Whereas it was The Surge that put Deck13 Interactive’s identify on the map, it is Atlas Fallen that may henceforth be thought-about the studio’s finest recreation thus far. Switching the Souls-like construction of its previous titles for a extra conventional open world journey with problem choices, it boasts of wonderful traversal and a enjoyable fight system in a sandy setting dominated by an evil god. Lingering AA jank holds it again from greatness, however Atlas Fallen holds its personal in amongst the 12 months’s extra vital hitters.
A few of that weighty vitality from The Surge 2 continues to be felt right here, significantly within the fight system. Having created a personality, you defy your oppressors (your sort are primarily slaves referred to solely as Unnamed) after discovering a Gauntlet with the ability of a god trapped inside — it is this that offers you magical powers to glide throughout the sands and take down Wraiths patrolling the dunes. Whereas motion feels so extremely releasing, it is the skills the Gauntlet grants you that really feel heavy and deliberate. In tandem, the 2 options strike an awesome steadiness that makes gameplay in Atlas Fallen the true king.
It is kind of like Forspoken meets Monster Hunter, with double jumps and triple air dashes making traversal really feel responsive and finely tuned. Then, fight is all about concentrating on particular limbs to down enemies and earn higher rewards. The Gauntlet can be sentient in the identical manner Frey Holland’s Cuff is, but it surely’s nowhere close to as annoying or quippy. In reality, it takes your character fairly critically for the roughly 12 hours wanted to roll credit.
What extends your playtime is aspect quests, odd jobs, and enjoyable open world actions, all of which check your abilities throughout the title’s two principal focal factors: motion and fight. The previous is principally constructed upon with extra makes use of of every capacity, sourced from upgrades buried all through the open world. They help you cross larger gaps, get about faster, and entry beforehand hidden areas. The latter, although, is far more experimental.
Regardless of residing underneath their tight iron fist firstly of the sport, there are not any human enemies in Atlas Fallen; solely Wraiths. Legendary beasts that take the form of burrowing snakes, birds, and more and more giant mammals, you could goal after which destroy every of their limbs earlier than they go down for good. With none stamina bars to handle, fights are far more offensive-focused than The Surge.
Making the most of your nimble nature, you possibly can sprint across the battlefield, shortly taking down enemies with sword hits, whip slashes, and highly effective slams into the bottom under. The sport is gracious with its talents, to the purpose the place merely hitting an enemy restores a use of your sprint, permitting you to remain within the air for lengthy durations of time and juggle your injury between foes. It feels so liberating and versatile within the second; there’s by no means a second the place you are held again.
Then, throughout three completely different tiers making up a complete of 9 slots, you possibly can customise your protagonist with new assaults and talents. Named Essence Stones, they’re activated as you refill the Momentum Gauge by touchdown hits on enemies. Momentary buffs are triggered mechanically whereas particular assaults may be saved for the fitting second. From summonable hurricanes and big magical axes to wreck and defensive upgrades, there’s a number of selection that provides aptitude to your base play type. With a satisfying parry additionally that freezes monsters in time and area, there’s a number of enjoyment to be gained from enjoying round with what’s on provide.
There are effectively over 30 completely different powers to equip, which mixed with Idols that modify your base talents, actually offers you a number of room to experiment with. The sport permits you to shortly swap between three completely different loadouts, letting you package your character out for particular conditions. It is a powerful stage of construct customisation that goes an extended approach to making your character really feel distinct from a buddy’s – a correct boon throughout co-op play.
The tip result’s an expertise the place you at all times really feel such as you’re enhancing. This even extends to your character’s core talents: you are still unlocking new powers mere hours earlier than the tip of the sport. This provides purpose to backtrack and clear up conundrums you could not beforehand work together with.
Sadly, our compliments of the narrative’s principal goals do not monitor fairly as positively. Significantly within the second half of the story, some duties begin to really feel like repetitive busywork. You will have to carry out the identical actions at a number of factors throughout the map, or backtrack always between cities and the dusty wasteland. It slows the tempo of the sport all the way down to a irritating crawl, to the purpose the place the cracking fight and traversal cannot fairly paper over the cracks. Most of Atlas Fallen’s gameplay is a spotlight, however you’ll have to put up with a couple of deeper valleys together with the highs.
Nonetheless, there are at all times the non-compulsory ventures of the open world to distract you. There are platforming challenges to grasp, elite Wraiths to beat, and timed duties to beat. It is nothing you have not seen earlier than, however they’re welcome interferences with assured rewards, supplies, and currencies on the finish.
It is doubtless the technical setbacks of the sport will get in the way in which in some unspecified time in the future, although, because the title feels prefer it’s missing that remaining layer of polish. The visuals themselves aren’t significantly nice, there are spelling errors within the menus, and the transitions between cutscenes after which into gameplay may be fairly clunky. Then there’s a number of texture pop-in and UI parts that linger on display screen for therefore lengthy that they begin to really feel like a glitch.
Load occasions on PS5 might be so much higher too. They’re typically fairly acceptable throughout quick journey, however you may be ready fairly a bit longer than you need when returning to the motion following a demise. At the very least the body price stays principally regular all through, concentrating on 60fps at 1440p on the default mode. The opposite choice is a 4K decision at 30fps, however given the velocity Atlas Fallen strikes at, it is best to depart the setting be.
With pretty widespread points underneath the hood, the sport is not fairly as cohesive and constant because it might be. Whereas gameplay is fairly incredible, the connective tissue holding it collectively is something however.
The environments aren’t something to put in writing residence about, both. It is definitely cool to glide throughout the sands, however every location blends into each other with no actual distinctive options. You will be always referring to the pause display screen’s map because it’s nearly unimaginable to get your bearings just by taking in your environment. It is a number of sand, a couple of crumbling cities, and bits of rubble protruding of dunes.
Conclusion
Atlas Fallen is a valiant effort from Deck13 Interactive that may go down as its finest recreation up to now. With incredible traversal and a enjoyable, participating fight system, the developer has nailed the gameplay in each sense. What holds the expertise again, although, is an absence of polish to iron out the technical points and doubtlessly lengthy load occasions. It is disappointing to return up in opposition to a couple of too many flaws, however when Atlas Fallen is on type, its marriage of motion and preventing shines by.
