8.5
All in all, I enjoyed my experience beneath the planet’s surface playing Arx Fatalis. It’s a great snapshot of the transitional period between classic dungeon crawlers like Ultima or Might & Magic and later action-oriented games like Oblivion.
Arx Fatalis
Arkane Studios · Nov 12, 2002
About
The goal of the game is to destroy the secret cult of Akbaa, the god of destruction. As a player, you must prevent the return of such a cruel creature to the physical world. Should you fail, Akbaa is bound to impose its terror upon the world of Arx. You will become the hero of an underground world - with weapons, spells and magical items to defend against goblins, trolls, rat-men and other vicious opponents.
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Critic reviews
- 8.0The player interface is easy to access and work through. The spell-casting system is excellent. The combat is rather basic, though, and could have been much better. Other games, like Gothic or The Wheel of Time, have used the same style of combat. What would have improved it? The ability to duck under blows, or counter them rather than take the blow and retaliate. It is almost like two boxer standing in the middle of the ring, toe-to-toe, slugging it out. Missile combat is solid, but is similar to other games.
- 8.4If your system can handle it and you don't have any hang-ups with wandering around in dark places, you'll likely find a lot to like in Arx Fatalis. Fans of Ultima Underworld or similar games will be especially pleased with how faithfully Arkane Studios managed to capture the same sort of feel--how you'll sometimes feel that it's not just some game character but rather you yourself who's trapped in this fantastic world, filled with interesting, dangerous places visit and characters to meet.
- 8.0The atmosphere, spell system, puzzles, voices, and story were good and interesting enough to give me a pretty enjoyable experience. If you're a hardcore RPGer looking for a lot of freeform and tons of options like you found in Morrowind, you need to look elsewhere. If you're looking for an action/adventure dungeon crawling type of RPG, than this is a pretty good choice provided you have a computer that can run it well.
- 6.0Arx Fatalis is one of those flawed pieces of software, which, like Morrowind, Gothic, and Fallout, has plenty of issues, but manages to be entertaining in its own special way. Having said that, it's probably one of the most problematic of the bunch. Try it out if a fan of the genre, if only to get a taste of its sweet, sweet atmosphere and strong immersion. Just be prepared to get a bit of bitter disappointment as well.
- 7.0Arx Fatalis is a huge, sprawling game, with loads of sub-systems to explore and master and a compelling plot to drive you forward. In many ways this game is superior to Morrowind; although it doesn't have the initial appeal offered by that title's graphical splendour, it has a lot more depth and far less time is spent walking from place to place aimlessly.
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