Atlas Fallen is a fun-to-play action RPG from Deck 13 (Ankh, Lords of the Fallen, and The Surge) set in a sandscape world with challenging enemies. If you want to play a stylish open-world action game that takes advantage of next-gen hardware in the vein of Assassin's Creed games, please consider Atlas Fallen. It presents some exciting features like "sand surfing" that make the movement system very enjoyable. This dynamic traversal mechanism helps a lot, and it is as useful and fun to use as Marvel's Spider-Man movement system is for Spider-Man. The traversal mechanism, sand surfing, is a core functionality and a good premise for a satisfying experience.
Combat: Defeating Wraiths
The world of Atlas Fallen is brutal, and almost everything is covered in sand, which is a problem in itself. However, there are many other dangers that may arise from the sand, like "Wraiths," which are giant sand monsters. As you may expect, wraiths have their own profiles, including attack styles and patterns that make them uniquely challenging. Wraiths are beings formed by animal, metal, and sand parts, they are vulnerable in the body parts that must be targeted in the fight to overcome them.
Abilities and Momentum Gauge
The Magical Gauntlet provides unique powers that players may unleash against enemies. Also, they may enhance traversal mechanics. One of the abilities that is at the core of combat is the ability to create weapons from the sand. Atlas Fallen has a Momentum Gauge in the style of Devil May Cry with similar functionality that rewards fighting management. If you perform combos, the Momentum Gauge increase and it unlocks more abilities and attacks, that in return may help with even more impressive combos and so on. It feeds itself and keeps the "momentum" on your side.
Story: From Nameless to Gauntlet Bearer
You exist as Nameless, ensnared in the caprices of malevolent overlords and the mandates of a domineering clergy. Your title merely echoes your daily chore, and you are regarded as a being inferior to even the lowliest soil. Your singular purpose in this existence revolves around the facilitation of opulence for the higher echelons, all the while grappling with the unyielding demands of a fading deity within a world in the throes of demise. Yet, while endeavoring to aid some of your fellow Nameless companions, you chance upon a gauntlet concealed amidst the desolate wastelands. No longer are you confined to the mere appellation of Nameless; instead, you emerge as the Gauntlet Bearer, vested with the might to metamorphose the world's destiny toward benevolence.
Visuals and Photo Mode
Visually, Atlas Fallen is spectacular with Performance Mode's 60fps and a Photo Mode feature is available for capturing breathtaking moments. A game in an environment covered in sand presents particularly difficult technical challenges (think that sand is essentially formed by fine mineral particles that have to be animated) but also visually. The sand here... and there... sand everywhere... could be tedious. It is not. Don't think the sandscape will make the game boring with repeating visuals because there are plenty of oases called "biomes" where you will encounter green areas and various constructions with styles varying from Aztec-like structures to Gothic architecture.
