Atlas Fallen | Review in 3 Minutes
Atlas Fallen | Review in 3 Minutes
Join our Patreon for a week of Early Access to all of our Premium video series including Zero Punctuation, Cold Take, Extra Punctuation, Adventure is Nigh and more! Just $2/month with a 7 day free trial. ►► https://www.patreon.com/the_escapist
KC Nwosu reviews Atlas Fallen, developed by Deck13.
Atlas Fallen on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/12…
Join our growing Discord community: https://discord.gg/A6T2gKrDwB
Subscribe to Escapist Magazine! ►► http://bit.ly/Sub2Escapist
---
---
The Escapist Merch Store ►►https://teespring.com/stores/the-esca…
Join us on Twitch ►► https://www.twitch.tv/the_escapist_of…
Like us on Facebook ►► http://www.facebook.com/EscapistMag
Follow us on Twitter ►► https://twitter.com/EscapistMag
Content
0 -> The Escapist
3.033 -> 3 Minute Review
7.566 -> Atlas Fallen is an open-world third
person action-adventure game from Deck 13
11.566 -> the studio behind the first
Lords of the Fallen and The Surge series.
15.333 -> Atlas Fallen breaks from their
previous efforts to replicate the souls formula,
18.533 -> and instead blends high mobility
with spectacle combat and 3D platforming,
22.666 -> set in a fantasy world being drained of life.
25.433 -> You are an unnamed, a societal cast so
lowly that its members are not given names.
30.466 -> You and your people are forced to
toil for the sake of an immortal queen
33.666 -> and religious order who worship the
god Thelos by forcing your kind to mine a
37.533 -> mystical natural resource called essence; a
process that is turning the planet into mostly desert.
43 -> When dangerous wraiths born of the sands
attack your caravan, you stumble across a long forgotten
47.733 -> gauntlet that whispers to you its desire to
stop the queen, restore the lands, and kill Thelos.
53.366 -> I grew to like the game's setting as its
central conflict began to take better shape over its
57.2 -> roughly 13 hour runtime, but I consistently
found it difficult to connect with or even remember
62.033 -> several reoccurring characters. A
combination of lackluster character designs and often stilted
66.733 -> voice performances left me with little
patience for the world's generally boring lore. Even your
71 -> own fully voiced
protagonist lacks any personality,
73.633 -> with many dialogue
options that very clearly don't
76 -> matter. But where the storytelling struggles,
the gameplay picks up the pieces. The simple act of
81.133 -> traversal in Atlas Fallen is incredibly
fun, including your double jump, a super floaty air
85.799 -> dash, and the ability
to slide across sand at high
88.033 -> speed. You're quickly
tasked with finding a number
90.366 -> of magical shards meant to make your
gauntlets strong enough to challenge Thelos, which are
94.233 -> often rewarded for clearing fights, puzzles,
and character quests. The game's large open biomes
99.233 -> boast lots of verticality and create
joyful playgrounds for both your platforming and sand
103.266 -> sliding, with a ridiculous amount of shiny
105.066 -> collectibles and chests
for you to addictively hunt down.
107.966 -> As you explore, wraiths dot
the landscape and can ambush you from beneath the sand.
112.733 -> Combat looks fast paced, but actually feels a lot
114.966 -> more methodical, using
its momentum system to make
117.2 -> every encounter a much more thoughtful
risk vs reward gamble. As you attack enemies, you'll
121.766 -> fill a momentum gauge, with three tiers
of active and passive abilities tied to them.
126.4 -> The damage you deal and receive will also
greatly increase the higher the tier you reach,
131.333 -> so while higher tiers can grant you
some incredibly cool abilities, like setting off
134.933 -> a crystalline explosion or spawning a
tornado, you may want to burn that gauge to use your
139.666 -> your dramatic shatter attack and help turn the
tides of an encounter. Those abilities are tied to
144.066 -> essence stones, which you collect, craft, and
slot into the differing tiers of your momentum bar,
148.433 -> and will only be active once you
reach their corresponding tier in combat.
152.066 -> It's a deep system with a lot of
options, yet it's relatively easy to understand
155.666 -> once you fiddle with it a bit. The sand
wraiths come in a small variety, and you'll engage them
160.366 -> on the ground and in the air. The handful
of elite wraith types have a distinct look that
164.466 -> require some knowledge of their attack
patterns and abilities to defeat, but the initial challenge
168.766 -> fades as you upgrade your own skills, and
the enemies only pile on additional waves and health
173.199 -> bars in an attempt to keep up. Bigger
story-specific boss fights, try out a few extra platforming
177.866 -> mechanics that help shake things up, but
the combat stays entertaining largely due to the
181.966 -> essence stone experimentation, and
the great presentation of your epic battles.
186.066 -> The action is wonderfully over the top,
using hitstun, slow motion, and sound design to great
190.933 -> effect, wholeheartedly selling the immense
scale of your engagements. It can sometimes become a bit
195.633 -> of a visual mess
though, with whirling sandstorms,
198.066 -> flashing indicators,
and finicky camera angles all
200.666 -> making enemies and their attacks impossible
to see, but thanks to a quality autosave function,
204.933 -> defeat for those reasons never stung for too
long. Atlas Fallen at first may lose your attention
210.033 -> with its dull characters and world, but will
immediately wrestle it back with a tight gameplay
214.566 -> loop of fun exploration and thrilling high
stakes combat. The game is out August 9th for $49.99 on
220.566 -> PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S.
223.833 -> REVIEW COPY PROVIDED BY THE PUBLISHER
226.166 -> WRITTEN & EDITED BY
KC NWOSU
229.099 -> Closed Captions by @willcblogs
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eheaNohYNp4