Radiant: Guardians of Light Review

Stunning action RPG that feels like a Beat ’em up game but has skills to level up and gear to craft. It is significantly easier in co-op than in single-player. No missable achievements, can be played on easy and completion takes around 13 hours (or less in co-op).

Approximate time to 100%: Around 13h in single-player but less in co-op as it is easier that way
Estimated achievement difficulty: 8/10 in single-player because of the Coliseum level 50 achievement. Doing that in co-op lowers the difficulty so much, and this can be done on a save file that you played in singleplayer
Minimum number of playthroughs needed: 1
Is there a good guide available: I made this guide: https://www.missitheachievementhuntress.com/radiant-guardians-of-light-100-achievement-guide/
Multiplayer achievements: No
Missable achievements: No, but I highly recommend first crafting all the different gears before upgrading the later ones. Because one of the ingredients is extremely rare. (I used the second-to-last weapon because of that, as it is almost as good and so much easier to upgrade to max level)
Grinding Achievements: Yes kinda, 10k enemies killed is a lot. However, with how challenging Coliseum level 50 is, there is a big chance to unlock the 10k enemies before completing Coliseum level 50
DLC-Only achievements: No
Speedrun achievements: No
Time-gated achievements: No
RNG-achievements: No
Does difficulty affect achievements: No, can be played on easy. However, it is still very challenging on the easy difficulty
Unobtainable/glitched achievements: No

In Radiant: Guardians of Light, you play as Ainar (Melee) or Quinn (ranged). Ainar’s sister gets kidnapped at the beginning of the game; it is up to you to save her! You can switch between the two characters, and it is also possible to play in local co-op or through Steam Remote Play. The game is an action RPG that feels a lot like a Beat ’em up. You move from left to right on the screen while enemies spawn from both sides (and sometimes from other structures in the middle of the map). You can only move on when all the enemies are defeated.

For defeating enemies, you receive experience and ingredients. The experience is to unlock skills from a skill tree. The tree offers many skills like more damage, more defense, special skills, more gold, more item drops, and a chance to revive when being defeated. It also has a skill for earning more experience. I overlooked this one at first, but it’s the perfect way to level up more quickly. The ingredients you receive from monsters or find on the ground (or by destroying stones) are used for making potions or gear. The gear is permanent and can be upgraded with the same ingredients. Potions are used directly after making them and vanish when you die. The ingredients don’t have a sparkle, so keep your eye out for items and flowers on the map!

While I struggled with Radiant: Guardians of Light a lot (even on the easy setting), I had a lot of fun and couldn’t stop playing. It helps that a next level up or new gear item is never far away to help you get through the next section. I would also like to add that I’m very inexperienced when it comes to brawler-type games, so it can be a “me” problem. And again, I still had a lovely time and couldn’t stop playing.

I adore the artwork of Radiant: Guardians of Light. It just looks so beautiful and colourful. Even the darker areas or the bosses. Just so much detail. What I also love is that you will see the gear you have equipped on your character. So you can see the changes on your character.

Another thing I found enjoyable is the variety of enemies. In later areas, you will discover kinda similar kind of enemies, but they still can be a little different. You have the expected close combat ones and rangers. But some will spin around on the map, and others have a giant shield, which you have to get behind them to attack them. A lot of the time, you’re prioritizing killing one enemy over the other. It’s also a lot of fun to experiment with the various pendants you can equip and their effects, even more so after unlocking the skill to be able to equip two of them. I’m a fan of the pendants that spawn projectiles. There is one where some coins will turn into projectiles, and another where your crits will turn into projectiles. Both are great fun and can create a chain reaction, as killing an enemy drops coins that can turn into projectiles, which in turn can kill another enemy.

None of the Achievements in Radiant: Guardians of Light are missable, and you can unlock them on the easy difficulty (this option can be found in the settings menu). I highly recommend going for the achievement to craft every gear before upgrading them around the end of the game, as one of the ingredients is quite rare to find. Completion took me around 13 hours, but this was after I had tried for the level 50 in the Coliseum achievement for a while and received some help through co-op. It is doable in single-player, but it is incredibly challenging. I love that it’s possible to load your existing single-player save into multiplayer and continue where you left off.

I give Radiant: Guardians of Light 4 out of 5 stars.

This review for Radiant: Guardians of Light was written on 2 July 2025, based on the current Steam version of the game which has 27 achievements at the time of writing this review. This information can be outdated, for example, when the developer adds or removes achievements or releases (new) DLC.