Titan Quest tells the story of a warrior who travels through Greece, Egypt, and the Orient to re-establish the connection between the Olympian gods and the human race before the Titans destroy humanity. To do this, the hero must fight numerous mythical beasts, help various villages and civilisations, and ultimately destroy the Telchines, who are trying to summon the Titans to take over the Olympian gods.
The game’s art style consists of typical Greek scenarios. In the area between towns, there are typical Mediterranean areas with olive groves, forests and farmlands, whereas in the towns themselves, there are typical small houses and Greek temples, including an amphitheatre in some. (fig. with amphitheatre) Scattered across the game are also a number of ‘Mycenaean ruins’ and the famous Minoan Maze.
There are also a wide range of characters which the protagonist meets, such as Spartan soldiers, story tellers (who tell tales from the works of Homer and Hesiod), villagers, and merchants. The weapons available to the protagonist range from swords, spears, and bows to mage’s staffs and other magically modified weaponry. There is also a second type of attacks available named ‘masteries’. These resemble powers such as hunting, nature, warfare, dreams and spirit, amongst others. These abilities allow the player to summon helpers like for example with the power of nature. It allows the player to summon giant wolves and nymphs or gain the ability to heal the character, or other characters. An issue however, with both the story tellers and the weaponry, is that despite the fact the game seemingly being set in the Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age period, given the setting and gameplay (including the materials the weapons are made of), the story teller displaces the story, making the game anachronistic. Early in the game, when the protagonist reaches Sparta, they speak to Leonidas, the great Spartan General (possibly the same general who fought in the Persian Wars, placing the game in the Classical period).
Finally, the music that accompanies the game was made so that it closely resembles music of that period, with an interesting end-credit song. Titled ‘When Gods Fall’, the song is in Ancient Greek and was composed after researching various historical songs. The song talks about when the gods lost their connection to the humans. (accessed: August 20, 2018).
The protagonist begins his/her (depending whether the player decides to choose a male or female character) journey having landed in the village of Helos, whose citizens are being troubled by satyrs destroying their farmland and crops. The protagonist agrees to help this village and finds out that this is not the only case of villagers being in despair as these beasts are roaming Greece causing chaos and destruction. This prompts the protagonist into trying to find the source of these beasts, travelling to Sparta, Megara, Delphi, Parnassus, Athens and Knossos. Upon reaching Knossos, the protagonist finds out that the Telchines are not just in Greece, but also in Egypt and in the Orient. Therefore, the player must go to Egypt, visit the Great Pyramids, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the Silk Road to China, to defeat the remaining two Telchines who are trying to free the Titan Typhon so he could overthrow Zeus. However, the player is too late and despite the defeat of the Telchines, the titan is released. The player must therefore chase after the titan and defeat him before he reaches Mount Olympus and takes over.
The diversity of themes that this game integrates in the story is very interesting. Firstly, there is the theme of Heroic humans, those not afraid to challenge mythical beasts put on Earth by deities. There is also the theme of the imprisonment of Titans and of the role of the Olympic gods as overseers of how the world works, as the famous episode of ‘Titanomachy’ refers to. This also incorporates the next theme which is the importance behind the connection between humans and the divine. At first, when it is severed, chaos is brought to earth, however, after seeing how humans can cope without divine intervention, Zeus decides to leave the connection as it is.
