Atlas Fallen Review
With thanks to the folks at Focus Entertainment and Deck13 we’ve been taking a look at Atlas Fallen. This sandy third-person adventure has a lot of action, and we’re taking you through our usual five-point quality check. As ever, you can also find our common-sense parent’s guide and accessibility analysis below.
Our Atlas Fallen Review covers gameplay, visuals, audio, narrative and replay value. Watch just here or keep reading for our extended written review.
The Basics – What is Atlas Fallen About?
Available on: PC (Steam), Xbox, PlayStation
Price: £49.99 / $59.99(US)
Type: Third-person Action Adventure
Download: 27.4GB (PC) | 40.5GB (Xbox)
You begin your adventure in Atlas Fallen in the shoes of an Unnamed. These slave-like people are being led through a vast desert, surrounded by dangerous creatures. Shackled by the followers of a corrupted god, you’ll soon discover an ancient power, and rise from the sand to liberate mankind in this large-scale world
You’ll face off against colossal creatures as you traverse the sands, and use a combination of aerial and ground attacks in fluid combat. As an unnamed you’ll use parries to your advantage, freezing enemies using your sandskin to gain strategic bonuses in combat. You’ll also build momentum, using this to unlock advanced abilities and do significant damage using your shatter attack.
Atlas Fallen is playable solo, but you can also team up with a friend to fight for humanity in a cooperative story campaign. Doing this will scale enemies to provide a challenge, and you’ll have to work well together to overcome the dangers of the lands around you.
Is Atlas Fallen Safe for Children?
Rating: Notable Concern.
Atlas Fallen is rated by PEGI at 12 and above, and by the ESRB at T for Teen. There is a lot of violence in this one, however rather than a huge amount of blood you’ll find sand instead. There is still a little blood and some bad language in here, and while it’s certainly not as bad as it could be, we’re giving it a rating of notable concern. This is mostly based on the violent content, oppressive themes and of course, online play.
Is Atlas Fallen Accessible?
Rating: Tricky.
In terms of accessibility, there are varied difficulty modes which is nice, but the accessibility menu itself is quite lacking. This, paired with the constant button presses and quick action needed in fights means that Atlas Fallen is scoring an accessibility rating of Tricky.
The Run Down – Our Five-Point Rating for Atlas Fallen
Gameplay – 3: I have really enjoyed the combat most of the time, and sand surfing is a really nice and speedy way of getting around. The title has also brought good progression with new gauntlet abilities. Sadly, while combat does work well most of the time, it does get quite repetitive early on, and you’ll mostly be performing the same fetch and fight quests for most of the game.
Visuals – 4: The visuals in Atlas Fallen are genuinely quite nice, and work well most of the time. The far-reaching views across the desert are well made, and have made an immersive land come to life. We’ve had some rare occurrences on Xbox with chequerboard visuals which do impact immersion, however these are few and far between. Visuals are probably the saving grace of the title, with well-designed enemies, though camera angles do sometimes let the side down
Audio – 2:The effects and music in the game are decent enough, but the voice acting in Atlas Fallen is some of the worst we’ve heard in recent years. Scripts seem disjointed, and spoken tone is completely wayward most of the time, meaning that it’s more fun to skip through conversations than to actually listen to them.
Narrative – 3:The premise of Atlas Fallen begins well, and there are some highlights here and there. Sadly, however, the narrative feels rushed, and doesn’t fully respect a good and solid lore base which has been created. The notes of the past and information on lost civilisations is nice, but in the here and now, character narrative is not given the time it needs to properly develop.
Replay – 3: The cooperative mode definitely helps here, as does a good amount of lore, items and legendary creatures to find among the sands of the desert. Sadly, because the combat gets repetitive quite fast, we’ve not felt drawn back in quite as much as we could, as each fight and mission is mostly like the last.
The Verdict – Is Atlas Fallen Worth It?
Pixel Bandits I hate Sand Level for Atlas Fallen is an average 6 / 10. This title has some really bright spots and some great ideas. The Momentum system is promising, and the world and lore are really great. They’ve been let down here by repetitive combat and enemies, atrocious voice acting and a story which really doesn’t hold itself together.
The visuals in the title are wonderful, and there are some great concepts which are worth dipping in for, meaning that it’s scoring on just the good side of average here. One to pick up in future, potentially, but not one to rush out for right away.
As ever, to provide this review and common-sense parent’s guide, we received one free copy of Atlas Fallen from the folks at Focus Entertainment.
