This Sandbox Looks Beautiful, But Its Demo Bored Me Out

If I had to give Atlas Fallen a title, I'd have called it "Atlas Fallen Asleep." As you can guess, the new game from the creators of The Surge and co-creators of Lords of the Fallen made an average impression on me and I generally found it boring. But let's be clear: I have no idea what the entire game looks like yet – I only tested a small part of it and maybe my takeaway is the result of starting this relationship from the wrong place.

I didn't see the very beginning, didn't get a chance to get to know my character or their motivations. The demo started somewhere in the second chapter and I couldn't even finish the main quest, but after an extremely lukewarm start, more interesting fragments appeared in a fairly populated settlement. So, while I'm a bit apprehensive about the second Forspoken, which gave up on both New York and the saucy girl, it's definitely worth waiting with definitive opinions until the game releases.

Saying the same thing the hundredth time...

My biggest complaint is – so far – the generic nature of the world, story, characters, and generally the entire lore, which absolutely did not interest, didn't encourage exploration, conversations, or completing tasks. From the bits of information included in the demo, I figured that we are once again a great hero among the rubbles of a world destroyed by a great war, during which rebel knights wanted to conquer a city or a fortress. They brought some powerful magical weapons for this purpose, but were too weak to harness it, and things went haywire from there.

What these knights couldn't do, our hero can, and from the onset, they're able to wield said magical weapons (for some reason) – a kind of power gauntlet, which allows you to lift fragments of ruins to reveal locations, and perform various tricks during combat. There's also a talking ghost enchanted in a glove – probably in order to give our character someone to talk to, but the dialogues between them are terribly underwhelming – actually, they're hard to listen to.

Desert vistas and high-speed sand gliding without a snowboard dominate the Atlas Fallen.

The quest scenarios also didn't seem very exciting. First, I found out that the gauntlet is too weak to open the big gate, and that I have to buff it up a notch. So, I went and found an adequate artifact – but then it turned out that it needs to be charged with three shards found in opposite locations. And of course, each such item was guarded by a group of enemies resembling oversized scorpions, crabs, or wolverines.

After I collected all the pieces, I unlocked a series of anvils engulfed in sand that double as both fast travel points and workbenches, and finally buffed the gauntlet – to find out that all that does was increasing the jump height. So, after all the trouble, I still had to look for a power-up, and to my terror, it turned out that the procedure was exactly the same: find another artifact and three more shards in other parts of the map. At this point, the message "Thanks for playing the demo" luckily appeared... A moment I usually hate!

Browsing a world atlas could be more interesting

A gradual weapon buff like that is of course nothing inherently bad. This is a widely accepted pattern of character development and perhaps it won't feel so mundane in the whole game. However, I'm under the impression that the press demo could have contained a more compelling fragment of the game, not involving so much repetition – if the game actually has such fragments, of course. The thing is that the small sample of side quests and conversations with less important characters doesn't really give much hope for improvement, but maybe it will get better later in the game. Exploration wasn't much fun either. Treasure chests were usually located in easily accessible locations, and upon opening them, I was either assaulted with a wall of text containing a tutorial, or received an artifact – generally nothing rewarding.

Toward the end of the demo, we even start visiting interesting locations.

All hope in combat

But the Atlas Fallen demo wasn't entirely disappointing. The combat, for example, might just make this game worth it. Apart from underwhelming enemy designs and a strange healing method that requires holding down the trigger and pressing "A" on the pad, but still, the fights turned out to be dynamic and satisfying. We start with a basic set of two blades, and after a number of upgrades, we gain access to various special powers, such as a huge hammer or the ability to create a violent tornado around us. On top of that, we get the ability to over in the air at a certain height, thanks to which combat gains some verticality.

The fight is so dynamic that it is difficult to catch the focus on the sceenshot.

Although the larger the creature we have to defeat is, the more chaotic the game becomes, but the biggest enemies have bodies divided into zones, with separate health bars for limbs, tail or deadly pincers, and this just works so much better than a single long health bar. In general, there's a lot of potential in the weapon upgrades system and character perks. I hope that it is realized in the final game, and the feeling of becoming increasingly powerful will be part of the experience.

Navigating this world, in turn, feels kinda like snowboarding on sand. It's a bit like Forspoken heroine's sprints, only faster and lasting longer. It doesn't seem particularly sophisticated, it doesn't make the game stand out, but in combination with the dash in the air, it allows covering a lot of distance quickly and efficiently – it works as it should. The vistas in the game are also a big plus. Even though they're mostly wastelands, they are quite charming, just like in Mad Max. You can see this isn't a game with an infinite budget, but you can generally admire the beauty of nature here.

Nice landscapes are a big advantage of the game.

Atlas not so Fallen?

Atlas Fallen didn't leave a great impression on me, but I'm pretty picky when it comes to the vibe and lore of fantasy games. Fans of action RPGs may find it more interesting, because it looks like there will be no shortage of content. There will definitely be main and side quests, characters you'll meet along the way and talk to, an extensive system of upgrades and abilities, merchants, settlements, biomes with different landscapes, and animals guarding treasures. Even such trivial thing as changing the appearance of armor requires you to first purchase the appropriate dyes from a special vendor. So maybe it's just that demo didn't deliver, and the game will actually have legs and find it's audience in the end? We shall see.