Arx Fatalis

Feel of a big adventure and no handhelding, I wish more games were like this one

If you're a fan of the Ultima Underworld games, then you will definitely want to give this one a go. There's even a demo out there if you want to try it first. While this may not take place in the same setting as the Ultima series, it was inspired by the UW games and has a similar atmosphere to it. It also has elements of Thief like leaning, stealth, etc. It even has the voice actor who did Garrett! The graphics are decent for the era but not cutting edge. Music and sound effects are ok too, but aren't very memorable. There are some bugs and other issues but,,, I recommend installing Arx Libertatis to eliminate some bugs and add QoL features. It will likely set off virus alerts. I was skeptical, but I submitted it to Malwarebytes and they said it was free of viruses and would update to remove the false positive. Controls take a bit to get used to. You need your weapon out to use mouse look as far as I can tell. There is a decent mini map and you can fully customize your character rather than choosing a class. Skills are typical wizard, warrior, thief. Wizard is pretty OP. Speaking of which, the magic system is interesting. It requires you draw the runes for the spell you want to cast in order. You do so with your mouse on the screen. I can be a bit tedious, but you can pre-draw up to 3 spells, so that helps. Ark Libetratis definitely makes this easier by making the drawing not need to be as precise. Story line is decent, but nothing unforgettable. Quests and puzzles are decent. The main thing lacking is a bit of polish. I think a remake would do this game a lot of justice. It isn't perfect, but it is fun if you like games like Ultima Underworld. A word of warning - it can affect some people with motion sicnkess, but at least with Arx Libertatis, not sure about vanilla, you can change visual settings like FOV.

Just finished Arx Fatalis for the first time since its original release, this time with Arx Libertatis. The atmosphere still holds up beautifully, and as a big fan of immersive sims I love how much ambition is packed into this underground world. That said, even with the source port it’s still pretty janky: jumping, melee combat… let’s just say “needs improvement.” Rune-casting by hand works much better now, though, and honestly the sheer atmosphere makes it worth pushing through the rough edges. An early (almost) masterpiece from Arkane. A crying shame we’ll probably never see a true sequel.

I enjoyed it.

Unfortunately I got stuck in snake women area and was not able to progress any further. Hard to get through without walkthrough guide for me, which kinda sucks