This is a case of seeing screen grabs of a title and its trailer, having some hope of what it could be, but then being disappointed when getting to try it out in action. Based on its look and general style, I’m sure the developers behind Achilles were hoping to craft a gaming experience akin to Diablo or other titles in that general style, boasting plenty of fighting action, and an array of cool skills to be used, all tied to the story of the legendary hero. While it does manage to check at least a fair number of items off of that list, whether there are issues with its port to the Switch or simply general problems they were unable to resolve, it absolutely comes up short of the intended mark.

On paper, the elements are generally in place. The first stage will acclimate you to your core abilities, you’ll be able to change up your attack style as you acquire new weapons, and you’ll be able to customize your character a bit as you throw points into your skill tree as you see fit. As you explore you’ll continue to meet new characters and pick up new quests, not all of which you’ll need to complete, but your reward for diligence will often be worthwhile with new equipment or materials that can come in handy. You will also learn to be cautious when entering new areas, as you may encounter enemies who are above your weight class, being better off returning when you’re actually equipped to deal with them.

But while it’s nice that they did a lot of the work to craft a decent experience from a high level, issues arise in the execution of core elements that weaken the foundation for its ultimate success. The combat is certainly playable, but there’s no question that it flows poorly and simply isn’t very diverse when compared to its peers. Even though you can go down skill tree paths that change up how it plays, most of the competition in this space have wildly different classes to choose from, allowing for more variety but also typically being better executed overall. Between the attack animations, how it can be difficult to feel your own attacks or those of your enemies “hits”, and simply in terms of a lack of satisfying variety the combat that should be the cornerstone of the experience fails to meet the standard that has already been set in the genre space by its peers.

Once you then pile on with some concerns with the quality of the writing and voice acting, the washed out color palette that can actually make it difficult to spot enemies right in front of you, and just an experience that feels like it was built from a genre checklist, the game ends up being disappointing. Even against the pretty ancient likes of Titan Quest, a game that didn’t port over to the Switch well at all, this doesn’t feel like a clear and decisive improvement overall. It’s certainly playable, but it isn’t competitive with the bar set by its contemporaries.