Atlas Fallen is an RPG that helps you become the lord of the sand and help the world get rid of the dystopian world ruled by corrupted gods. You can also grab a friend to play this story as a two-player co-op session. Published by Focus Entertainment, you can play Atlas Fallen on the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X | S, and PC (Steam).
Does Atlas Fallen stand out for you? Let’s find out in our Atlas Fallen Review!
The Dusted Lands
The story of Atlas Fallen is no rocket science. Right from the trailer’s release, you could already make out the suffering of a society controlled by corrupted people in power and plagued with monsters. As per the lore, long ago, gods lived in the lands of Atlas. The gods found themselves in conflict as they conflicted between enslaving humans or letting them live without the control of gods. This sparked an irreversible war, ultimately won by Thelos, the Sun God. Thelos enslaved the people and had them hunt Essence, an ancient magical power that can make Thelos even stronger. But for every oppression, an unannounced revolution is always on the brink. The people of Atlas revolted and fought against the followers of Thalos.
The followers of Thalos always had the upper hand since they had the blessing of Thalos and the desert creatures ready to bring slaughter. But the rebellion had a hope. A gauntlet of ancient times, harnessing enough power to turn the monsters of the sand back to dust. Unfortunately, the hope was a mere spark of a setting sun. The Gauntlet exploded, taking many lives and ending the war in the follower’s favour.
This is where you come in. Serving as a mere worker for the follower, you are forced to go out in a sandstorm, also plagued by desert creatures. But you somehow come across the Gauntlet. It’s the same Gauntlet that exploded and got lost years ago. Wearing the Gauntlet, you can communicate with a spirit who has lost all his memories but can guide you to become stronger and end the rule of Thelos.
A Power-Packed Combat
With a great Gauntlet comes excellent punches. Be it Thanos’s Gauntlet that wiped half of everything in the universe or Iron Man’s Gauntlet, which undid everything with a snap of a finger, Gauntlets never let down. Returning to Atlas Fallen, the game’s core is entirely based on the Gauntlet. The person whose soul is embedded in the Gauntlet will slowly reveal his lost memories as you collect the shattered parts of the Gauntlet and make it strong again. I will not spoil anything further.
As for the combat, the game allows you to have a fast pace while you utilize the power of sand and easily manoeuvre whenever needed. The enemy type is minimal, but you’ll enjoy exploring your newfound abilities while the enemies level and grow stronger. This way, you may encounter the same enemy and learn their enemy types, but as your level increases, the enemies become more robust, more rigid and faster—our advice: Be on the move and parry as much as possible.
You’ll also be able to utilize and choose between multiple weapons that better fit your playstyle in the story’s future. One of the most vital elements of the game is your Momentum. Momentum is indicated by the blue bar at the bottom left of the screen, which means damage stack-up. As the bar progresses, you can land devastating hits, unlock tiers to use high-power abilities and use an ultimate attack known as shatter. To counter yourself from being too overpowered for the enemies, you’ll also be highly vulnerable and receive significant damage from enemies as your bar fills. This also means that high-level enemies will one-shot you. While it may seem like a good balance of power, sometimes, it becomes frustrating to avoid damage during high-level encounters, all for it to end with one hit.
To regain health and use various abilities, you will be often rewarded with Essence stones and occasionally idols. Idols allow you to heal your wounds as per the damage upon enemies. Each idol type has its perk and kind, so choose the one for your play style.
The Deserted Land of Opportunity
Atlas Fallen does not offer one big free-to-explore world. Instead, it provides a linear format that perfectly fits your level progression. This way, the game remains an open world while allowing the story and side quests to unfold in a linear form. The world is quite fun to surf around and explore different corners, pick up artefacts, complete shards, or annihilate any enemy that spawns in between. You will also come across many people, allowing you to explore part of the map and unlock better essence stones and armour. But the fact that they’re optional makes the game an excellent choice for co-op sessions with friends.
The story starts a bit blank, the voiceover is too much all the while being non-engaging almost made me lose interest. But if you can look away at the facial sync and poorly written dialogues, you will find some interest as the world opens up and you get to know the real secrets of Atlas Fallen.
Once you’ve played a good chunk of the game, you’ll soon realize it’s not the story or the game; it’s the type of quests you’re tasked with that makes the game slow and unnecessarily dragged. After each pivotal situation, you’re tasked with running across the map and finding shards to restore one power up, which could’ve just been a mission reward instead of a treasure hunt.
Unfortunately, the fetch and grab are more often in future quests and almost every side quest, which makes the game longer towards the endgame than the actual storyline. The enemies level up faster than your level as you progress the storyline, which often indirectly forces you to complete side quests or explore the world so that you can cope with the level system and not get destroyed.
As for the armours and shards, you constantly receive items to upgrade everything you own. This, after a while, becomes a tedious job, as you will often find items required to upgrade abilities you don’t use. You will come across better abilities once you upgrade the essence stones, making your upgraded stone irrelevant.
Verdict
Atlas Fallen is an action-packed RPG game with a storyline that starts slow, but the action-packed combat keeps it interesting. The co-op aspect has worked perfectly, and it is a blast to play with a friend. The fetch-and-grab quests, disappointing voiceovers, and writings make the game shine less than its true potential. To defeat a god is no easy perk, but you better wait for a sale before embarking on this adventure.