Story of a Gladiator Review

Story of a Gladiator is an arcade-style beat ‘em up centred around a downcast beggar trying to make something out of his life by engaging in vicious arena brawls. While the game honestly doesn’t tell much of a story aside from a short introductory cutscene, it offers tight combat mechanics and varied gameplay throughout. You’ll need to tweak your fighting technique and skill tree often to adapt to changing opponents and environments.

Your tale begins in ancient Greece at a time where gladiators are both respected and feared. With the goal of becoming the most powerful fighter in the land, you’ll face off against hordes of soldiers seeking blood and glory. The game’s artwork is cartoony, but there’s a solid amount of gore present. Crowds will cheer for violence, and there’s no holding back on the coliseum floor. If given an opportunity to strike in Story of a Gladiator, take it without hesitation, as your opponents will do the same.

I enjoyed the game’s visual style, as it doesn’t take itself too seriously and fits the mood. Some characters look pretty goofy, and the whole idea of a drunkard becoming a renowned gladiator (just because he felt like it one day) gives you a sense of the atmosphere here. The game really just uses ancient times as a backdrop for its underlying gameplay mechanics. I suppose its title is somewhat misleading, so note that all of your time with this game will be centred around dodging attacks and swinging your weapon.

The game consists of three worlds, each with 11 standard levels and a boss battle. This doesn’t seem like a whole lot of content, but you’ll find that the game’s slow grind stretches everything out. The goal in each stage is to simply clear all waves of enemies with a balanced combination of evasion and brutal aggression. Based on your player level, you’ll receive skill points to allocate in a skill tree that contains both moves and buffs to bring with you into the arena. You’re able to execute jump attacks, kicks, and standard quick attacks on the offensive side, while dodge rolls, shield blocks, and shield pushbacks contribute to defence. Attacking enemies from behind does significantly more damage on account of a certain skill attribute, so searching for these opportunities in combat is the name of the game.

Depending on your personal playstyle preference, as well as the type of enemies in a certain level, you’ll need to leverage different skill tree configurations to gain a slight edge in battle. Skill points can, fortunately, be retracted and reassigned at any time, enabling experimentation without negative consequences. Ultimately though, brute forcing attack and defence upgrades by purchasing items from a blacksmith will allow you to become victorious with just about any skill tree arrangement.

Arguably to the game’s detriment, Story of a Gladiator’s difficulty spike from level to level introduces a massive grind. Without certain shield, armour, or weapon upgrades, you hardly stand a chance in most battles. Earning coins to buy said items is where the grind comes into play. You’ll have to replay the same level 20 to 30 times to earn enough coins for a new upgrade in many cases, which creates monotonous repetition. Once a new upgrade is purchased, you’ll find whatever level you were previously stuck on to be significantly easier. However, this grindy formula isn’t always consistent. I would randomly win difficult levels seemingly by pure luck, often by wiping out a bunched group of enemies in a single attack. These enemies typically pick away at your health if you battle them one on one. The moments of utter annihilation occurred in part due to my skill tree being focused around critical hits, ultimately showing off the different types of playstyles present in Story of a Gladiator.

The game offers a few buffs to try and help lessen the grind, but they don’t contribute much. Amulets boost certain stats based on the cumulative amount of performance stars earned with a max of three per level. One amulet in particular increases the amount of gold coins you can pick up in battle, but it’s a very minimal increase. Consumables will help you out immensely during combat, but carry such a high price point that they’re hardly worth it. Lastly, you can carry a god’s special power with you into battle, but it can only be triggered after a certain level of “crowd favor”, which is quite difficult to achieve.

It should be noted there are a few minor bugs present in Story of a Gladiator as well. While more of an inconvenience than a critical issue, players must always return to the main town before they can switch levels. Meaning, when you beat a level and want to move on to the next, you have to go through multiple loading screens. Also, a few opponents are completely blind to your existence if you stand in a certain spot. You’d think this wouldn’t be too much of a problem, since beating a level still requires you to go out and fight them. However, you unlock a companion fighter (that cannot take damage) midway through the game, and standing in the spot where you become invisible and letting your companion do all the work is an exploit that lets you bypass certain levels.

Since Story of a Gladiator is especially challenging for an arcade beat ‘em up and requires a bit of strategy and patience on the player’s part — it will not appeal to everyone. Giving yourself slight advantages by considering enemy type and skill point allocation is crucial to progressing through this game. It’s definitely rewarding when you’re able to wipe out large groups of soldiers or finally beat a boss after purchasing a valuable upgrade. Unforgiving like the actual lives of gladiators in ancient times, Story of a Gladiator will surely test one’s skill and composure.