Games Happy

Developer Deck13 has been dormant since 2019’s The Surge 2 for good cause. Atlas Fallen is a exceptional change from their well-known Soulslike duology; they’ve their sights set on delivering a brand-new open-world motion RPG now. Its ambition and scope is a substantial step-up from their work on The Surge beforehand.

I used to be given the chance to play a small slice of Atlas Fallen for a number of hours and it left me optimistic with how properly it performed.

The fight system in Atlas Fallen has been the star of the present to date. There’s a right away satisfaction in the way in which it balances risk-versus-reward to gamers. The customized created character in Atlas Fallen wields a mysterious gauntlet that has the power to shape-shift into a number of weapons as gamers assault enemies.

Major assaults are meant for close-ranged assaults, whereas secondary assaults attain additional enemies and may even grapple onto them for gamers to rapidly shut the hole.

What units Atlas Fallen other than different trendy battle methods is the blue bar beneath the pink HP bar – the Momentum Gauge. It regularly fills as gamers land assaults on foes. Discover how the bar is split up into three segments within the above screenshot? These point out the present ‘Tier’ that the participant’s moveset is in. Gamers begin at Tier 1 and may attain as much as Tier 3. Every Tier transforms the gauntlet’s arsenal into larger and extra deadly weapons.

The weapon offered on this preview construct of Atlas Fallen has the gauntlet remodeled right into a small ax on its main assault and skinny dagger whip on its secondary assault for Tier 1. Advancing into Tier 2 turns the first weapon extra right into a significantly sized scythe, whereas the secondary weapon is a thicker whip with a sword on the finish of it. If an encounter lasts lengthy sufficient for the principle character to succeed in Tier 3, their main turns into a huge hammer and their secondary morphs the whip right into a myriad of sword bits that circle round gamers, just like the Gundam 00 Qan[T]. Seeing my weapon regularly shift into an outsized monstrosity jogged my memory of how God Eater’s ludicrously sized weapons grew to become even larger when their Devour mechanic actually remodeled them right into a raging beast’s head able to take a chew out of enemies. Tier 3 gave me the identical feeling of unwieldy devastation.

Take into account that this arsenal is simply “one” weapon that the gauntlet can equip, so I’m very curious and excited to see what different weapons Atlas Fallen has in retailer.

Gamers also can slot in talents, generally known as Essence Stones, into totally different Tiers. Every Tier permits entry to 1 lively means and as much as three passive talents. Most Essence Stones acquired later within the preview construct had been recipes that wanted a specific amount of supplies first, earlier than they had been totally out there to fit out and in onto my character.

Advancing into Tier 2 and Tier 3 does come at a value although. Gamers take extra injury the upper their Tier is. An assault that will have initially taken away a fifth of a full well being bar at Tier 1 now simply slices off half at Tier 3, as an alternative. Oddly sufficient, this jogged my memory of the Threat system in Vagrant Story the place the participant’s offensive capabilities had been enhanced the upper the Threat worth was, in trade for drastically diminished defensive capabilities.

There’s a solution to rapidly return to Tier 1 in the course of a battle although, if a participant desires to sluggish issues down as soon as extra. At a sure level within the preview construct, the principle character unlocks a finisher assault that gamers can activate at any time as soon as they attain at the very least Tier 2. They will expend all of their Momentum Gauge for a giant assault that turns into much more lethal if it’s activated throughout Tier 3. I must also point out that the Momentum Gauge resets again to 0 in-between new enemy encounters too; it isn’t preserved in-between encounters like Vagrant Story’s Threat stage.

Fortunately, there are a number of highly effective protection instruments given to Atlas Fallen gamers that could be a bit involved with its delicate steadiness of risk-versus-reward. There may be the everyday dodge roll that’s immediately carried out even mid-combo string and animation; only a few strikes are animation locked from performing it. 

Extra importantly, there’s the Stoneskin protect mechanic in Atlas Fallen. Stoneskin is principally the participant’s parry button for incoming assaults. A pink flash signifies {that a} close by foe is about to strike and the assault it’s performing is parryable. Merely faucet the Stoneskin button when the pink gentle flashes to not solely block the assault, however crystalize that enemy as properly. The crystallization freezes them for a number of moments for the character to whale on them freely. Greater enemies usually want three to 4 Stoneskin counters earlier than they develop into utterly crystallized, although every profitable Stoneskin has crystals visibly construct up on their pores and skin regularly, offering a cool visible impact on them. 

Identical to the dodge roll, Stoneskin prompts instantly even in the course of an assault string. I appreciated the small element upon urgent the Stoneskin button as a result of, as its identify implies, it covers your complete most important character’s mannequin in a mould of rock for a cut up second to mirror assaults. That is true for any animation the character mannequin is doing, so if the mannequin’s pose is at present in the course of an assault stance, the Stoneskin impact will make an actual mould of the character’s pose when the button is pressed.

Therapeutic in Atlas Fallen is completed with prices, relatively than consumable gadgets. The preview construct allowed gamers to retailer three therapeutic prices, however they had been regularly refilled so long as gamers continued to assault enemies. The extra highly effective their assaults, the quicker it might refill so sustaining the next Tier would allow them to replenish their therapeutic instruments quicker. They had been additionally refilled upon visiting an anvil waypoint for the primary time, that are Atlas Fallen’s relaxation spots to manually save the sport and make upgrades to their character.

On high of all this, there’s a big emphasis on aerial fight in Atlas Fallen additionally. There’s a particular button that launches enemies into the air, if a participant is on the bottom, and that very same button initiates a falling assault from the air to the bottom, if a participant is within the air. Usually, gamers can solely do a single combo string within the air earlier than having to land again on the bottom, however urgent the dodge roll button whereas airborne lets their character air sprint which replenishes their actions to increase combos.

Now in the event that they hit an enemy at the very least as soon as when airborne, that permits them to air sprint once more.

Gamers can primarily keep within the air indefinitely in the event that they so select, so long as they’re managing the circulation of replenishing their air dashes by means of assaults. A most important story improve even unlocks the power to air sprint twice consecutively which permits for higher motion choices out within the open world and in battle.

The trickiest factor to regulate to was merely getting used to the controller structure of what every button does, since nearly each button is important in the course of fight. Major and secondary assaults are on Sq./X and Triangle/Y respectively, whereas Stoneskin is on L1/LB and dodge roll (or air dashing) is on R1/RB. Holding down L2/LT offers entry to the character’s lively abilities on the face buttons, whereas the therapeutic prices are at all times on the underside face button so it’s L2/LT + X/A to devour a therapeutic cost. In the meantime, the launcher (or falling) assault is mapped to R2/RB. It’s so much to get used to a primary, particularly in busier fight conditions, however with just a little little bit of observe I started to wrap my head round it.

There’s nonetheless so much to speak about in terms of different components of Atlas Fallen, however for now I simply wished to present an intensive breakdown of what folks can count on in the way it performs. Lots of its cadence and circulation from traversal to gameplay jogs my memory of the primary Darksiders recreation, which is a giant plus in my e book.

I particularly loved combating larger monsters that had a number of physique elements to interrupt off. The sport will give an indicator of which physique elements deal HP injury to them, whereas breaking off different elements of its physique will drop further treasure in trade for making their behavioral patterns extra aggressive together with rising their injury output.

Anyway, this primary slice of Atlas Fallen has made me very optimistic about its ultimate launch. It nailed the essential half down – it feels enjoyable to play. I used to be simply very amused {that a} new 2023 launch jogged my memory of Vagrant Story and that’s neat but in addition, have a look at me, I’m previous as hell.