For close to a decade, developer Deck13 has been at the forefront of the Soulslike genre, starting as a support studio forLords of the Fallenin 2014 before developingThe Surge 1and2to mostly positive reception. While these games weren’t necessarily at the same caliber as their FromSoftware inspirations, they were still competent and quite fun, even going as far as developing a cult following in recent years. However, withAtlas Fallen, Deck13 has decided to change up the pace and try something totally different, trying its hand at a more traditional action game with Metroidvania elements. Unfortunately,Atlas Fallenfalls flat more often than not.
Forgettable, generic, and oftentimes dull,Atlas Fallentakes inspiration from games likeGod of WarandDarksiderswhile attempting to craft an open world that is as compelling as something likeHorizon Zero Dawn,but it never seems to dial in on any one feature well and winds up being a mediocre experience. At best, it’s a parry-fest combat system with a lather-rinse-repeat formula, and at its worst,Atlas Fallenis a vapid and stilted experience that feels like it made cuts for deadlines. There are a few bright spots scattered throughout the game’s sandy vistas, but finding those gems is never worth digging through all the tedium and repetition that Deck13’sMetroidvania attemptso often delivers.
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Admittedly,Atlas Fallendoesn’t make a bad first impression with its premise and main story beats - there is some meat on these bones at the start. The story’s setup revolves around an evil Sun god named Thelos who has enslaved a portion of humanity called the Unnamed into mining Essence for him, leaving the planet dry and destitute in the process. To ensure the Unnamed stay in line, Thelos has roaming bands of Wraiths patrolling the wastes who terrorize and make frequent snacks out of most of Atlas’s citizens.Atlas Fallen’s lore and world-building are actually quite compelling and are enhanced by some interesting tidbits of info scattered throughout the game’s many collectibles. However, the actual writing of the main story and its presentation manage to take this premise and make it a total snooze fest.
As players take the role of the Unnamed main character - often referred to as the Gauntlet Bearer - things begin to unravel rather quickly.Atlas Fallenis a game that seems to want to speed right by the most critical parts of its story, taking the main character from being a slave to finding a magic gauntlet housing a god named Nyaal to becoming one of the most revered people in Atlas, all in the span of a few hours. The game moves at such a breakneck pace that many of the twists and turns of the plot end up feeling insignificant or total afterthoughts like there was more to the story that got cut for some reason.
Most disappointingly,Atlas Fallen’s main storyis primarily comprised of the player finding missing pieces of the gauntlet before rushing to the ending. Almost two-thirds of the actual main story missions involve running to an objective, completing a very simple puzzle, and then fighting a large wraith, all to pick up a piece of the gauntlet to unlock new abilities. These abilities include more mid-air dashes and the ability to lift heavier things out of the ground to unlock previously sealed-off areas. Doing this three times per gauntlet piece, four times over, is the bulk of the experience, and it feels like there are whole parts of the game’s story missing or cut for some reason. In total,Atlas Fallenis a first act that feels like it rushes to the ending and is content with that being its story. However, it’s likely players will check out of the main plotline well before the credits roll once they take in the lacking vocal performances and clunky presentation that really brings this game down.
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Focus Home Interactive and Deck13often punch well above their weight class when factoring in the budget and resources they have, but even with the leeway of not being a full-on AAA production,Atlas Fallen’s voice-acting and presentation are among the worst in a premium game this year. Just about every character and NPC that players will encounter sounds emotionless and flat, often sounding disconnected from the ongoing conversation at hand. It is as if whoever was handed these voice lines didn’t know the context of what was going on and had to make do. Almost all characters are extremely one-note, and it’s hard to find a hint of life and soul anywhere in the game. That is unless we’re talking about Nyaal, the talking gauntlet.
Where most other characters inAtlas Fallenare lifeless and wooden, Nyaal joins the growing list of talking jewelry in video games that do little else but provide comedic relief and spout a little too much exposition. Nyaal’s voice lines sound about the same as everyone else’s, totally disjointed and missing tonal context, but there is a certain liveliness to him that comes off as forced and fake. It’s as if the studio tried to make Jarvis fromIron Manbut without any of the natural charisma that the character is known for. It’s less Jarvis and more jarring.
That said, despite a lackluster story and a litany of poor performances,Atlas Fallen’s visual style and graphics were enough to keep the game somewhat interesting for the roughly 11 hours it took to finish the campaign and some side content. The world itself looks great as the views stretch on for what seems like miles, while the looming gaze of Thelos casts an omnipresent atmosphere of oppression across Atlas. For a game that could so easily be nothing but drab dunes and flat land, Deck13 did a great job at keeping the world visually compelling and varied. Except there really isn’t anything interesting to do on Atlas.
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Most side missions inAtlas Fallenconsist offetch questsor Wraith hunting with little else to offer in the interim. The game even has a whole category of side content simply called “Errands,” as if Atlas needs some sweeping up to do, and only the Gauntlet Bearer can do it. There is also apeppering of puzzles throughout many of the game’s four zones, but they boil down to raising platforms to reach a new surface or lighting beacons under a time limit, which take the player back to where they started anyway. These puzzles tend to lose their luster after the first few encounters, and none of the rewards really justified doing them. It’s easy to breeze past most of whatAtlas Fallen’s open world has to offer and not feel like players are missing out on anything of substance.
OfAtlas Fallen’s shortcomings, perhaps the biggest disappointment is its combat, which showed some potential but fell apart and felt boring rather quickly. At first, the game proposes an interesting approach to combat with its “Momentum” mechanic, which works as a meter that gradually builds the more that players land hits on enemies. The more momentum players build, the more damage the player can do, but the trade-off is that enemies now hit harder too. Additionally, the momentum meter is split into three tiers, each of which unlocks new bonuses and perks that players can use to help them fight Wraiths, with the eventual ability to cash out all that momentum in one big ultimate move.
On paper, the momentum system seems like an interestingrisk versus reward mechanicthat would challenge players to find the sweet spot of damage output to input in order to maximize combat effectiveness. However, it never plays out like that. What momentum really ends up doing is making the opening moments of combat feel especially dull as players do significantly less damage than they would at tier three. And when players are actually at tier three, there is no reason to cash out that momentum or fear enemy damage because most of the perks mitigate any incoming damage. Overall,Atlas Fallen’s unique approach to combat winds up feeling uneven, lacking much substance, and at times can even make combat feel like a chore.
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Atlas Fallenalso has issues with artificial difficulty and a mechanically simple set of enemies that get old quite quickly. The majority of Wraiths that players will encounter have a small handful of easily telegraphed attacks that they will repeat in the same order, like clockwork. Past the initial learning stages and timing adjustments that players will have to make when meeting a new foe, there really isn’t much to take into account when fighting the majority of enemies across Atlas. And while there are a lot of unique Wraiths, many of the game’s boss fights are just larger versions of the Wraiths players have already been fighting across Atlas’s overworld. Toward the end of the game, we felt like we were simply going through the motions of thecombat systeminstead of actively changing strategies and thinking about how we approached fights.
What’s more,Atlas Fallen’s combat always felt floaty and lacking weight in its attack mechanics, which was an issue that compounded with the game’s spongy enemies, making most fights feel wholly unsatisfying. Rarely didAtlas Fallenever truly deliver on the promise of being a thrilling experience where players could lock in on a flow state of combat, parrying and attacking gracefully. At times there were moments when it did seem to all click into place, but they were very few and far between to say that it was worth the trouble to get to that point. Combat, overall, just felt like a repetitive dance that needed to be accomplished to get to the next piece of Gauntlet so that players can do it all over again in the next zone.
Atlas Fallenhad promise, but nothing that this game strives to accomplish ever lands very well or feels fully realized. Between a lackluster story filled with generic and soulless voice acting and a combat system that loses its momentum well before the credits roll, there is rarely a moment where this game feels memorable or worth the time to finish. There is some good stuff on the surface of Deck13’s new IP, with its beautiful vistas and interesting world-building and aesthetic, but digging past the surface ofAtlas Fallenshows that it is mostly hollow underneath.
Atlas Fallen
WHERE TO PLAY
In solo or co-op, experience Reign of Sand, the ultimate version of Atlas Fallen. Ride the sands of a timeless land and defeat legendary monsters in spectacular Action-RPG combat using devastating powers.Master the sand to manifest devastating weapons and harvest the essence of your enemies to customize your own play style. Open a new era for humanity in a narrative campaign playable solo or in cooperation with a friend. Break your chains. Unleash the storm!An expanded world, new enemies, revamped progression, new quests… The world of Atlas Fallen is enriched by this major, entirely free update! Enjoy new voice acting, a reworked campaign and face even more formidable creatures armed with new Essence Stones. Persevere in your adventure with the long-awaited “New Game +” and challenge the gods with the nightmarish difficulty mode. Many more surprises and improvements await you in this content-rich new version!Surf the dunes of this desolate world to unravel its mysteries and free your people from oppression. It’s the perfect time to start your adventure thanks to a revamped progression and a narrative campaign with reworked voice acting.
Atlas Fallenis available now for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S. Game Rant was provided a PS5 code for the purposes of this review.
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