Review:
Numen: Contest of Heroes

Since I was young I've always had a fascination with Ancient Greece's mythology and the over-the-top tales that have spawned from it. The legends of mighty heroes battling horrendous monsters and stories of drunken Gods descending to the earth to have a laugh. I have a tendency to jump on anything that remotely relates to those absurd tales of old. It's because of this that I frequently play through Titan Quest for that sense of being a mighty hero of Greek legend who slays a God.

When the Summer sales rolled around for Steam, I noticed a little title called Numen: Contest of Heroes which had apparently slipped under my radar. A game where you play as a champion of the Gods. Of course, I had to buy it.

So, some details about the game itself before you skip to the end to read the best and worst parts of the game:

Hailing from the Czech developer and publisher CINEMAX, Numen: Contest of Heroes is an action RPG with 'some' choice driven actions/consequences. You will end up as the champion of one of 9 Gods depending on how you play your character up to that point (Combat/Archery/Magic). It's set in the world of Greek mythology and tries to offer as much adventure as it possibly can across it's setting. In good old RPG fashion, there's a main story to follow or side quests to complete, depending on whatever takes your fancy at the time.

The plot of Numen: Contest of Heroes is quite cliché by now; You are X hailing from the small town of Y, and your plot-appointed-partner Z has been killed for reason W leading you to go on a quest of revenge. The twist is that the Gods of Olympus have taken an interest in you at your moment of weakness and you will be a champion for one of them.

This twist is affected by your actions up to that point: There are nine Gods and you can only be a champion of one of them, but you'll only be allowed to choose from three of them. The three that are chosen are determined by your combat style up to that point. On your profile page is Combat, Archery and Magic and a number next to each, the numbers adding up to a total of 100. The skills you use and the enemies you kill affect the balance of those numbers and whichever one is highest scoring by the time the plot twist rolls around is going to be your specialisation for the rest of the game.