Too Human

Overview

Too Human is an action role-playing game developed by Silicon Knights and published by Microsoft Game Studios. It was released in August 2008 for the Xbox 360. The story is a science-fiction retelling of Norse mythology in which the Æsir are cybernetically enhanced humans, tasked with protecting mankind from Loki's army of machines. You play Baldur, who is less cybernetic than the other gods and so is, as the title says, too human.

It is played from a third-person view with an adjustable camera. The right analog stick is used for melee combat instead of the camera, so attacks and combos are made by pushing the stick toward a target, and ranged attacks use an auto lock-on. Combos can be mixed with Ruiner attacks, which are powerful abilities that hit the enemies around you, to finish a fight.

The role-playing side is built on character customization. You pick one of five classes at the start: berserker, champion, defender, commando or bio engineer. You find and equip items, with fifteen weapon classes, armour for different body parts and charms that unlock Ruiner abilities, and you can customize many of them using runes between levels back in Asgard. Each level up earns skill points for a class skill tree, and early on you choose between the Cybernetic and Human alignments.

A co-operative mode runs over Xbox Live for two players, with drop-in, drop-out play. You can bring a character from your single player game, earn experience and items online and use them offline, and trade items with the other player.

The game spent almost ten years in development. It was announced in 1999 for the original PlayStation, moved to the GameCube in 2000 after Silicon Knights and Nintendo announced an exclusivity partnership, and restarted for the Xbox 360 in 2005 when Microsoft took it on, with plans for a trilogy. A demo went out on Xbox Live on July 14, 2008, and Microsoft said it passed 900,000 downloads. The budget has been estimated at between 60 and 100 million US dollars.

Critics gave it mixed reviews. The story and class system were generally praised, while many were critical of the control scheme, graphics, level design, long respawn times and cliffhanger ending. The long Valkyrie sequence that carries your body away after you die was a common complaint. About 168,200 copies were sold in North America in August 2008, the eighth best seller that month.

From 2007 to 2012 Silicon Knights was in a lawsuit with Epic Games over Unreal Engine 3. Epic was awarded 4.45 million US dollars and Silicon Knights was ordered to recall and destroy unsold copies of its Unreal Engine games, Too Human included. The trilogy was cancelled, and Silicon Knights filed for bankruptcy in May 2014. Microsoft put the game back on the Xbox store as a free download in June 2019, and it works on Xbox One through backward compatibility.

Official trailer

Too Human Xbox 360 Trailer - Epic, IGN. Watch on YouTube

Gameplay

Too Human (Xbox 360) Gameplay No Commentary, Game Footage Archive. Watch on YouTube

Screenshots

Game details

Genres

Action role-playing game

Developer

Silicon Knights

Publisher

Microsoft Game Studios

Engine

Unreal Engine 3

Composers

Steve Henifin

Designers

Denis Dyack

Modes

Single player

Yes

Local multiplayer

No

Online multiplayer

2

Release dates

Editions

Buy this game

Achievements

Achievements50 (1,000G)

1000G possibleYes

Total

50

Gamerscore

1000

100% time

75 to 150 hours

Difficulty

6 out of 10

Playthroughs for 1000G

2

Playthroughs for 100%

2

1000G without online

No

Online trophies

1

Online note

Teamwork Takedown needs an online co-op partner. Online co-op still runs over Xbox Live.

DLC has trophies

No

1000G includes DLC

No

100% includes DLC

No

DLC still for sale

Yes

DLC note

No DLC achievements. The armor pack is free.

Missable trophies

1

Separate trophy lists by region

No

Only in a language other than English

No

Languages

English

Online-only version

No

Digital-only

No

Disc-only

No

Players with 1000G

2.98%

Gamerscore, base game

1000

Gamerscore with DLC

1000

Missable trophies

• In the NORN's favour

Grind

• Relics of a Forgotten Past, which depends on loot drops
• Beating the final boss with a cybernetic and a human character

• Through the Halls Hall of Heroes has been completed (all tokens collected) in Single Player or Online Coop Play. 80G Hidden 72.05% of players
• Frozen Vengeance Ice Forest has been completed (all tokens collected) in Single Player or Online Coop Play. 80G Hidden 51.91% of players
• The One That Got Away… World Serpent has been completed (all tokens collected) in Single Player or Online Coop Play. 80G Hidden 44.56% of players
• To Hel and Back Helheim has been completed (all tokens collected) in Single Player or Online Coop Play. 80G Hidden 38.46% of players
• Unstoppable: Hall of Heroes Hall of Heroes has been completed without dying. 10G Hidden 23.21% of players
• Unstoppable: Ice Forest The Ice Forest has been completed without dying. 15G Hidden 5.19% of players
• Unstoppable: World Serpent The World Serpent has been completed without dying. 15G Hidden 6.16% of players
• Unstoppable: Helheim Helheim has been completed without dying. 20G Hidden 6.2% of players
• NORN Novice First Cyberspace Well has been activated. 5G Hidden 85.93% of players
• In the NORN's Favor All of the Cyberspace Wells have been activated. 10G 9.25% of players
• Chosen of the Aesir Achieved Adept status (Level 10). 20G 66.68% of players
• Elite Warrior of the Aesir Achieved Skilled status (Level 20). 25G 49.06% of players
• Hero to the Aesir Achieved Hero status (Level 30). 30G 29.28% of players
• Legend of the Aesir Achieved Legend status (Level 40). 30G 17.82% of players
• True Son of Odin Achieved God status (Level 50). 40G 12.82% of players
• Jack of all Trades Achieved Adept status or greater for all classes. 10G 8.72% of players
• First Step toward Destiny First Skill Point assigned. 5G 90.58% of players
• Triumph of Humanity Hel has been defeated by the Human Baldur. 30G Hidden 21.04% of players
• Exultation of Steel Hel has been defeated by the Cybernetic Baldur. 30G Hidden 26.23% of players
• Bane to Goblins 2,500 Goblins defeated. 30G Hidden 35.58% of players
• Hunter of Elfkin 500 Dark Elves vanquished. 30G Hidden 34.78% of players
• Slayer of Trollkind 50 Trolls destroyed by mounting. 30G Hidden 18.61% of players
• Avenger of the Slain 1,000 Undead slain. 30G Hidden 40.1% of players
• The Blood of Heralds 100 enemy leaders conquered. 10G Hidden 17.15% of players
• Feeder of Ravens Kill 10,000 enemies. 10G Hidden 18.33% of players
• Path of Ruin 100 enemies decimated by Ruiners. 25G 53.14% of players
• Unrelenting Rage Achieved a 100-hit combo. 10G 63.79% of players
• Show No Mercy 25 enemies killed with a single Battle Cry. 10G 28.35% of players
• Rune Lore Collected 1,000 Runes. 10G 6.31% of players
• Relics of a Forgotten Past Complete a 7-piece Elite armor suit. 5G 4% of players
• Trial of Ascendance Complete a level 1 charm. 5G Hidden 26.55% of players
• I'm Rich... Collected 1,000,000 in bounty. 10G 26.01% of players
• Artisan to the Aesir Craft 100 blueprints. 10G 8.16% of players
• Aesir Ascendant Complete a level 3 charm. 10G 5.78% of players
• Force to be Reckoned With 100 Elite enemies annihilated. 5G Hidden 40.93% of players
• Valkyrie's Folly Died 100 times. 5G Hidden 28.4% of players
• Fenrir's Bite Assigned a skill point to a sentient weapon. 10G 40.32% of players
• Display of Power Execute 2 in 1 move using a Juggle, Ruiner, Finisher, Slide, or Gunfire. 5G 76.21% of players
• The Final Strike Kill 100 enemies with finishers. 10G 27.06% of players
• Death from Above Kill 100 enemies with air combat. 10G 75.08% of players
• A Valorous Deed Defeat a polarity enemy. 5G 84.47% of players
• Without Equal Defeat 1000 polarity enemies. 10G 20.37% of players
• Relics of Ascendance Completed 20 Charm Quests. 10G 8.8% of players
• Archivist to the Aesir Acquired 7,500 items. 10G 4.7% of players
• One God Enters, One God Leaves… Completed 3 Secret Arena Battles. 20G 47.46% of players
• Serve Em Up The player must juggle an enemy which is then killed in air combat by their teammate. 10G Needs online 97.41% of players
• Teamwork Takedown In co-op one player must destroy the troll's chest armor and the other must mount kill. 10G Needs online 25.55% of players
• Blooded of the Aesir Reached Level 5. 10G 83.17% of players
• Hate for the Machine… Kill 20,000 enemies. 15G 10.35% of players
• The Call of Battle First Battle Cry unlocked. 5G Hidden 59.22% of players

Space and patches

Space needed7.39 GB

Update patchTitle update 1

The title updates on record for this game.

DLC

The only add-on is the Pre-Order Armor Sets pack, which is free on the Xbox store today.

Items

Name	Adds
Pre-Order Armor Sets	Bonus armor sets first given with pre-orders.

Playable today

Playable offline todayYes

The campaign plays offline, online co-op still works, and the game is free on the Xbox store for Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S.

Online

Online servers runningYes

Plays offlineYes

Two-player online co-op runs over Xbox Live and still works on Xbox 360, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S. No shutdown has been announced.

Services

Service	Status	Shutdown date
Two-player online co-op	running	None announced

Reception

Aggregates

Outlet	Platform	Score	Scale	Reviews
Metacritic	Xbox 360	65	100	80
GameRankings	Xbox 360	68.59	100

Staff and cast

Staff

Role	Name
Designer	Denis Dyack
Composer	Steve Henifin

Notes for collectors

• Silicon Knights was ordered to recall and destroy unsold copies, and in January 2013 it served Microsoft a notice to remove the game from the Xbox store.
• In June 2019 Microsoft re-released the game on the Xbox store as a free download, playable on Xbox One.
• In the demo, setting the console date to 2009 unlocked the Commando and Berserker classes. They were later unlocked without changing the clock.
• The Xbox 360 list is 50 achievements for 1,000 gamerscore. Twenty-one are secret, and two need a co-op partner.
• Four-player co-op was planned but the finished game only supports two.
• Silicon Knights released a fictional documentary in three parts called The Goblin Man of Norway as promotion.

Credits

Publisher

Microsoft Game Studios

Developer

Silicon Knights

Released

2008-08-19

Age rating

T (Teen)

Disc ID

4D5307DE

Region

US

Time to beat

about 13 hours

Copies in the shop

• Too Human (XBOX 360) CA$14.99