When we first saw Atlas Fallen at Gamescom last year, the promise of a fantasy world and phenomenal cosmic powers with which to subdue the mighty creatures that plague it immediately caught my attention, but the tape- announcement we saw then only promised a 2023 release and a story to be experienced alone or co-op with cinematic scenes, and there was no hint of real gameplay.
Since (and it’s been a few months now) the release date has been getting closer and closer until this week we’re treated to a short trailer with a brief (very brief) look at three fight scenes and as many of scenes of movement and exploration of the environment. This absence of a marketing campaign for a game that will be released in a few months has not generated much confidence. Still, I needed to try Atlas Fallen and see what it had to offer, and I saw some good things and some not so good, but nothing particularly original.
Atlas Fallen places us in the land of Atlas, where an evil force with the power to dominate beasts has completely subjugated the population. In the final battle, the Last Defenders wielded the power of the Gauntlet, a mystical weapon that could turn the tide of battle. Unfortunately, this power was too strong to control and the Gauntlet shattered into pieces, leaving the survivors at the mercy of evil. And by chance, now that this fragmented and unstable weapon has fallen into your hands. The objective will be to recover the parts (shards) of the gauntlet so that it increases its power and defeats the bad guys. That’s why we will have to cross a vast world in search of the shards and, in doing so, help the population in their tasks and free the areas from monsters.
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Wow, a huge open world, full of strange creatures and with a newly acquired power that allows us to do magic through an accessory… I’ve seen that before. And that doesn’t do much. Deck 13 had not dared until now to make an open world title like this Atlas Fallen, but we immediately notice that it is a bet in which the studio which created Lords of the Fallen or the series soul-like The Surge wanted to explore this genre without getting too complicated and taking advantage of the appeal of exploration and combat systems that had already seen success, such as God of War (2018).
The problem comes when the connection is felt with an even more recent title than the other two and which had a disastrous reception on the part of the community: Forspoken. The similarities between the title of the now defunct Luminous and Atlas Fallen go deeper from medieval aesthetics or the color palette of the world. It’s that even the accompanying accessory itself speaks. And it’s just as irritating. At least here, he occasionally materializes into an entity called Nyal who advises and guides us throughout the trip.
I’ve already mentioned that the battle system takes note of Santa Monica’s title, but what I’ve seen is that it abuses those systems and transfers them to Atlas without mercy or shame. The fights with unlockable abilities and load bars with which to perform the definitive combos are there, as well as the crafting of objects (idols) with which to increase the defense, the attack or the recovery of life. I don’t mind that they took notice of GoW, in fact I’m glad more games are taking notice of Kratos’ new approach, but the mirage goes away when you get stuck in the early tutorial battles and you see that the battle is quite different here. . Hits and enemy movements are brutal, almost static, and with a parry system that doesn’t make it visually clear when it opens, and introduces an air combat mechanic in which it’s easier to miss when hits with the huge weapon magic which we have to hit the bug.
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And the technical section didn’t grab my attention at all either. The graphics are next-gen, although here I’m breaking ground in Atlas Fallen’s favor and its performance on PCs with somewhat outdated or low-end components continues to perform very well, and although it this is a more modest title, its system lighting and world load are fluid. Even the character swiping is better here than in Forspoken, which gives me a glimmer of hope that some of the issues I encountered on PC won’t carry over to the console version which I hope to see again in a few weeks.
Atlas Fallen hasn’t left me very calm yet. It may not be an innovative title, but if its combat system convinces you and you get carried away by the rich history that can be guessed between combat and combat (and of which I have heard almost nothing), can Maybe I’ll come back for more adventures.
