Arx Fatalis

A good ol' fashion dungeon crawl with true RPG elements. That's the best way to sum up this game. Like most RPGs from the late 90s and shortly thereafter, some of the story lines are a bit hokey but that doesn't distract from the overall game. With branching storylines and some decisions that affect the flow of the game, this is a very solid entry in the RPG world. It's not without flaws but for those looking for an involved game with a good mix of action, strategy, puzzles and interaction, this game is a great pickup.

Arx has a unique spell casting system that requires you to use mouse gestures, but the recognition script is poor and the gestures must be drawn very closely to the intended rune/gesture. This is near impossible to accomplish while in combat and will prove lethal to any mage character many times throughout the game. The game itself has many bugs and lacks of foresight that can prevent you from completing the storyline. Arx Fatalis also goes overboard with the concept of having the player figure out what to do on their own. The dialogue, story and quest log will constantly drop you off with only a fragment (or not) of an idea of what you are supposed to do next, thus leaving you to wander aimlessly around the game world's caverns trying to find a way to advance the plot. Quest items can also be sold, dropped, or easily missed; again forcing you to wander around aimlessly looking for an obsure item that you had missed , but have no idea what it is. If you do play this game be a melee character with a side of magic to get you through certain spots. I went 95% mage only to find out that spells are almost useless against the final boss and end game enemies, forcing me to use the end of game melee weapon to defeat it the boss. At least the programmers removed the strength requirement from the end-game (boss killing) weapon, but they forgot one thing; A mage has barely any HEALTH! The final boss can kill you in less than 2 seconds if you have a low max HP. Also, many runes are nowhere to be found, barring you from many spells. One rune can only be aquired with high thieving skills, but breaking into the storeroom turns plot critical NPC's hostile. The best combat spell is one of the first ones you learn, fireeball. nearly all other combat spells are useless. Take lightning projection for example. It is a hight level spell, does only medium damage and drains your mana bar with 1-2 uses. In my opinion Arx Fatalis is an ok game in itself, but the design flaws and bugs will ruin your day. If you must play this game I highly recommend using several save files and following a walkthrough. The walkthrough will not only help when you are wandering about aimlessly, It will also be a crucial tool in avoiding game breaking bugs and glitches. The multiple backup saves are also a must in case you accidentally do run into such a situation.

Arx Fatalis is the most atmospheric dungeon crawl I've played on the PC. If you like RPGs, but prefer exploring huge caverns, crypts and catacombs, this is for you.

The creators of Arx Fatalis claim it's a spiritual successor to the Ultima Underworld games, to the point where they even originally planned to call it Ultima Underworld 3 before failing to get the license. It's mechanics and systems (especially the Rune Magic system) are all very much UU, but it lacks a few things that made that game memorable. It's very linear for a good portion of the game, most of the NPCs are one dimensional, and the world in general lacks the imagination and mystique of the UU games. That's not to say these things make it a bad game; it's actually quite good, especially in how it caters to different skill sets, it's just that these things were what made UU for some people. The plot, though rather generic, has a few generally good twists. Each area feels expertly designed, full of secrets, and very much remind me of the levels in the Thief games, another Looking Glass Studios game. As I mentioned previously, it caters well to different play styles. There was one level with enemies I was too weak to take on with straight combat, but I managed to get by with a combination of stealth (a handy skill) and magic. Though there are only a few side-quests, some of them are fantastic. For the most part, it's a very solid and enjoyable dungeon crawler that will keep you up to the early hours of the morning. There are a few flaws, such as horrible voice acting, difficulty spikes and a few skills require far too much investment before they are of any use (I'm looking at you, lock picking) but the biggest problem is the constant crashes. Apparently GOG are looking into it. Until it's fixed, I don't advise picking it up unless you're extremely patient, or if you have a system where it will not crash as much (I'm on a dual core machine with Vista 32-bit installed). It got to the point where I decided I'd rather just stop playing, despite nearing the end of the game. Add another star if it gets fixed, as it's a damn fun ride when it works.