Arx Fatalis

Atmosphere pervades this dungeon romp, starting as you're dragged to a prison by some moronic goblins, who have individual personalities. Underground taverns and cities add to the feel of the world, as well as persistent feeling that this is a doomed society and world. As the player enters a new area, it is always fun and different. There are plenty of items to pick up and collect, as well as deep character customization. The magic system is unique, in that one uses the mouse to draw shapes on the screen to conjure different spells. And hand to hand combat feels fine since the game engine is a modern one. It moves like any modern FPS. The two drawbacks to the game are a slightly clunky interface, which one gets used to after some time, but is frustrating at first. Secondly, the game is very linear. Of course there are plenty of nooks and crannies to explore, but generally you are moving along a set path which progresses the story. If you like games like the Ultima Underworld series, this would be up your alley. There is plenty to do, see and collect. There is an engaging story, and moreover, one of the best underground worlds I've explored in a long time.

I have been playing games for a long time and there are few that really lock me in for hours at a time. I'm happy to say Arx Fatalis is one of those games. I did have a few issues getting the game working right at the start. I had the speed bug, guy runs faster than you can control, and I also had a memory error. The fast bug was fixed by setting this game to run on one cpu. The memory error was fixed by setting the game to Win98 mode. Not hard to figure this out with a bit of reading on the GOG forums. Not worth taking a star off The sounds, the characters and graphics are all very believable. The control of the game took a little getting the hang of but works very well. I must mention that casting spells in this game is unlike anything else I have ever seen in other games. It really adds that little extra fun to the game. If you like good RPGs I would expect you to like this game. What a bargain buy!

Summary: If you are a connoisseur of the RPG genre, then Arx Fatalis is a game that you will not want to miss. Its moody, gritty atmosphere combined with excellent story-telling will keep you hooked. Gameplay: Arx Fatalis is a first-person RPG in the vein of the Elder Scrolls series or Ultima Underworld. It is often compared to the latter because of they share a similar setting. The basic game mechanics work alright, although combat is not always as smooth as it could be. Still, the game is enjoyable here and doesn't do anything badly. Graphics: Some feel that Arx Fatalis has aged well in the graphics department. To be sure, the environments do look good and will often leave you with a sense of wonderment. It's easy to get drawn into Arx Fatalis' world and imagine yourself as having grown up in an underground world. However, the character models were somewhat low-poly even for the time that the game came out. Your eyes may find that they need to adjust a little to the lack of detail. Sound: The games music is unfortunately not very memorable for an RPG. In fact, some areas actually opt for no music, giving you the creepy feeling of the silent, underground world the game takes place in. Other times the music is almost more like environmental background noise. The voice acting ranges from mediocre to downright bad, but is not too difficult to overlook. Story: Arx Fatalis' story is very engaging and has a few twists along the way that will keep you guessing. The game also does a great job of getting you to revisit past areas with a new perspective or under new conditions. A variety of quests keep you ascending and descending between the underground world's many levels. Replayability: The game has a small number of side quests and a few points in the main quest that have multiple solutions, but for the most part it is fairly linear. This isn't always a bad thing. If you sometimes feel overwhelmed by the feeling of "what should I do next?" in an Elder Scrolls game, Arx Fatalis is a welcome relief. Modability: As of yet there are very few mods available for the game and I have seen reports that they are incompatible with the GOG version. That said, the source code for the game was released earlier this year, and enthusiasts of the Arx Fatalis world have already begun a source port to Linux. If interest remains high, full mod capabilities may be available in the future.

[Technical Note]: Seems to crash above 1080p and some visuals are corrupted on modern OS (not the native condition under which the game was released) but the same goes with Steam version. [Review]: Everything in this game felt interesting be it for its special mechanics or the atmosphere and story. Generally speaking all the sections of the game had something to bring to the table and the semi open world feeling was great as each section gave a sense of accomplishment as you discovered and unlocked more sections of the game. So while linear for the most part levels wise, a good portion of the content could be dealt differently with alternative results and hidden elements (including undocumented spells) that were fun to enjoy on a second and third walkthrough of the game and allowed players to enjoy multiple gameplay styles be it a pure mage, warrior or thief as the three main character types were all technically accomplishable to the end and satisfying! [Semi-spoiler - I once finished the game realizing I did not went to the Crypt at all which felt amazing] Overall by looking at this game years after completing it the first time I can notice some lack of polish in the gameplay mechanics and some rough edges on the visual level compared to other games of the time but was still a solid game nonetheless. [Spoiler: One element that kept bugging thought the years I re-played this gamer were the requirements of some of the best weapons in the game that penalized “jack of all trade” type of character as a player with medium strength and medium dexterity could not use at least one of the best swords and one best daggers that the game offered which was kind of a bummer in retrospective. Also the difficulty of the final boss with a rogue character was a bit annoying as you had to be prepared to fiddle around to be able to beat the game in that context]. This is a must have game for Ultima Underworld fans! P.S.: Would be a dream in VR with how magic was implemented!

With the setting and magic system... It very interactive, good old RPG. Maybe a little clunky interface but who cares. This is very nice RPG. Use magic :) And always mod the game if there's a mod for modern resolutions... and there is: "Arx Libertatis is an improved, cross-platform and open source engine for Arx Fatalis, a 2002 first-person role-playing game / dungeon crawler developed by Arkane Studios."