One of the biggest changes, however, is related to the skill system . Unlike the average souls-like that relies almost exclusively on melee moves or systems of real magic, Achilles: Legends Untold allows you to unlock particular moves such as throwing the shield (which returns to us with the simple pressure of a key). This type of move consumes the Fury, which we can imagine with a mana bar, which is recovered at checkpoints.
Another modification is the level up system: instead of being able to place points freely on the character's statistics , we must spend souls in a constellation system. In practice, the character has access to a series of thematic constellations, linked to the various statistics or active skills. In the demos you only have access to a part of these constellations and for the moment the impression is that you are not free to infinitely enhance a certain statistic: once the stars of the constellation linked to Vitality are finished, for example, we will no longer be able to increase the life points. Having seen only part of this system we don't know how limiting it really is, but certainly the evolution of the character seems to be a bit more guided than that of any Dark Souls.
Enemies, storyline and limits
Achilles: Legends Untold checkpoints allow you to heal yourself and spend experience points Achilles: Legends Untold, based on what we have written so far, it might seem like just a mix between an isometric RPG and a souls -like and could give the impression of not having particularly original ideas. In part it is, we admit, but some twitch is present.An example is the system of combined attacks of the enemies, which can help each other and surprise us with some spectacular moves. For example, a soldier with a shield can crouch down to allow an ally behind him to leap forward and treacherously sink the sword towards us. Two archers, on the other hand, can act as a springboard for each other, so as to hit us with a shot loaded from above. The troll, on the other hand, can grab the skeletons and throw them at them. There is no shortage of ideas and if the developers know how to create many for the whole adventure, it could make the game always interesting and unpredictable.
Ettore, the first boss of Achilles: Legends Untold But let's talk about the bosses. In the demo we clash with Hector and then with Paris (unfortunately the demo does not allow us to conclude this second clash). The two enemies have their own set of moves with also some interesting ideas to vary the cards on the table. Ettore, who on balance is just a human being a little bigger than normal, can ask for an attack from above by the archers, who machine guns at us. Otherwise, he has normal melee combos: considering that he is the tutorial boss, he is an adequate enemy for his purpose.
Paride, on the other hand, fights with the bow and has various moves, which encourage us to use the right shield or dodge depending on the occasion. Not being able to finish the fight it is difficult to say whether it is an interesting battle or not, but we can immediately notice a problem: the narration.
The bosses, in the case of Ettore at least, can be spared or killed (and you get a different reward depending on the choice). When we reach Paris, that is Hector's brother for the uninitiated, the dialogues are identical, our choice does not influence the thing. Overall, the narrative component leaves a lot to be desired: the dialogue is limited to "Troy will burn" and "You'll have to pass over my corpse!" and nothing more, with a clearly patched-up dubbing.
Achilles: Legends Untold enhancement system is constellation style We hope that the demo is still incomplete in this sense and that what is proposed is not representative of the final product, because a long, silent run into the city of Ilio, with just some ugly and bad macho man dialogue, is anything but interesting. The Homeric epic can be exploited in many ways and it would be a shame to see the potential of the myth of Achilles and the Trojan war wasted.
We can say little about the setting, moreover, since for the moment we have only saw a small urban area, made up of sand, rocks, huts and little else. It will be interesting to see how the city has been recreated and how varied the game world will be.
Achilles: Legends Untold offers a mix of two much-loved genres, isometric action RPGs and souls-like action RPGs. The demo presents the basic ideas of the game, inspired by both worlds, offering lots of action and some interesting playful ideas, such as the combined attacks of the enemies. For now, what is less convincing is the narrative component, narrow and banal. The Iliad is an intriguing base, so we hope that the developers will be able to make the most of it.
