Soulslike ARPG Achilles: Legends Untold hits Early Access soon

Achilles always was a moody sort, and you can kind of see why. The Greek demigod went through a bodged immortality ritual that left his now-famous heel exposed, and was then sent off to Centaur boarding school, where he was brought up to be a very effective but somewhat single-minded killing machine in the Trojan War (only to get struck down by an arrow from Orlando Bloom—ergh).

It looks like someone finally figured out that Achilles' reputation as a one-man army makes him the perfect protagonist for a relentlessly combat-focused ARPG, which is what we have here in this trailer for Achilles: Legends Untold.

Superficially, it looks a little bit Diablo, though developer Dark Point Games describes it as a soulslike, which really is the opposite to Diablo's friction-free lootfest. If the devs are serious about the game's soulslike sensibilities, you should expect endless struggle, consequential death, and a fair bit of the loot you pick up to be excrement. The approach to weapon stats looks quite Soulsian too, with what appears to be stat scaling based on your attributes and several damage types: Physical, Dark, Magic and Divine.

(Image credit: Dark Point Games)

It looks like good fun. There's dodge-rolling, you can throw your circle shield like Captain America (or *ahem* Captain Hellenica), and of course you can do that ridiculous air-step downward stab that I'm pretty sure was invented by Brad Pitt's rendition of Achilles in the 2004 movie. The game looks like a bit of an ARPG power trip – you being Achilles and all—but presumably it's quite a bit tougher than it seems.

There's online co-op too, which looks like it lets you play through the game with a buddy. Did Achilles have buddies? Who were they? I guess we'll find out 12th May when the game hits Steam Early Access.

Robert is a freelance writer and chronic game tinkerer who spends many hours modding games then not playing them, and hiding behind doors with a shotgun in Hunt: Showdown. Wishes to spend his dying moments on Earth scrolling through his games library on a TV-friendly frontend that unifies all PC game launchers.