Arx Fatalis

I had prepared a longer text to post, but due to the letter limitation, I’ll post it tersely. I include some important tips, which took me some time to figure out. 1. The game is an action-RPG-adventure! There’s action, leveling and quests, and adventure elements (levers, puzzles, etc.). 2. Harsh in learning, doesn’t hold your hand. The journal isn’t organized in named “quests”, as in other RPGs. You have to figure things mostly on your own (maybe by writing them down). The overall map doesn’t help either, you have to be good at finding your bearings. Thankfully there is a minimap and a fast travel system. 3. There’s very rare enemy respawn. You have to be very careful as to where to spend your earned points. No point re-spec. 4. Weapons and armor have standard durability, which declines with use. 5. You can save the game at any time. 6. Interesting main storyline with some twists. 7. The magic system is really interesting, doing the hand gestures, but, although it is mentioned that you can save up to 3 spells for immediate use (without doing the gestures), this is the case for only one use, not permanently! For example, if you save the fireball spell in num1, then by pressing num1 the spell is activated instantly, but it is spent! You can’t press num1 and use it again! Instead, you will have to do the gestures for a second use! 8. Raising the skill Object Knowledge is the only way to identify objects. 9. You can break walled minerals and walled tombstones alike with pickaxe. 10. As the only negative (which I’ve seen in multiple old RPGs too), I’d say the fact that everything can be sold, even objects found for potential side quests, which you haven’t met yet! So be careful. Fortunately merchants don’t restock, but you still have to search whom you sold it to! Don’t sell the Akbaa’s stones (there are 5 in total). All in all, if you can withstand the old graphics and you like the genre, give this game a try, to experience the amazing story and the whole atmosphere.

One word of advice - get Arx Libertatis to make game more playable on modern hardware. Before Arkane started making more dynamic titles with great melee combat they made game inspired by Ultima Underworld. Claustrophobic (under)world of Arx in old mine have some charm. About gameplay - magic is not only fun but also mandatory. Halfway through the game there is something that make magicless players cry, beware. Few races from fantasy world, some intrigue, and a lot of mysteries and secrets waiting for aware and curious folks.

I’ve recently played Arx Fatalis for the first time and I must say – I absolutely loved it! Already from the intro I was intrigued. The setting of Arx Fatalis seems pretty original and interesting at first glance. The sun of Arx has died and disappeared from the skies, turning the world into an icy shell. All the sentient races of Arx had to retreat underground, into the old dwarven tunnels, and accomodate to the life with tonnes of rock above their heads and darkness everywhere around. The game indeed takes place entirely underground, and you’d think it would be boring from a design perspective. But I’m happy to say I think the developers made a good job of making each level of the dungeon distinct. While the setting is pretty great, the story is not particuarly mindblowing. It’s not to say that it’s bad – it’s just „okay” I would say. But what was so great about Arx Fatalis and what I loved about it was just the multitude of interactive elements and little immersive mechanics. You can bake bread in Arx Fatalis, for example. You have to get flour and you have to get water. Then, you have to mix them in your inventory to make bread dough. Then, you have to light a fire. And lay the bread near the fire. And the dough rises. In real time! Arx Fatalis is full of those little things. If you drop cheese on the ground, mice will gather to eat it. There’s even a very cool interaction with the stock market, where you can buy shares in a business and their price actually reflects what happens in the game. I personally loved it – I loved the little interactions, the exploration, the setting. I’m one of those people who can derive real joy from really small details, and Arx Fatalis seemed to be chokefull of those. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with it. If you want to see how I did playing the game for the first time, you can see it on my channel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hW8vhDY0NQo&list=PLp4TpsJ7HUWUuMgPUrYxec8hKq0VqmeJa

If you play games mostly for the characters, dialogue and story, Arx Fatalis is probably not for you. But if you enjoy games with an immersive atmosphere and freedom of choice, you may be able to look past the flaws and find a great game underneath. The game is an immersive sim/RPG hybrid with an impressive variety of ways you can interact with the world. You can attempt to "use" any item on any other item or object in the world, and the game rewards you for being creative. I was often impressed by how well the game responded the ideas I came up with to deal with various situations. The environments are beautiful and are a highlight of the game. The city of Arx in particular looks great, and there's a good variety to the visuals in general. The sound design is INCREDIBLE and is on par with the Thief games. The atmosphere in the game is just top notch all around. Unfortunately, the story is pretty basic and doesn't really take advantage of the setting. The voice acting is awful, and the dialogue isn't great to begin with. The main character is probably the worst of them all and typically sounds bored or drunk. Most of the other voice actors aren't much better. The game does not hold your hand and tell you what to do. You are given a set of abilities and spells and it's up to you to decide when and how to use them. The quest journal is pretty bad at tracking everything, and a few times I had to look up on the internet what to do. The game is noticeably rushed at the end, and this is where I found myself frustrated a few times. Ultimately I had a great time playing the game overall, but the flaws do prevent me from wholeheartedly recommending the game to everyone. If you are a fan of the immersive sim or RPG genres however, you should absolutely give it a try.

Arx Fatalis is not a perfect game. At its worst, its a frustration simulator with its unwieldy UI, extremely limited combat, and unorthodox magic system. At its best, this game feels like a RPG missing link between the 90's and the 2000's. While it retains some of the adventure/puzzle solving lineage from games like Ultima and Baldur's Gate, its magic system and world design feels ahead of its time compared to some of Arx's contemporaries like Morrowind or Fallout. It really has more in common with Deus Ex and Thief than anything else. While the magic gesture system takes a long to get used to, magic's utility has so much potential within a 3D space in a 1st person view. This wouldn't be that fun on its own, but Arx provides a fascinating answer with its giant dungeon world. Arkane asks themselves: What would a whole world fit into the Mines of Moria be like? You get the giant and singular puzzle box that is Arx Fatalis.