Arx Fatalis

Arx Fatalis offers a rich fantasy environment with a worthwhile and engaging story. while you spend an awful lot of time looking at dungeon walls, the game does a fairly good job of looking good while remaining the same. The sound is incredible, and in my opinion, more than makes up for any shortcomings in visual category. From the slapping of your feet on the stone floors and the gutteral conversations of goblins in the next room, to the dripping of water in underground pools and the ambient hum of tunnels, this game has audio that delivers more ambience than almost any game I've played. The characters are well drawn, heavily styilized, and ulltimately very good. I like a game with a strong overall artistic concept, and Arx Fatalis really puts you in the world the designers have created. I can't get behind the controls. I've tried and tried, but I just don't have the patience for them. Maybe I'm spoiled, but I think drinking healing potions or something during combat shouldn't involve fumbling around in you inventory while you're being beaten to death, unable to defend yourself. Obviously, plenty of people have managed just fine, so this is a personal hangup, but one I'm sure a few people probably share. If you're looking for the much more seamless interface of a contemporary like Morrowind, be prepared for disappointment. I personally come from the school of thought that says the game pauses when you open your inventory, but that's a matter of opinion. I find the magic system of actually using hand motions to be clever, but ultimately more gimmicky than fulfilling. I'm a firm believer that bad/difficult control shouldn't be a substitute for genuine overall challenge in a game - it's a copout here, and doesn't really do much to set Arx apart from the pack. If you can get beyond the frustrating controls, as lots of people have, this game is definately worth your time/money. If you're quickly frustrated by interface that is needlessly challenging, than you may (as another reviewer suggested) be better off with Morrowind.

I consider Arx Fatalis to be one of my all time favourite games. It seems as if it is still vastly underrated as most people I talk to about it aren't even aware of its existence. This game has an amazing setting and lore, the exploration of the various levels is fun and engaging, each level is its own thing and with its own environment and inhabitants. It has cool combat, using magic is amazing with all the different options available to you and the versatility of the spells themselves and even casting them is unique and immersive (another great thing about magic is that it exists not only for combat, it is also sometimes the key to figuring out a puzzle). Progressing through the game isn't simply moving forward and killing enemies but instead you are constantly challenged by the layout of the level itself, making you need to find different approaches to reach certain places and by puzzles which are very well made and always keep you interested in finding out more. Extra bonus points for the cooking system as though it may not be the most complex thing ever, the way it works just makes me feel all warm and cozy watching my fishy cook by the fire. If you are an RPG fan, and especially if you appreciate underground settings of caves and mines and the like, do yourself a favour and play this game.

I do not get what all the complains are about. Maybe gamers today are too spoiled as they seem to think Witcher is a true RPG when it is a story driven adventure game. This on the other hand is an amazing immersive sim with some of the best ambient audio I have heard. It doesn't hold your hand and like old Ultima games and Gothic things make sense and naturally fit into place. There are tons of secrets and multiple ways you can approach many of the tasks that are completely easy to miss. Same level of immersion is not there in their modern titles like Dishonoured.

I know many will think, what is he talking about. But I feel that this game was more enjoyable than Skyrim and it's ilk. Even with the dated graphics and smaller scale, the missions seem more personal, the characters more real. I had loved Ultima Underworld 1 + 2 so many years ago, but they are hard to play today with the clunky interface. Mind you, Arx Fatalis does not have a perfect interface, but it is usable. I found the magic system clever, but frustrating. I had to repeat may runes dozens of times each time I wanted to cast a spell. The rune recognition algorithm was a little to critical for my tastes. A note, and I do not believe this is a spoiler, when you have to use a shovel, use the 'f' key or it will not work!. This was a very frustrating design consideration. For all my complaints, I still loved this game, and I highly recommend it!

Arx Fatalis will definitely appeal to a niche audience, but it's a pass from me. I love Arkane Studios and Immersive Sims so I was excited to give this game a shot. Unfortunately, I found the game to be way too cumbersome and directionless to be enjoyable. The game oftentimes gives you objectives with no hint as to how to accomplish them. I'm all for games leaving the player to figure out how to solve problems, but the player needs to at least know where the problem is to solve it. The game's quest log seems to only update occasionally and your journal is a stream of conciousness that isn't organized at all. Despite the game's world class level design (and I do mean that, some of the details and connections throghout levels are astonishing), navagating the world is a chore due to the slow movement speed, confusing location layouts, and the worst minimap of all time. The UI is also a mess and requires you to constantly switch between mouse look and cursor mode, which is very clunky and grating. The straw that broke the camel's back for me was the magic system. The game makes you draw the runes associated with spells in order for you to cast them. This is brilliant in theory, but in game is incredibly annoying and will test you patience and sanity. I kept trying to draw the rune for the only offensive spell I had only for the game to constantly register it as a rune I had yet to own. I was literally spending minutes trying to draw a single spell correctly. Oh, and the game doesn't have any marking system for quest items, which means you can sell them and break your game. The game does have its merrits such as the reactivity of the world, cooking system, and level design, but it isn't concerned with teaching the player much and the gameplay itself just isn't fun for me. If you love games that throw you to the wolves and leave you to fend for yourself, you should definitely give it a shot but it absolutely isn't for everyone. Then again, nothing should be for everyone.