A vast desert landscape opens up as I head to a town miles ahead. The device in my hand speaks annoyingly in my head, as I prepare to use magic to quickly traverse across the sands. And there it is, that taste of disappointment in my mouth. I’ve been here before.
Atlas Fallen begins, like many other RPGs, with a meeting designed by fate between an unknown protagonist and some other entity that will help them in their journey. The voice within the gauntlet that serves as your mcguffin will guide you through this game, and you better grow accustomed to it or you’ll have a rough time ahead.
If a speaking device in your hand in a world mostly made of dunes doesn’t ring a bell, having to defeat giant monsters while you travel through different biomes will show you that nobody is inventing the wheel in this game. And, while the inspiration taken from Forspoken and Monster Hunter can be felt across the whole game, Atlas Fallen is only notable for washed-up lenses and less-interesting versions of the things it emulates.
That being said, even if the whole game transmits a ‘familiar sensation’ at all times, that’s not to say it’s not beautiful. Oftentimes I’ve stopped in my tracks to admire the landscape around me, and while they quickly become repetitive, the imposing ruins and dunes create a wild environment for you to explore, with a hint of tension accentuated by the constant presence of a mysterious being observing you from the sky.
Atlas Fallen tells the story of an enslaved mankind that strives to survive while working for the Queen and the aforementioned god Thelos, a tyrannical and omnipresent being that lives as the victor of a past war, now imposing its will over the whole world. After you start learning how to control the gauntlet, you will learn that Nyaal is the god of Freedom, who opposed Thelos in the past and lost. This will take you on a journey across different regions, trying to get people to join you in a crusade against the tyrant god and the Queen accompanying him, so humanity can earn its freedom once again.
The game does an excellent job to provide background information and additional entries to the lore, through different texts and tidbits that you can find while exploring the world. Traveling and making an effort to look into every nook and cranny feels rewarding, as you most likely will find yourself reading a piece of lore that will give you more insight into the world from the past, and how both Nyaal and Thelos were perceived by humanity in the ages before.
There’s also something that can be said about the rivalry of both deities and how the people worshiping them represent different sides of humanity. Your journey recovering Nyaal’s memories shows him a past of religious adoration in times of glory. However, the game never even attempts to delve that deeply into those topics, instead forcing you to headbutt some monsters between points A and B.
One of the strongest points of the game, the combat shines thanks to fluid movement and precise combat moves and mechanics. You can either dodge or parry both in the ground and in the air, which gives you a lot of freedom in your movement and allows for a lot of improvisation. The gauntlet itself can also be upgraded for you to dash more times through the air, which only further improves on that
A number of customizable elements can also be crafted and upgraded, such as the Stones and Idols. The Stones are equipable items that you can use in battle and will work as the skills you can change in your loadout, as well as passive benefits to your combat moves, and the Idols are the healing device that you equip on your gauntlet, and they can come with different extra effects.
However, while there are a wide variety of monsters to defeat, none of them stands out particularly, instead remaining as occasional obstacles and annoyances more than anything else, so the well-polished combat and every element surrounding it feel immensely wasted in meaningless fights.
At the end of the day, taking inspiration from other well-known games is not enough for Atlas Fallen to stand on its own feet, and while the game is aesthetically pleasing and the combat has enormous potential, the experience as a whole is immediately forgettable as soon as you close it.
