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While almost every game strives to reach its potential to some extent, some inevitably fall short. Such titles turn into soulless entertainment products that consume a few hours of your time, after which they’ll be forgotten forever. Atlas Fallen is a great example of this description that was supposed to be released in May but instead became one of the most anticipated games of August. As an action-adventure game with RPG elements and an open-world design, Atlas Fallen review gets a few things rights but many other things wrong.
Atlas Fallen Review: A Fun But Repetitive Experience
Developed by Deck13 and published by Focus Entertainment, Atlas Fallen is set in a fantasy world where the player comes across a gauntlet with godly powers. Once you’ve obtained it, it will become your main weapon and source of your abilities. The main motive of the story is that you have to use your powers to fight against another deity that has punished its people and manipulated them to worship it. When the game starts, you can sense the potential of a good game with a decent story and lore, but as you progress, the game becomes more mediocre, and it soon becomes trapped in a cycle of doing the same things and completing the same quests.
Story: Untapped Potential
The world and lore of the game are quite interesting, especially if you discover different notes scattered across the map. Still, even if you don’t find them, the main story does a solid job of telling you all the main and necessary aspects of its world that you must understand. Unfortunately, the same could be said about the story and narrative of the game.
The story itself, however, isn’t that interesting. It might capture your attention from the start, but once you progress through the game, all the cliché elements of the narrative reveal themselves, and eventually, you will lose interest. The main reason is that the characters in Atlas Fallen aren’t memorable enough to captivate your attention or emotional investment. They are just pawns for the story — simple checkpoints to tell you where you should go or explain something. With no character development in tow, the cast lacks any engaging character-building or background stories.
Atlas Fallen is a wasted potential of a unique world that had the chance of becoming indelible but fell into the depths of superficial and cliché storytelling. It isn’t particularly bad or cringe storytelling that will make you drop the whole game, but it will disappoint you if you are looking for a decent narrative.
Gameplay: Great Combat System but Not-So-Great Design
Nevertheless, the most fun I had while playing Atlas Fallen was its combat. It certainly has its issues, but compared to other elements and aspects of the game, it is the best and most engaging. You have three weapons, each with unique movesets and abilities, that can be used once you fill the Momentum meter, a great mechanic that can change how you play.
The Momentum Meter increases the damage you deal and replenishes when constantly attacking without stopping. Since you don’t have a stamina bar, you can execute combo after combo, but the downside of this meter is that you will also take more damage.
As a result, you have to decide whether you want more DPS at the cost of protection or deal less damage to boost your survivability. Not only that, but once the meter reaches a certain point, you can use the special move of your weapon to deal more damage. The combination of these things has spared the combat of Atlas Fallen from being overly repetitive.
Enemy design is a crucial factor that affects how fun fight sequences can be. Usually, you will fight a big enemy alongside smaller, minor mobs. Each of them has a unique set of moves you must learn to dodge or parry. The fight is exciting and engaging because battles start on the ground but eventually evolve into flashy airborne combat. Unfortunately, this is not the case for the rest of the gameplay.
Atlas Fallen has an open-world design separated into different regions, but their similarities are far more than differences. There is no significant change from one area to another apart from the big city or castle at its center. Landscapes typically consist of deserts with hills and mountains, across which you’ll encounter a few enemies and collectibles.
The rewards of exploration could be more satisfying. The fact that there isn’t much to discover or see when traveling from one point to another makes traversal dull and rather pointless. Atlas Fallen is yet another example of why open-world games shouldn’t contain desert locations because such environments offer little to do or see.
Graphics and Audio: Decent But Not Something Extraordinary
Atlas Fallen has decent and eye-catching visuals but lacks any remarkable characteristics to make its visuals or graphics stand out from similar titles. To clarify, the graphical quality of Atlas Fallen is just ok. It’s not extraordinary, but neither is it poor enough to warrant negatively affecting the overall experience. A portion of the problem lies in the general world and structure design.
You’ll spend a solid portion of your gameplay in deserts, meaning you’ll see little visual variety during your journey. At the same time, most of the interior designs are too similar, causing the visuals to not shine as they could have. To summarize, while the visuals of Atlas Fallen aren’t its “Achille’s Heel,” they will leave much to desire in the creativity department.
The same applies to the audio, especially to the game’s soundtrack. The expansive landscapes serve as an excellent opportunity to add fantastical music and melodic ambiance. However, Atlas Fallen review features neither of these audible qualities. The game’s tracks desperately lack the awe and soul that could enhance the experience. There was no memorable soundtrack that I can recall during my adventure.
Conclusion: Enjoyable yet Forgottable
Atlas Fallen review is a mediocre game but fun to play thanks to its combat, but it offers nothing extraordinary. Credit where credit’s due — the action and the lore are its strong points. Nevertheless, the lack of good characters, good storytelling, dull world design, and a shortage of great music and visuals make Atlas Fallen an overall forgettable experience.
Review copy given by publisher.
Atlas Fallen (PC Reviewed)
A fun, albeit forgettable journey into the sands.
Pros
- Sand surfing is awesome
- Co-op is a welcome addition
Pros
- Packed with too much mechanics
- Plenty of loot that doesn't impact the core gameplay
