Atlas Fallen (Computer)
Official GBAtemp Review
Product Information:
- Release Date (NA): August 10, 2023
- Publisher: Focus Entertainment
- Developer: Deck 13
- Genres: Action RPG
- Also For: PlayStation 5
Game Features:
Atlas Fallen is an upcoming action role-playing game developed by Deck13 Interactive and published by Focus Entertainment. Set in a unique fantasy world nearly destroyed by the Sun God, Thelos, the game follows the journey of a nameless hero as they gain power and fight against evil. With its momentum-based combat system, Atlas Fallen promises a fresh and engaging gameplay experience.
My main interest in this game was the opportunity to fight giant monsters. Games like Monster Hunter and Horizon Forbidden West have excelled in this area, and I was very interested to see Deck13’s approach and they did not disappoint. Atlas Fallen is an open-world action role-playing game that should not be mistaken for a hack-and-slash. Its gameplay is simple to learn but hard to master. Even on normal difficulty, this game is not easy. However, I wish the effort made to the gameplay was also poured into the presentation of its story.
It is clear that the budget did not prioritize the story, as it is not the highlight of this game. While there is an intriguing premise with lots of lore to discover, the execution and presentation of the story were not very engaging for me. The cutscenes are decent, but character interactions and dialogue can feel dull, especially when compared to a game like Forbidden West, which has fluid NPC interactions and high-budget cutscenes. The biggest drawback for me was the voice acting, which sometimes felt passable, but Nyaal, your guide throughout the game, often sounds robotic, and it is unclear whether this is an intentional character choice.
In Atlas Fallen, you play as a low-class worker known as an “unnamed” in a corrupt kingdom where monsters called Wraith roam and corrupt rulers control their citizens. Everything changes for the protagonist when they find a gauntlet that provides immense power, capable of fighting the monsters single-handedly. This gauntlet is also home to a spirit named Nyaal, who guides you through the game. You travel across many lands to learn more about the history of the gauntlet and Nyaal, who has lost his memory. During this journey, you will encounter many people in need of your help and protection.
Momentum is the name of the energy bar you build up in Atlas Fallen, and it accurately describes the gameplay experience. Every encounter is all about gaining as much momentum as possible to defeat enemies. Attacking enemies without getting hit builds the Momentum meter. Focusing all of its systems on this mechanic turned out to be one of the most addicting parts of this game. The Momentum meter has three stages, each unlocking perks and abilities. This makes every encounter engaging as you try to build up momentum to use more powerful attacks. Building up momentum does come with a drawback: your character’s defense becomes more vulnerable. However, this introduces the Shatter mechanic, where you use all of your momentum for one big move. All of these elements come together to create a complex system that takes a little bit of practice to master.
Despite the game being centered around building momentum, it does stop you in your tracks more often than I would like. Fighting monsters is not as simple as just approaching them and attacking. There are designated spots that can only be attacked to cause damage. While the game usually directs your attack to the closest hitbox, I have had many instances of hitting an enemy but not doing any damage because it wasn’t a hitbox. The targeting system is also flawed, at least when using a controller. In most scenarios, there is usually one big monster and multiple smaller ones around it. While there may only be four monsters in total, since the bigger monster has multiple hit points, this can increase the number of targets to like seven, making cycling through all of them a pain. In addition to this, the camera can be wonky and often gets too close to a bigger enemy, obscuring incoming attacks. All of this, combined with enemy attacks that can drain your momentum, can make combat very frustrating. But like other action games, you learn every twitch an enemy makes after dying to them constantly.
I don’t want to keep comparing this game to others, but a feature I took for granted was monster logs with tips on how to defeat them. A game like Forbidden West makes it clear what an enemy’s vulnerabilities are, but Atlas Fallen doesn’t provide much information. This may be due to the fact that monsters don’t have any critical points, but there was one specific monster that made me restart an encounter too many times. It was a defensive enemy that blocked any attack from the front. While it seemed like an obvious obstacle to overcome by simply dashing to its sides, the monster rotates faster than you can hit it, making it necessary to wait for it to attack in order to parry. This made a scenario where you are fighting a big boss that you need to evade even more challenging. Frustrated with this specific monster, I looked through the monster logs and found no tips on how to defeat it, just a description of the monster. While I eventually got past the boss fight and it could have been just a skill issue, I do wish there were more pointers on how to defeat some of the tougher monsters.
Navigating the open world involves sand skating across the terrain and using Nyaal’s senses to find your objectives. The first few hours of the game are spent finding parts to upgrade your gauntlet, but it never feels like a tutorial beyond the first hour and more like just completing quests. I found myself wishing that traversal was a little faster, and while there are ways to speed it up, I was not completely satisfied. One funny thing I noticed was that some of the enemy encounters in the open world were harder than the boss fights in the story mode.
While I had no issues with performance, I sometimes wished that the graphics had more “pop” to them. There are some shining moments with great environment and enemy design, but much of my time felt a little bland in the visuals department. Sometimes during traversal, there would be some stuttering, which could be due to shader caching or environment loading, but it never occurred during gameplay. I have not had the opportunity to test the game on the Steam Deck, but if someone is interested, let me know.
The role-playing aspect of this game is not a big part of the gameplay. There are ability customizations and armor options, but I never felt like I had to do much work to level up. In fact, the story gives you so much armor as you progress that it almost made prioritizing upgrading a single armor piece almost pointless since characters give you higher-level ones with greater upgradeability. The differentiation between armors is not even significant since upgrading armor pieces almost eliminates downsides when comparing between armors.
Atlas Fallen is a game that offers a unique and engaging combat experience with its momentum-based system and I did have a lot of fun with it. The momentum mechanic can be addicting but the gameplay isn't perfect. Sometimes enemies can feel spongy and encounters can feel too long. The story can be rough, but it has an intriguing premise and there is plenty of lore to discover, even if the execution falls short in some areas. I was not able to test out the Co-Op mode, but the advertised drop-in and drop-out multiplayer for its campaign is a nice feature to have. If you enjoy faster-paced monster hunting, then this is a solid game to check out.
Verdict
- Unique Momentum System
- Great Monster Designs
- Good Perk Variety
- Complex Gameplay
- Co-Op
- Dull Visuals
- Mediocre Voice Acting
- Poor Story Execution
- Flawed Camera/Targeting System
