Arx Fatalis Review

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Arx Fatalis

Review by Old RoosterFebruary 2003

“Today, Evil Is Knocking at the Gates” —Narrator

Welcome to the land of Arx Fatalis—the Fortress of Fate. Welcome to a world shrouded in eternal darkness due to apocalyptic wars, where all societies have fled underground. Common differences are put to one side, at least for a while, until food and water become scarce. Now, we also welcome you to a perpetual state of conflict, among all races—Goblins, Trolls, Orcs, and Humans. Finally, we welcome you to the possible end of times. Rising from, perhaps produced by, this distrust and racial hatred is an unspeakable evil—Akbaa, the Lord of Destruction. All seems lost.

He Who Has No Name

You are thrust into a dank, gloomy cell. Your memory is gone. You can’t even recall your name. A nearby prisoner offers the appellation of Am Shaegar—”He Who Has No Name.” Your subsequent actions and quests lead you, step by painful step, from your cell into the world of Arx, where you’ll discover your fate and help resolve the fate of all of the disparate societies. A Guardian has been promised to deal with Akbaa and his influences. Could you be that One?

Arx Fatalis is a single-player, first-person perspective RPG, the first effort of Arkane Studios. Some of their team members had worked on one of my favorite adventures of a few years ago—Dark Earth. The developers suggest up to 100 hours of potential play, if all side quests are completed. My experience was in the 50-hour range, and I would estimate that the main storyline could be completed in about 35 hours.

You begin, as with all RPGs, by selecting your character depiction (choice of four white males) and balance of skills—strength, intelligence, dexterity, constitution and stealth. The “quick generation” (instant hero) seems like the best way to go, since a careful balance of all 18 skill points works best in the forthcoming adventure.

“Listen to Me, and Take Note of What I Have to Say” —Narrator

Arx has a control scheme resembling a first-person shooter (mouse plus keyboard movement controls), with 360-degree rotation.  The storyline and logical puzzles lead one to think of adventure gaming. Yet Arx is much (much!) more involved and complex than games in either of these genres. The weakest component of Arx, the interface, includes a quest log, map, book of magic, and diary. Each of these has significant limitations of design, which are as likely to intrude on gameplay execution as to enable smoother play. Indeed, much like Gothic of a couple of years ago, management of keyboard, mouse, map and more requires adaptation to an unfamiliar interface, with a high learning curve (at least for this player). An otherwise compelling game becomes flawed, seriously at times, by this intrinsic level of difficulty.

For example, the much touted Black & White–like spell casting system is a cumbersome affair, using runes for creative combinations. Although looking good on paper, so to speak, as a nice feature, the actual implementation, in the heat of battle, reminds this player of why I don’t like flight sims! In spite of the hot keys, the switching and clicking are typically more frustrating than satisfying. It’s too bad, since this Achilles heel of design brings our rating of Arx below the coveted Gold Star.

Throughout the game, particularly in the initial stages, there are some timely tutorial hints presented on screen, which is a nice touch within this otherwise awkward-to-manage game. A blue light and musical note may alert you to an important item, even such as a spot on the wall. A direct clue may be given (see the picture of gears on the wall), such as “Double-click on the rope in your Inventory when you have found it and place it on the elevator mechanism.” These are thoughtful and welcome.

Blue Skies, Smiling at Me …

… Nothing but blue skies do I see. Not! Arx Fatalis’s graphics, while clear and detailed for a rather dated engine, are done in various shades of brown—no blues, yellows, reds in this world. Even the very fine 71-page manual is mostly done in variations of brown! Having said that, the world of Arx is underground, without the sun, dependent on flickering torches for light. Yet it is evident that considerable designer care has gone into the graphic components of the land of Arx. We not only “dungeon crawl,” but also visit temples, busy towns, various huge caverns—most of these bustling with life, although sometimes not the kind of life you want to meet in a dark, brown alley. The level of objects and detail within the environment is varied and impressive, contributing, together with the first-person perspective, to a real sense of “being there.” The graphical engine needs at least a midrange system to perform smoothly, however. The game “crawled” considerably on my older PII with a 16 MB nVidia video card, but did run smoothly—with 800×600, 32-bit resolution—on my newer P4 with an nVidia 3.

Environmental sounds are among the best I’ve heard in any game.  My initial reaction to the first few minutes in the prison cell was, simply, “Wow!” Occasional drips of condensation were heard on the stones; the scuttling of rats and cries of tortured prisoners all impact and embellish the graphical level of immersion.  Voice acting, as well, is nicely done. Music is largely absent and unneeded. The variation of your footsteps, depending on surface, is accurately done. Indeed, much like the Thief series, you need to be very careful not to attract unwanted attention when sneaking about.

“I’m Hungry” —Am Shaegar

It’s 5:30 in the morning, and I haven’t had my English muffin yet.  No, wait, that’s not why I wrote, “I’m hungry.” This plea for nourishment is an all-too-frequent complaint of our hero along the path of his adventure (alleviated somewhat by a highly recommended 1.16a patch). This dynamic does contribute, though, to increasing the degree of “realism” and involvement with your character.

The movement of Am Shaegar through his often-treacherous journey of discovery includes the traditional RPG item/spell/inventory accumulation and leveling up. Enemies of various shapes and varieties (Trolls, Rat-Men, spiders, giant rats) are encountered along the way and must be dispatched or avoided. Often there is a choice of action available, which is interesting.

As regards choice, and thinking of a recent discussion in our forums, basic gameplay design (not the interface!) is just how I like it.  There are levels or chapters, if you will, that need to be resolved prior to moving on. Within those sections, however, one may choose different routes to accomplish the outcome, starting from the base of character creation all the way to specific actions taken—sneaking versus fighting, for example. Some call this game linear, but I would contend that this balance of relative freedom within the context of a progressive story with levels is the best of both worlds (strict linearity versus complete freedom—cf. Morrowind).

Engrossing, Appealing, Involving … and Frustrating

In conclusion, Arx Fatalis is an RPG/adventure with a fine and involving storyline, lovely brown graphics, magnificent environmental sounds, and sensible gameplay progression—all within an atmosphere of relative freedom of movement. It offers up to 100 hours of playing time, with replay value due to various actions producing different outcomes.

Unfortunately, Arx is encumbered with an awkward and problematic interface, making an already difficult game even harder, and often hair-pullingly frustrating! Since I only have 12 hairs left, this poses a real problem.

If you like first-person perspectives in RPGs and enjoyed Morrowind (an all-around better game), plus have a high tolerance for the aforementioned idiosyncrasies of Arx, then I would recommend this title to you. It certainly, in spite of the warts, is one of the better RPGs I’ve played in the last year. This first-time developer is already hard at work on “Arx 2” and has provided good customer support through the publisher. They’ve done more right than wrong with Arx, which leads to my strong Thumb Up rating.

What I Liked About Arx Fatalis

  • Engrossing atmosphere and world.
  • Graphically detailed and varied, within the context of brown.
  • Solid and interesting story.
  • Great environmental sounds.
  • Creative spell system.
  • Various paths to “success.”

What I Didn’t Like About Arx Fatalis

  • Very difficult overall.
  • Claustrophobic and “brown.”
  • Cumbersome interface, especially map, journal, inventory management.
  • Difficult-to-manage spell system.
  • Prone to crash, even with the 1.16a patch. The End

The Verdict

The Lowdown

Developer: Arkane Studios Publisher: Jowood Release Date: November 2002

Available for: Windows

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Screenshots

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System Requirements

Windows 98/ME/2000/XP Pentium II 500 (PIII 900 recommended) 64 MB RAM (256 MB recommended) 8X CD-ROM drive 16 MB 3D DirectX 8.0 compatible video card (32 MB recommended) DirectX 8.0 compatible sound card 750 MB free HD space

Where to Find It

Links provided for informational purposes only.  FFC makes no warranty with regard to any transaction entered into by any party(ies).

      Copyright © Electric Eye Productions.  All rights reserved.  No reproduction in whole or in part without express written permission.

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14 Responses to Fear Factor

  • Fear Factor | Tap-Repeatedly.com | Reality Topics Blog

    […] nobody@flickr.com (graftedno1) wrote a very interesting post today.   Here’s a quick excerpt:My greatest fear is to be trapped alone in a confined space with a blind human, in total darkness. They have a heightened sense of smell and hearing, and. […]

  • Matt "Steerpike" Sakey

    Lewis, you made me think of the scariest moments I’ve experienced in gaming, and we’re very similar people.

    Bioshock had two moments – the dentist and the flooded room filled with mannequins.

    Thief had Return to the Cathedral, which was terrifying to me. Thief 3 had Shalebridge Cradle, which is so scary it ought to be fined.

    System Shock 2 kept me on the edge of my seat, but it was more lonely panic than true fear.

    Korsakovia was so scary that I uninstalled it.

    And STALKER. Oh, god, the haunted labs in STALKER. The latter two games don’t have scares like that. Few games do.

    It’s especially rare for a game to have more than mere “moments” – for a game to be scary from beginning to end, that’s a triumph.

    Wonderful article. As if Gregg’s review wasn’t enough to convince me that Penumbra is not something I have the courage to play!

  • DPenn

    I’m with you Lewis … I’m a bit of a puss. I just have a hard time wrapping my head around the idea of dread as entertainment.

    Still, I’m drawn to dark stories when they have something interesting to say, whether it’s a game like Thief or a film like, say, Gaspar Noe’s Irreversible. So I’ll push through, sometimes peering through my fingers.

    The trouble with games, though, is that if you look through your fingers, you’re probably just going to have to play through the scenario again. :~)

  • Mike "Scout" Gust

    I wanted to play this game. I downloaded the demo but the controls were just too wonky for me to get my head around. I liked the atmospheric vibe a lot. I think I’m a bit desensitized from an overdose of horror movies in my youth so I don’t so much get the dread thing from these games as a nice creepy vibration. If only the controls were better…

  • Lewis B

    @ Mike, what’s wrong with the controls bud? As someone who despises poor control schemes, Penumbra’s is just like any other FPS, except to examine things you right click on them.  To use things you left click.  I’m not sure that can be considered difficult 🙂

  • Gregg B

    @Steerpike: Yeah my greatest shit-scared moments were with those games too. A few spoilers below people, so beware.

    Bioshock – Haha, I remember the dentist. I didn’t really find the game that scary overall but the bit where you go into the wine cellar and notice a mannequin facing the wall and after upgrading your weapon it’s stood directly behind you motionless and quiet just for a moment before attacking you. I shat a brick. I also missed that bit originally until Lew told me about it.

    System Shock 2 – same as you really, more unremitting tension all the way through rather than specific terrifying moments. Oh actually, theres a bit where you call a lift and it breaks then you realise a service droid is coming to fix it… I do remember having sleep issues after my first encounter with the cyborg ninjas though.

    Thief: The Dark Project – The Sword and Return to the Cathedral and Down in the Bonehoard and well, loads of them. The Sword made me break out into goosebumps though because there was a bit where you could hear this creepy giggling which seemed like it was following me about then it suddenly changed to this horrible throaty noise. What made matters worse was that the EAX (bless you Creative) made my foot steps sound like somebody else was there with me. That level was incredible, a bit too incredible as it seems I missed great chunks of it because I was so eager to leave.

    Thief II: The Metal Age – Trail of Blood where you end up in that opening with those damn tree beasts. God the first time I saw one of those hurtling towards me I actually died shortly afterward. Do you remember that Mechanist child walking around on one of the levels? That was a little creepy.

    Then there’s Penumbra: Overture – quite a few bits but I’m not mentioning them here.

    Oh and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. – The brain scorcher lab just because it was so damn quiet. My imagination seriously got the better of me there. Those stuffed animals and heads I’d seen in various buildings led me to believe that those creatures were lurking somewhere in the Zone, specifically that lab.

    @Mike: My control setup was perfect after some tweaking (as well as the simple weapon swing fix). If you ever fancy giving it another go, give me a shout and I’ll let you know my setup.

  • Lewis B

    I’m not sure why guys, but one of my starting paragraphs had gone missing, even though I copied it straight from the original source, and It was fine earlier. 

    Incase you missed it due to some technical issue you might want to re-read just after “Well no she wouldn’t in truth, but in Penumbra: Overture you don’t want to move anyway.” at the very start for those who’ve already read the article. Apologies 🙂

  • Mike "Scout" Gust

    Lewis, it was the weapon swing. It had this terrible, unresponsive feel to it, like trying to hit through molasses. I couldn’t stand using it. I tried the .ini fix as mentioned in the review but it didn’t seem to help. Of course this was the demo…but that shouldn’t have made any difference. I might try the second game instead as I guess they did away with the weapons thing.

    I’m see your first paragraph just fine. It’s the dialogue, right?

  • jdeuel

    I like the argument that weapons can remove fear, but even loaded to the teeth with ammo in AVP’99 the Marine missions were frightful because the enemy was anywhere at any time.

    As for Penumbra Overture, if the controls are anything like the original Penumbra they need to hack in some Wii-Remote 3d controls. I did not like using my mouse for 3d movements.

  • Gregg B

    @Mike: I’ve read that many people avoided conflict altogether in Overture which incidentally is something forced upon you in Black Plague. As somebody who has been renovating a house over the last 6 months with no DIY experience I can safely say that swinging a hammer is significantly easier in real life than it is in Overture without the fix. The fix balanced that for me.

    I’d highly recommend completing the first Penumbra because it’s one big build up to Black Plague which spoils the ending to Overture in the intro. And it’s a great ending too. Just so you know!

  • Lewis B

    @ Steerpike, those moments you mention are all my worst too!!  Do you remember the Robot labs in SS2? Absolutely terrifying, waiting for robots to burst out on you! 🙁 oh and have you ever player Condemned?

    @ Mike, The use of weapons in Penumbra is different to say HL2, where the player is physically holding the weapon, as in Penumbra it floats slightly infront of you.  However, if you change the control method to normal weapon swing, it’s no different!  Speak to Greggi and he’ll tell you what to do 🙂

    @ jdeuel, AVP the original and its sequal were scary however what type of fear do you think it is? I don’t think it’s anything more than sheer tension.  Having a Smart Gun makes you feel incredibly powerful.  I can honestly say in Penumbra the fear is sheer unrivalled terror, where you actually have to force yourself to play on.  It genuinly is that scary! 🙂

  • Jason Dobry

    It’s so true, an arsenal of weapons and ammo rapidly deflates any sense of horror or uneasiness in any game for reasons you already mentioned. Sakey, I thought Bioshock was more “lonely panic,” while I was pretty much always terrified in System Shock 2. I really, really, REALLY did not want to enter The Many’s nursery, and my weapons were so unreliable and ammo so scarce that I never felt safe.

    Silent Hill was terrifying for the same reasons. Ammo was rare and I frequently had to rely on my pipe for self-defense.  Even when I had ammo, the game mechanics prevented my character from being anything other than marginal with any firearm.

    Fear had one moment for me: I was climbing up a ladder, and as I reached the upper platform, my guy briefly looked down as he climbed off. As my perspective looked up again, that Ring-esque little girl was RIGHT THERE, reaching for me. I screamed and she was gone.

    What else…the original Aliens vs. Predator sent me into a locker room and I could only hear the facehuggers scurrying about somewhere within. I had to go in there. I advanced about three steps before the damn thing screamed and filled up my screen with its repulsive underside as it implanted me with its spawn. My roommate made fun of me for weeks for screaming like a girl child.

    Korsakovia–meh.  I was too annoyed and frustrated by the box rearrangement/jumping puzzles to be scared. I uninstalled it after an hour of play, I think. Maybe the scary parts were later, but I doubt it.

    As for Penumbra, I did play through about half of it before other games distracted me. I remember unease and creepiness, but no sweaty fear. I think I’m to blame here, or, more precisely, my daughter, who was still an infant at the time and generally allowed me only to play during the day for 45 minutes at a time. I was denied total immersion and the fear effect suffered. Maybe I should give it another go after I finish Call of Pripyat since she sleeps through the night now. With any luck, Penumbra will keep me from doing the same.

  • Gregg B

    I played the demo of F.E.A.R. but that ladder scare is the only bit I remember. Christ, that made me jump. I’m not too good with cat scares.

    Also I felt exactly the same about Korsakovia. It was creepy at first but then it began to irritate me far too much and it just soured the experience. I stopped playing as a result. Not to mention, when I realised I could bash those smoke-things with my crowbar they didn’t bother me nearly as much.

  • Online Up

    Great article. I look forward to reading more in the future.

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