Atlas Fallen Assessment (PS5) | Push Sq.

Whereas it was The Surge that put Deck13 Interactive’s title on the map, it is Atlas Fallen that can henceforth be thought of the studio’s finest recreation thus far. Switching the Souls-like construction of its previous titles for a extra conventional open world journey with issue choices, it boasts of wonderful traversal and a enjoyable fight system in a sandy setting dominated by an evil god. Lingering AA jank holds it again from greatness, however Atlas Fallen holds its personal in amongst the 12 months’s extra important hitters.

A few of that weighty vitality from The Surge 2 remains to be felt right here, notably within the fight system. Having created a personality, you defy your oppressors (your type are basically slaves referred to solely as Unnamed) after discovering a Gauntlet with the ability of a god trapped inside — it is this that offers you magical powers to glide throughout the sands and take down Wraiths patrolling the dunes. Whereas motion feels so extremely releasing, it is the talents the Gauntlet grants you that really feel heavy and deliberate. In tandem, the 2 options strike an awesome stability that makes gameplay in Atlas Fallen the true king.

It is form of like Forspoken meets Monster Hunter, with double jumps and triple air dashes making traversal really feel responsive and finely tuned. Then, fight is all about concentrating on particular limbs to down enemies and earn higher rewards. The Gauntlet can also be sentient in the identical means Frey Holland’s Cuff is, nevertheless it’s nowhere close to as annoying or quippy. Actually, it takes your character fairly severely for the roughly 12 hours wanted to roll credit.

What extends your playtime is aspect quests, odd jobs, and enjoyable open world actions, all of which take a look at your expertise throughout the title’s two principal focal factors: motion and fight. The previous is especially constructed upon with extra makes use of of every capacity, sourced from upgrades buried all through the open world. They mean you can cross larger gaps, get about faster, and entry beforehand hidden areas. The latter, although, is way more experimental.

Regardless of residing beneath their tight iron fist initially of the sport, there aren’t any human enemies in Atlas Fallen; solely Wraiths. Legendary beasts that take the form of burrowing snakes, birds, and more and more massive mammals, you could goal after which destroy every of their limbs earlier than they go down for good. With none stamina bars to handle, fights are way more offensive-focused than The Surge.

Benefiting from your nimble nature, you may sprint across the battlefield, shortly taking down enemies with sword hits, whip slashes, and highly effective slams into the bottom beneath. The sport is gracious with its skills, to the purpose the place merely hitting an enemy restores a use of your sprint, permitting you to remain within the air for lengthy durations of time and juggle your injury between foes. It feels so liberating and versatile within the second; there’s by no means a second the place you are held again.

Then, throughout three completely different tiers making up a complete of 9 slots, you may customise your protagonist with new assaults and skills. Named Essence Stones, they’re activated as you replenish the Momentum Gauge by touchdown hits on enemies. Momentary buffs are triggered mechanically whereas particular assaults will be saved for the fitting second. From summonable hurricanes and big magical axes to break and defensive upgrades, there’s a number of selection that provides aptitude to your base play type. With a satisfying parry additionally that freezes monsters in time and house, there’s a number of enjoyment to be gained from taking part in round with what’s on provide.

There are nicely over 30 completely different powers to equip, which mixed with Idols that modify your base skills, actually offers you a number of room to experiment with. The sport means that you can shortly change between three completely different loadouts, letting you package your character out for particular conditions. It is a powerful degree of construct customisation that goes a protracted approach to making your character really feel distinct from a good friend’s – a correct boon throughout co-op play.

The tip result’s an expertise the place you all the time really feel such as you’re bettering. This even extends to your character’s core skills: you are still unlocking new powers mere hours earlier than the tip of the sport. This offers motive to backtrack and resolve conundrums you could not beforehand work together with.

Sadly, our compliments of the narrative’s principal goals do not monitor fairly as positively. Notably within the second half of the story, some duties begin to really feel like repetitive busywork. You may have to carry out the identical actions at a number of factors throughout the map, or backtrack consistently between cities and the dusty wasteland. It slows the tempo of the sport all the way down to a irritating crawl, to the purpose the place the cracking fight and traversal cannot fairly paper over the cracks. Most of Atlas Fallen’s gameplay is a spotlight, however you’ll have to put up with a number of deeper valleys together with the highs.

Nonetheless, there are all the time the non-obligatory ventures of the open world to distract you. There are platforming challenges to grasp, elite Wraiths to beat, and timed duties to beat. It is nothing you have not seen earlier than, however they’re welcome interferences with assured rewards, supplies, and currencies on the finish.

It is doubtless the technical setbacks of the sport will get in the way in which sooner or later, although, because the title feels prefer it’s missing that closing layer of polish. The visuals themselves aren’t notably nice, there are spelling errors within the menus, and the transitions between cutscenes after which into gameplay will be fairly clunky. Then there’s a number of texture pop-in and UI parts that linger on display for therefore lengthy that they begin to really feel like a glitch.

Load occasions on PS5 could possibly be rather a lot higher too. They’re usually fairly acceptable throughout quick journey, however you may be ready fairly a bit longer than you need when returning to the motion following a dying. At the least the body price stays principally regular all through, concentrating on 60fps at 1440p on the default mode. The opposite possibility is a 4K decision at 30fps, however given the pace Atlas Fallen strikes at, it is best to depart the setting be.

With pretty frequent points beneath the hood, the sport is not fairly as cohesive and constant because it could possibly be. Whereas gameplay is fairly implausible, the connective tissue holding it collectively is something however.

The environments aren’t something to put in writing residence about, both. It is actually cool to glide throughout the sands, however every location blends into each other with no actual distinctive options. You may be consistently referring to the pause display’s map because it’s nearly unimaginable to get your bearings just by taking in your environment. It is a number of sand, a number of crumbling cities, and bits of rubble protruding of dunes.

Conclusion

Atlas Fallen is a valiant effort from Deck13 Interactive that can go down as its finest recreation thus far. With implausible traversal and a enjoyable, partaking fight system, the developer has nailed the gameplay in each sense. What holds the expertise again, although, is a scarcity of polish to iron out the technical points and probably lengthy load occasions. It is disappointing to come back up in opposition to a number of too many flaws, however when Atlas Fallen is on kind, its marriage of motion and preventing shines by way of.