[DonDonDonPata]

In this world's blend of science fiction and fantasy, the sun god Thelos oppresses humanity, looming over the landscape at all times like a certain Lord of the Ring. Your adventure begins when you obtain a powerful Gauntlet. Strike out on your own (or with a co-op buddy) to overcome Sun Daddy and break the cycle of suffering.

​

Publisher: Focus Entertainment
Developer: Deck13 (Lords of the Fallen, The Surge series, Blood Knights)
Release Date: August 10, 2023
Platforms: PC, Xbox, Playstation
Expected game length: 20-25 hours for main path
Price: $49.99 PC, $59.99 consoles

Atlas Fallen: Reign of Sand

In solo or 2-player co-op, experience Reign of Sand, the ultimate version of Atlas Fallen . Ride the sands of a timeless universe and defeat legendary monsters in spectacular battles using devastating powers. Reign of Sand - The Ultimate version of Atlas Fallen An expanded world, new enemies...

store.playstation.com

Buy Atlas Fallen | Xbox

Rise from the dust and glide the sands of a timeless land, filled with ancient dangers, mysteries and fragments of the past. Hunt legendary monsters with powerful sand-infused weapons and abilities in spectacular, super-powered combat.

www.xbox.com

Gameplay and Features

​

- Large open-world map hiding ancient ruins to raise from beneath the sand
- Drop-in Online Co-Op for two players to tackle the campaign together
- Heavy emphasis on traversal: jumping, sliding, dodging, air-dashing, in combat and outside of combat
- Free-form combat system inspired by CAPCOM's Devil May Cry and Monster Hunter
- over 150 abilities called Essence Stones
- Bodypart targeting system from The Surge returns: monsters can be broken down limb by limb, piece by piece

Official Website, from which I yank numerous pictures

Atlas Fallen - Focus Entertainment

www.focus-entmt.com

 

[DonDonDonPata]

REVIEWS
​

Atlas Fallen critic reviews

Metacritic aggregates music, game, tv, and movie reviews from the leading critics. Only Metacritic.com uses METASCORES, which let you know at a glance how each item was reviewed.

www.metacritic.com

METAscore: 64/100 (9/10/2023)

 

[DonDonDonPata]

Traversal

Deck13 wanted to open up movement and traversal in ways their previous games were lacking. Sand covers large portions of the map, letting players relive their fondest Journey moments. Surf the dunes and build speed to launch into the air, use multiple air-dashes to pass impassible chasms. Raise ruins from below the ground to create new vantage points from which to jump or survey the landscape. Presumably, other biomes (like forest and especially snow) will offer ways to use the Gauntlet's sand-powers outside of the Calardias Desert.​

Alexander Bonike, Lead Level Designer explained the team faced difficulties balancing the moveset without letting players sequence-break the game or clip out of the level geometry. "Why should we not allow the player to go to that very interesting place up there? We figured 'yeah why not allow that?' which makes the game unique, a unique exploration and traversal experience."

These abilities are tied into the combat system, allowing hit-and-run tactics from a distance, rapidly getting in enemies' faces, performing air combos, and everything in between.

Developer interviews and previews from journalists and YouTube pundits have compared the pace of exploration to Darksiders and Forspoken.

Locations

Screenshots

 

[DonDonDonPata]

Combat

Deck13 provides numerous styles of combat. Aerial combat, long range combat, fast attacks, heavy-hitting slams, stuns, parry, status afflictions, and elemental strengths/weaknesses are all present. The momentum and 'perfect parry' mechanics reward aggressive players who maintain constant pressure. Breaking monster parts will often enrage them, with the payoff of eliminating some of their possible attacks (e.g. slice off the big claws and they can't slam you). Essence Stones are also dropped from enemies, and breaking parts will yield better results (Monster Hunter fans know what I mean).

Momentum

At the bottom left of the screen is this bar:

The symbols beneath are Essence Stones freely assigned by the player. The light-blue Momentum bar goes up as you land attacks and 'perfect parries' and it goes down if you disengage from combat too long or get hit too many times. Momentum encourages players to press their luck aggressively to activate the higher-tier abilities.

Part-Breaking

One of the best features of The Surge is back: limb targeting. Enemies have specific hardpoints and weak spots that players can target as they fight. Break these off to get extra loot and deal extra damage, though beware of enemies going ape after...

Enemies

Your foes are magical constructs, demons, made of sand (and who knows what else in other biomes?) by the sun god Thelos. Each creature has a range of attack patterns and group behaviors. Some you fight alone. Some will attack in packs. Trailers indicate that some of the elite enemies will even put up a Dark Souls style "barrier" around the fighting area, forcing a confrontation.​

 

[DonDonDonPata]

Previews







Developer Interviews



​

Our team was inspired by some big titles like God of War or Horizon Zero Dawn, while we felt it would be great fun to reach the pace of a Devil May Cry and some of the configuration fun of Monster Hunter. So, as you can see, there's been a rich mix of influences that helped us to shape something new and unique that can stand on its own feet.


We have over 150 different active and passive skills that can be looted, purchased, and/or crafted, so I'm sure that there's something in for every playstyle also in the lower tiers. On the other hand, we felt that it'd be great fun to also offer some powerful active skills that can be used when your Momentum bar is fully charged and your actions have massive effects in combat. It was a conscious decision to force players into the offensive, engaging enemies to gather momentum, to use skills, and to gain healing charges. Risk versus reward is a theme that heavily carries over from the Surge games to Atlas Fallen. Once people get familiar with the systems, we're confident that unlocking Essence Stones skills won't be too restricting.​

Atlas Fallen Q&A - Deck13 on Length, Genre Switch, and the Delay

We've interviewed Deck13 Game Director Jan Klose to discuss the studio's genre switch with Atlas Fallen, the game's length, the delay & more.

wccftech.com

Atlas Fallen has three weapon classes, all with different strengths and downsides. Players can equip two of them at a time to combine their specialties and to counter their weaknesses. All these weapons evolve when fighting, as a result hitting harder, growing bigger and stronger. The Dunecleaver for example is a weapon that mainly appears as a hammer, able to pull off area-of-effect strikes and staggering attacks. But it also transforms into a mighty axe and even a scythe. All weapons come with unique special attacks, special combos when using the secondary weapon and attacks that launch players into the air or slam them down on their enemies.


We also have super-powered abilities called Essence Stones. These are a variety of active and passive skills which players are able to freely socket into their combat loadout. They're divided into different categories. We have mighty damage skills that fire projectiles at enemies, summon tornadoes or call down hammers from the sky – why not! But there is also an entire category of stones with the main purpose of messing with the enemies. These so-called Trick stones consist of leaping abilities, stuns, slowdowns and other fun ways to obstruct the world's monsters. The game also offers stones to improve healing, negate damage and accelerate the way Momentum, our core combat resource used to activate these skills, is gained.​

Atlas Fallen Interview – Combat, Setting, Player Choice, and More

Deck13 managing director and Atlas Fallen creative director Jan Klose speaks with GamingBolt about the upcoming action RPG.

gamingbolt.com

Atlas Fallen is set in a distant future where humanity has spread across the galaxy. The player takes on the role of Lynden, a young pilot who gets caught up in a conflict between two factions vying for control over an important mining colony. As they navigate through this dangerous world, they'll encounter fascinating characters and uncover secrets that will change their understanding of what's really at stake.​

We wanted to create a universe that felt authentic and lived-in, with complex relationships and political tensions that feel true-to-life. The story reflects our own struggles as artists trying to make something meaningful in an age of corporate greed and environmental destruction.​

Exclusive Interview with the Creators of Atlas Fallen: A Thrilling Sci-Fi Adventure Game

Get an inside look at the upcoming science fiction game Atlas Fallen with an exclusive interview with the developers, Shayne and Kaelan Dickenson.

gamexguide.com

 

[bork]

This flew under the radar. Looks cool!

 

[regawdless]

Awesome OT @DonDonDonPata !

Looking forward to the reviews and impressions, hope this one knocks it out of the park.

 

[Dreamlord]

Great OT! I'm curious as to how this will pan out. Definitely keeping an eye on it.

 

[Pressed Ham]

Thead is now featured on the starting page. Great job with the OT DDP.

 

[Hostile_18]

Looking forward to D Pad impressions. Great OT bud.

 

[Mista]

Wicked OT! I'm having high hopes for this one. I also hope it doesn't disappoint

 

[Zeta Dragoon]

Very Nice OT! Atlas Fallen is definitely on my radar even with this insane year.

 

[DonDonDonPata]

Thanks for the compliments. I did my best to copy our resident OT masters like @Black Chamber @JORMBO @regawdless @Zeta Dragoon @Grisham and the rest

HOPEFULLY the game is solid. I feel like the important action-game parts (movement, combat, upgrades) are squared away. The remaining questions are the map itself (not a lot shown off) and the enemy variety (also not a lot shown off)

Amazon says my copy won't be here until Friday the 11th but we'll see

And if the game bombs we'll have a place to complain about it

 

[Zeta Dragoon]

Reviews are up.

ACG Review Recommends Buy


IGN gives a 7:

Atlas Fallen Review - IGN

A solid open-world action RPG with plenty of platforming and large monsters to fight with a co-op buddy, so long as neither of you cares about story or is a stickler for high-quality textures.

www.ign.com

 

[regawdless]

So far a 66 on Metacritic

Atlas Fallen critic reviews

Metacritic aggregates music, game, tv, and movie reviews from the leading critics. Only Metacritic.com uses METASCORES, which let you know at a glance how each item was reviewed.

www.metacritic.com

 

[Dreamlord]

 

[regawdless]

Quickly glanced over some reviews. Good combat and big world, bad textures, some bugs, too many fetch quests, not noteworthy story. Mechanically nothing new, pretty standard.

I think it'll be a fun game and worth playing after some patches.

 

[DonDonDonPata]

ACG Review Recommends-

Spoiler: Spoiler

buy

So far a 66 on Metacritic

Atlas Fallen critic reviews

Metacritic aggregates music, game, tv, and movie reviews from the leading critics. Only Metacritic.com uses METASCORES, which let you know at a glance how each item was reviewed.

www.metacritic.com

thanks! I'll add these to the review section. Sounds like combat, movement, and exploration are good, with a lot of platforming and verticality. Fextralife and Mortisimal are two Youtubers I already look to and they give it a recommendation-with-caveats.

On the downside, pop-in in an open world...

Some of the other complaints made me wonder how many have dealt with Eurojank before (not making excuses for the game's flaws)

Hopefully some issues will be tuned and improved after a patch or two

 

[regawdless]

 

[Zeta Dragoon]

Oof. You can't be in the 60-70 range and expect success releasing in between Baldur's Gate 3, and Starfield and Armored Core VI. Even a game in the 80-90 range would probably struggle in that slot barring meteoric success and word of mouth.

Kudos to the devs for going in on a sand open world action game and trying something a little diffrent though.

 

[regawdless]

I'll never get how the "uninspired gameplay" and "does nothing new" criticism is so unevenly applied. There are very few games that bring anything new and revolutionary to their genres. But for big popular games, it's very rarely a criticism you read in the reviews.

Once it comes to smaller and more budget titles, it's suddenly all "oh how bland and it's just copying other games, standard open world muh". Yeah guess what, Spider-Man was totally uninspired regarding it's game design, totally by the numbers open world game with totally standard open world quests. And so was basically every open world game.

 

[DonDonDonPata]

I'll never get how the "uninspired gameplay" and "does nothing new" criticism is so unevenly applied. There are very few games that bring anything new and revolutionary to their genres. But for big popular games, it's very rarely a criticism you read in the reviews.

yeah it's a boilerplate Negative used in non AAA games.

tbh I'm glad they're not trying to reinvent the wheel. My hope was that they'd bring over the fun parts of The Surge and put it into a bigger world, and it sounds like that's what they did.

 

[Zeta Dragoon]

yeah it's a boilerplate Negative used in non AAA games.

tbh I'm glad they're not trying to reinvent the wheel. My hope was that they'd bring over the fun parts of The Surge and put it into a bigger world, and it sounds like that's what they did.

The main complaints seem to be technical issues which can hopefully be patched, fetch quests, a mediocre story though one review made me think they just did not like it being straightforward

Spoiler: Spoilers

and an underwhelming final boss.

 

[DonDonDonPata]

The main complaints seem to be technical issues which can hopefully be patched, fetch quests, a mediocre story though one review made me think they just did not like it being straightforward

Spoiler: Spoilers

and an underwhelming final boss.

the fact that you can mess around with your build without much trouble is much needed in the action genre, especially when a lot of these games fancy themselves the next Dark Souls so they gate a lot of stuff behind stats and replays. For instance, I finished up Steelrising and ignored 4/5ths of the weapons since they didn't mesh with my stats. Sure, maybe I'll replay down the road and try a different build but I'd still be ignoring quite a few weapons.

I'm looking forward to bashing stuff and playing with movesets without having to start a new save. They also mentioned that beating the game doesn't end the game, you can go back into the world and continue exploring and leveling up. I like that.

 

[Zeta Dragoon]

the fact that you can mess around with your build without much trouble is much needed in the action genre, especially when a lot of these games fancy themselves the next Dark Souls so they gate a lot of stuff behind stats and replays. For instance, I finished up Steelrising and ignored 4/5ths of the weapons since they didn't mesh with my stats. Sure, maybe I'll replay down the road and try a different build but I'd still be ignoring quite a few weapons.

I'm looking forward to bashing stuff and playing with movesets without having to start a new save. They also mentioned that beating the game doesn't end the game, you can go back into the world and continue exploring and leveling up. I like that.

How much support and QoL the developers give Atlas Fallen will determine whether its forgotten as that one Forspoken like game in a insane 2023 or the very good gem that actually realized Forspokens potental.

 

[teezzy]

Neat looking 7/10 but in a year of such hard hitters... nobody gonna pay attention to this

Guaranteed future hidden gem

 

[Franky Family]

LOL

 

[Kadayi]

Neat looking 7/10 but in a year of such hard hitters... nobody gonna pay attention to this

Guaranteed future hidden gem

This is the truth of things. Hopefully, positive word of mouth will get it where it needs to go in terms of sales numbers in the long run. I suspect Baldurs Gate is eating up a lot of people's attention right now.

 

[Vanethyr]

Got about an hour on this last night and I enjoyed what I played a lot, I thrive on Eurojank so this is right up my alley. I know it's been drawing a lot of comparisons to Darksiders but what I wasn't expecting was the Piranha Bytes vibes, it definitely has the feel of a Gothic game but that might just be the awkwardness. The writing/dialogue feels a little iffy in places so I switched to the German dub, and ontop of the acting feeling significantly more natural, I'm starting to think the iffy dialogue is just down to how they've chosen to translate it. It's not a dealbreaker and the English dub is fine, but the acting really is all over the place. Thankfully you can swap dubs on the fly in the settings menu without having to reload, so it's easy to stop and compare what NPCs sound like. Either way I'm excited to play more, I'm intrigued to see where the story goes too.

 

[Gold Loot]

Ya know, fuck it. I'm gonna pick this up. I enjoy supporting AA developers and the game-minus a few issues here and there looks right up my alley.

Atomic Heart also got quite a few iffy reviews and it's still one of my favorite games this year.

 

[DonDonDonPata]

Ya know, fuck it. I'm gonna pick this up. I enjoy supporting AA developers and the game-minus a few issues here and there looks right up my alley.

Atomic Heart also got quite a few iffy reviews and it's still one of my favorite games this year.

I'm with ya man. I'd rather buy a B-tier Eurojank game at launch, knowing with certainty that every single "big game" will be just fine if not better in 6-12 months, after the praise vanishes. I wish I'd waited several months on Tears of the Kingdom, for instance

 

[Zeta Dragoon]

Oof. You can't be in the 60-70 range and expect success releasing in between Baldur's Gate 3, and Starfield and Armored Core VI. Even a game in the 80-90 range would probably struggle in that slot barring meteoric success and word of mouth.

Kudos to the devs for going in on a sand open world action game and trying something a little diffrent though.

Ok damn I saw comments on reddit.

I had forgotten Baldur's Gate 3 was moved back to avoid Starfield, only Atlas Fallen got caught in the middle otherwise their time frame would have been decent with Remnent II being the prior big title instead of a giant like Baldurs Gate 3.

That is just absolutely terrible luck for them.

 

[DonDonDonPata]

Ok damn I saw comments on reddit.

I had forgotten Baldur's Gate 3 was moved back to avoid Starfield, only Atlas Fallen got caught in the middle otherwise their time frame would have been decent with Remnent II being the prior big title instead of a giant like Baldurs Gate 3.

That is just absolutely terrible luck for them.

Focus Entertainment has a lot of other releases suffering from proximity to bigger releases. Sometimes their games actually break out of the "terrible timing" and succeed (e.g. Plague Tale, Greedfall, Atomic Heart probably), but most of the others remain kinda obscure (Evil West, Hardspace Shipbreaker, The Surge, and Atlas Fallen probably)

I'm a huge fan of theirs; I actually get a bit self conscious about mentioning them so much because we're a small community here and I don't wanna sound like a shill

 

[Zeta Dragoon]

Focus Entertainment has a lot of other releases suffering from proximity to bigger releases. Sometimes their games actually break out of the "terrible timing" and succeed (e.g. Plague Tale, Greedfall, Atomic Heart probably), but most of the others remain kinda obscure (Evil West, Hardspace Shipbreaker, The Surge, and Atlas Fallen probably)

I'm a huge fan of theirs; I actually get a bit self conscious about mentioning them so much because we're a small community here and I don't wanna sound like a shill

Greedfall had potental but was let down by absolute lack of budget and polish, otherwise a pretty decent lower fantasy age of axploration era Dragon Age like. I'm really, really ecstatic Greedfall 2 is happening, and hoping its a big breakout that addresses Greedfalls shortcomings. I've also heard some good things about Evil West having some new God of War influence?

 

[MildWolverine]

Greedfall had potental but was let down by absolute lack of budget and polish, otherwise a pretty decent lower fantasy age of axploration era Dragon Age like. I'm really, really ecstatic Greedfall 2 is happening, and hoping its a big breakout that addresses Greedfalls shortcomings. I've also heard some good things about Evil West having some new God of War influence?

No Greedfall 1 was fucking great, it was better than all of the Mass Effect series, the story was superior and the voice acting was great.

Combat was even fun in Greedfall. It had a skill tree that wasn't just "add +5%" like so many shitty RPGs today.

It had skills that really did change the way you played.

 

[Dreamlord]

After seeing the reviews and considering how many games I am juggling atm and the couple of big ones coming out soon, I will wait and get this one on sale. Happy to play it at some point though for sure. I really enjoyed Darksiders 3 and it looks quite similar.

 

[Zeta Dragoon]

No Greedfall 1 was fucking great, it was better than all of the Mass Effect series, the story was superior and the voice acting was great.

Combat was even fun in Greedfall. It had a skill tree that wasn't just "add +5%" like so many shitty RPGs today.

It had skills that really did change the way you played.

As someone who enjoyed Greedfall, the combat was very lacking even if I liked the general new world theme, being able to actually use your role as a diplomat to get things done, the pistols and aesthetics and the cast. Magic was overpowered but at the same time uninteresting. Party doesn't even join you to confront final boss. All the cities while nice are copy paste. It did not have a good budget and it really shows.

Heck, I would not mind a remaster of Greedfall 1 eventually that fine tunes the game and gives it the polish it deserves.

 

[DonDonDonPata]

Greedfall had potental but was let down by absolute lack of budget and polish, otherwise a pretty decent lower fantasy age of axploration era Dragon Age like. I'm really, really ecstatic Greedfall 2 is happening, and hoping its a big breakout that addresses Greedfalls shortcomings. I've also heard some good things about Evil West having some new God of War influence?

I'd say Greedfall was as polished as the Xbox and 360 era Bioware games but came out one generation "late". It feels very much in line with those games, but I never felt like it was rough or underbudget. It wasn't a PiranhaBytes game, lemme put it that way

No Greedfall 1 was fucking great, it was better than all of the Mass Effect series, the story was superior and the voice acting was great.

Combat was even fun in Greedfall. It had a skill tree that wasn't just "add +5%" like so many shitty RPGs today.

It had skills that really did change the way you played.

My man.

 

[regawdless]

After seeing the reviews and considering how many games I am juggling atm and the couple of big ones coming out soon, I will wait and get this one on sale. Happy to play it at some point though for sure. I really enjoyed Darksiders 3 and it looks quite similar.

Yeah it's rough. Just finished JA3, now towards the end of Ratchet & Clank, then there'll be the big hitter Turbo Overkill, then AC6 drops, then Lies of P.... No idea where to put this game in. I guess it'll be a Q1 2024 game for me.

 

[MildWolverine]

I'd say Greedfall was as polished as the Xbox and 360 era Bioware games but came out one generation "late". It feels very much in line with those games, but I never felt like it was rough or underbudget. It wasn't a PiranhaBytes game, lemme put it that way



My man.

I agree with the 360 era bioware, which was when they were truly making great things, not this shitty Mass Effect 2 and 3 with awful everything. MA 1 was amazing, the combat was great, even driving in the vehicle was good.

I miss when PB made Gothic series instead of that other shitty series Risen and Elex they became obsessed with, Gothic series was actually good at least 1 and 2, it felt like a big open world that you wanted to explore.

We need 360 era Bioware, BIG WORLDS enter random buildings, worlds that feel alive, and that have tons of useless shit.

We do have Baldur's Gate 3, which is the PERFECT evolution of Dragon Age and many older RPGs. There's so much side content, so many dead ends that have great loot. Loot actually matters, so does leveling choices, and even dialog choices are worthwhile.

As someone who enjoyed Greedfall, the combat was very lacking even if I liked the general new world theme, being able to actually use your role as a diplomat to get things done, the pistols and aesthetics and the cast. Magic was overpowered but at the same time uninteresting. Party doesn't even join you to confront final boss. All the cities while nice are copy paste. It did not have a good budget and it really shows.

Heck, I would not mind a remaster of Greedfall 1 eventually that fine tunes the game and gives it the polish it deserves.

Greedfall cities weren't really copy pasted, they were all structured differently. The outer villages were copy pasted. The cities felt more alive than anything in Diablo 3 or any other RPG of it's time.

The combat was fun enough though, better than Dragon Age 2 and 3's pure trash and Mass Effect 2 and 3's shitty half-assed "I guess we're making a 3rd person shooter now" that it never really grew into properly.