Atlas Fallen Review

Reading Time: 6 minutes

Fast Facts

I had been waiting for a long time since it was announced for the moment to take control of Atlas Fallen. To date I had seen it in videos and had read some previews that were online, but I needed to try it for myself. In the last two weeks I have had the opportunity to play it on Xbox Series X and delve into everything that the game offers. The truth is, that despite it not being a perfect game, it is something very different from what we are used to. It brings together the mechanics of an RPG with combat in the purest Darksiders style, a mix that works wonderfully.

The first half hour of the game can be a bit hard, but once you’re free and can start moving on your own, you begin to take advantage of all the potential hidden in the game, created by Deck 13.

A Technical Section Much More than Acceptable

Atlas Fallen is a game that meets its objective in the technical and graphical section at all times. To carry out this review, I played it on Xbox Series X and prioritized performance mode, that is, betting on 60 images per second at the cost of losing some resolution, without a doubt the best configuration for the type of game that Atlas Fallen is. You’re in an open world where the way you move around the map and combat is the basis, so you’ll appreciate being able to have that extra smoothness of frames to run and jump through scenarios and to be able to fight.

The game offers us very large rooms, both interior and exterior, that you can visit and explore almost as you wish. I say almost, since to advance to certain areas you’ll have to advance in the game to get improvements for the gauntlet and in this way, access other places that you couldn’t access before. These maps are well-structured, with textures that look spectacular from a distance, in addition to the design of the character, their armor and the lighting effects.

Atlas Fallen offers, thanks to its lighting, sand and dust effects that give us great pictures. We can also explore more angles and moments of the game thanks to its photo mode. The first half hour of the game is the most shocking and where its full potential is the least visible. Once the first half hour has passed and you can move freely, it’s time to see everything that Atlas Fallen offers, its size, its great handling of the character and its brutal combat.

A Genre Mix that Works Perfectly

This is a game that mixes several genres. In the first lines of this review I mentioned Darksiders, you can also add a little Lords of the Fallen along with the basics of the most classic RPGs. It is a mixture that, although reading it may seem a little strange to you, all goes together very well, although it doesn’t risk too much in any aspect. I know this should be bad but the game simply knows how to take the best of each genre. Although it doesn’t exploit this to the end, Atlas Fallen offers us a mix that will hook you from its first moments.

Combat and exploration are the number one premise of Atlas Fallen. For this, Deck 13, has managed to create a good combat system, based on parries, counters and dodge movements. With this system well-implemented, you can accumulate momentum to use your most powerful attacks to do the maximum possible damage to enemies. All this comes seasoned with a little RPG but don’t expect a game with the level of development of a title like Skyrim. Here the main story is the development of the game, where secondary missions (more or less elaborate) and the narrative will explain what has happened in the world we are exploring.

Imagine that, to all of this, we must add exploration and a fun system of moving around the world. We are presented with a game which has a large world and different sections, so the developers have decided to offer us the possibility of moving around it either by grinding in the sand or by using jumps and quick movements. This has not been done just to move quickly, being able to jump will be mandatory in many parts of the game, since there will be platforms and some puzzles that will make us use our skills.

Atlas Fallen is not a simple game, nor is it impossible, it will simply force you to focus on the combat and not go crazy. Blocks will be mandatory if you want to take down the most difficult enemies in the game. It’s not enough just to mash buttons, you’ll have to use the parry and counter mechanics and raise your momentum bar to make devastating attacks. The enemies will have weak points to be able to kill them. So, as we’ve seen in numerous games, you will have to focus on one part of the enemy’s body and hit it until it is lifeless, then continue with the next.

You can improve your armor, as well as merge different skills to equip yourself with those that best suit your playing style. During your adventure it will be mandatory to improve your passive and active skills and choose the ones that best adapt to your playing style. Everything that I’ve summarized in this section combines perfectly, it is true that it doesn’t risk too much in any aspect, but everything it does is developed correctly.

You have a very important skill to use throughout the game and that you must improve, the gauntlet. It will be used to unearth structures from the ground, chests and to perform some puzzles; it’s a skill for the development of game and character, not a combat skill that you can use as you wish.

A Short Duration that Leaves You Wanting Much More

Finishing Atlas Fallen can take between 15 or 20 hours, depending on how much you dedicate yoursef to completing secondary missions, exploring the world and unearthing all the chests and secrets. If you want to play it cooperatively, you will have more hours of gameplay to enjoy. It will also depend on how good you are in the fights, some of them are complicated and although none of them are impossible, you may have to repeat some more than once to be able to overcome them.

I have not been able to play it cooperatively, so I can’t comment on the things that change in this mode. Although, since you can play the campaign with a friend, the fights should surely be much more accessible cooperatively than when you play alone.

Final Thoughts

Atlas Fallen is a game that I have wanted to play since I saw the first videos. Although it doesn’t reinvent the wheel, it does do enough to make it a game to consider if you like its premise. It’s an RPG, with a light combat system like a Hack and Slash, with touches of Darksiders and a great setting.

All this is accompanied by a cooperative mode available to play if you wish. On a technical level, it also more than meets the requirements to be played on Xbox Series S.

The title could be perfect for a sequel. It has many good things, perhaps it needs to polish others and take a few more risks, but the base exists and with a little more depth in all the genres it touches on, it could reach much higher levels.

Rapid Reviews Rating

4 out of 5

4

You can buy Atlas Fallen in the Microsoft Store