When I think of Deck13 Games one series comes to mind – The Surge. A game which lent a fun high-tech twist to the Soulslike formula. But for Atlas Fallen, their latest game, they are trying something a little different. Something that involves a little more momentum.
Atlas Fallen is a semi-open world action role-playing game with a high fantasy tale; a bit like Forspoken and Monster Hunter got in a fight where speed and momentum are corner stones of its gameplay. However, if you have ever played a Deck13 game you also know it will come have a few rough edges.
World of Atlas Fallen
The game is set in a once-lush world that is now mostly barren desert. One where sand covers as far as the eye can see and monsters and sandstorms rule the day. With what’s left of humanity hanging on by a thread fighting for food and resources.
You play as an un-named, who is a member of a section of the World Society. Your caste is deemed lower than the low. You and your people are forced to mine a magic element for an immortal queen. However, it is this mining that is the cause of the desertification of this world.
Read More: Exoprimal review – A Hollow Scene Meets Jurassic Lark
One day, you are attacked by sand monsters. This leads you to finding a long forgotten magical gauntlet. One which grants you the powers you need to overcome the threats of the world, the immortal queen and ultimately the evil power behind it all.
A Desert of Lore
You step into a lore-rich world with plenty to learn across the 13 or so hour run time of Atlas Fallen. But the overall writing is a bit patchy at times. And no more so than with the cast of characters you’ll meet.
Some characters are truly forgettable and others are just badly written. This is also not helped by some questionable voice acting; stilted and lacking in personality. And it’s a shame. Decent VO and writing could have breathed life into some of the more dull, lore-heavy moments leaving it all feeling a bit uneven.
Imperfect Mechanical Marvel
Gameplay on the other hand, throws a LOT of ideas into the mix. The most interesting of these being speed and how you use it. From combat to exploring, your gauntlet lets you shape the sands around you. One minute you’re surfing your way through the dunes and the next battling some challenging beasts.
To its credit the world never feels too big, as you journey through a number of different looking areas. Which also means its exploring and optional content like side missions and the like, always feel manageable and never overwhelming.
Whereas sand surfing feels amazing, the moment to moment movement is oddly stiff from running and jumping and never feels as responsive as it really should or you would want.
Choppy Combat
This bleeds into combat as well, as it’s all about being aggressive and keeping the flow going to the point you have a momentum bar that fills letting you become even more powerful.
From dealing more damage to unlocking passive and active abilities of your essence stones mounted in your gauntlet, but the more filled your momentum bar, the more damage you will take as well. It’s a real risk reward system.
But the issues with the base move speed adds a real sluggish vibe to things, especially attack speeds. Worse still, the aerial combat side is even clunkier than when you’re planted on the ground.
It all points to an overall lack of polish that really does impact the game over time, not one killer issue, but lots of small tiny ones that when taken alone are not that bad, but when seen as a whole are a bit of an issue.
Look and Sound of Atlas
Visually, the world of Atlas Fallen world looks great. The environment never feels re-heated or re-used from area to area. Monsters also look the business being well on the right side of threatening.
The audio of Atlas Fallen all fits well and sets the tone soundtrack wise. However, the aforementioned lacklustre voice acting and spotty dialogue does grate at times.
Polish Needed
Atlas Fallen brings an interesting world, tale, combat and movement system to the table and when it all clicks its very good.
The only issue is there are far too many rough edges just now that need ironed out, from poor voice acting to the core movement speed and that’s before you throw in things like UI glitches, the odd freezing moment, inputs not being read really and dodgy character animations and so on.
That all said there is enough here just now for a weekend’s worth of fun if you’re looking to lose yourself in a compelling fantasy world.