Some games try to be more than they actually are, or attempt to revolutionize genres. Some games are made, instead, to merely add a little more to the gameplay and keep it enjoyable. Loki: Heroes of Mythology doesn't really fall into either of these categories, instead finding itself repeating a formula that has been used ad nauseam. The result is a game that doesn't have any particularly glaring issues with it, but neither does it have anything good enough to mention.

Now, somewhere in the game is a story. It involves the Egyptian god Seth, who has sent his forces to four different worlds, representing four different mythologies: the world of the Norse, the world of the Aztec, the world of the Egyptian, and the world of the Greek, and he plans to conquer them all. The gods of these worlds aren't too happy about this, naturally, and you, a mortal born of one of the worlds, appear to be the only one able to stop him… because apparently the gods can't.

The story involves multiple gods, myths, and legends. However, it feels cursory, more than anything else, because the plot quickly gets lost in the glut of slicing and dicing that you participate in. Make no mistake about it: Loki is a game about cutting a swatch through legions and legions of foes, and little else. It follows the tradition of copying many elements, if not every one of them, from Diablo, mirroring the decade-old game mechanics to the point of duplication.

In fact, the biggest problem with the game is that it doesn't really do anything different, save for a couple poorly implemented features. The result is gameplay that's worked before in the past, and so is decent in a sense, but still dated. The game is average at best, and combining average gameplay with repetitive action makes for a fairly monotonous experience.

You begin by choosing your character. There's a hero from each mythology, and each of them comes with a different set of skills and playing styles. The Norseman, for example, is a big muscular fellow, and as such, has skills based around dealing as much damage as possible with melee weaponry. The Egyptian, however, revolves around the use of magic and shies away from physical combat.

The skill system of the game is probably the most unique aspect of the title. Each character has access to three gods, each pertaining to their relative pantheons, such as the Norseman's gods Thor, Tyr, and Odin. Each skill set has a variety of different abilities to use, and each has a level requirement to use them. This is fairly standard, but what isn't is how you earn points to spend on these skills.

As you kill things or complete quests, you earn experience, but if you're worshipping a god at the time (the god of your devotion can be changed at a shrine in the villages), then a quarter of earned experience goes towards worship. If this is too slow for you, you can also give up offerings to your god in the form of magical items that'll earn you points depending on its power. Earn enough worship points, and you'll gain a point in that god, and only that god. The level requirement for each skill is actually relevant to the level you have in that particular god, and not your character's level.

Luckily, if for whatever reason you don't like how the skills in a particular god are shaping up, you can reset the distribution for a nominal monetary fee. It's an interesting system that forces you to decide what path you want to take. The ability to reset your points is also very helpful, as points don't have to be conserved for later, more powerful abilities. However, once you earn a point in a particular god, it stays there.

The other interesting aspect is the presence of a blacksmith in each town you visit. This helpful person will be able to do a few things for you as the game's rudimentary crafting system. First, you can disassemble any weapon you've found into its grip and its blade. While the blade is what holds most of a weapon's magical power, a grip has a minor enchantment, and can be switched between weapons for some minor customization. Additionally, you can add runes found throughout your adventures to any piece of equipment, adding small boosts like an increase to defence, resistance, and other attributes.

Additionally, each piece of equipment is made of a material, like iron or silver. You can find extra materials as you venture through enemy-infested areas, but you can also recycle equipment to glean the materials from them as well. Other equipment can then be reforged with new materials to increase their effectiveness. When it comes to body armor, a process called 'overlaying' can be performed, in which a second material is added to the armor. All this does is add some magic resistance to the armor, but it's not much.

All in all, the interaction with the blacksmith does add a layer of depth to the game beyond just picking up every item and selling it to the local item shop. The big problem, however, is that is sounds a lot better than it actually is. Switching grips and blades of weapons isn't useful enough to warrant too much interest, and though the ability to reforge the equipment using other materials exists, the rapid rate at which you find better equipment renders this feature fairly useless. All this is combined with an extremely clumsy interface, which makes doing these tasks a chore.

The game uses a random level generator, which is supposed to supply a new experience every time you restart the game (this resets the levels and enemies, but not your character). The result, however, is levels that feel dull and featureless and that serve little purpose other than serving as a pointless backdrop to your combat. There are quests in the game to make this a little more interesting, but they don't do a very good job at it. They instead emphasize how pointless things, like the plot appears to be, by giving you a glimpse of a plot that ultimately doesn't matter.

With three different levels of difficulty, as well as the ability to raise your character's level up to level 200, there's a lot of game to get through in Loki, including items that go up to deific levels of power. Multiplayer is, of course, present as well, and is done fairly well, but again, lacks any particular points to mention. Content is not an issue here, it's the repetition of it all. It is fun to gut swaths of monsters and grow in strength, but one can only do it for so long.

It really comes down to the style of gameplay that one enjoys. Loki: Heroes of Mythology echoes the experience of Diablo-esque games, that much can not be denied. The pace feels a little slower, however, and because of that, the multitude of battles fought with dozens of foes seems to take just a little too long. Fans of mindless slash-em-ups might enjoy some of the gameplay that Loki provides, but in the end, there just aren't enough positives to the game to recommend it to anyone else.