Arx Fatalis

The Good
First of all the graphics are really good in this game, as is the atmosphere and feeling. In the beginning of the game you come to a castle which is some of the most impressive graphics I have seen in any game. The music also is atmospheric and moody. Similar to Thief: the dark project it has some very cool locations like underground crypts and cathedrals with zombies and mummies. Some quests also reminded me alot of those of Eye of the beholder.

The Bad
It is very unbalanced. The Ylsidies especially are very though to beat without using magic, which is boring if you want to play a warrior and not rely on magic. The other big thing is that it is often quite vague what your next mission is or how to begin it. You feel that the designers have missed something. Also in some scenes the framerate falls very low on my computer which is a 2400+, albeit with a geforce fx5200 graphics card.

The Bottom Line
The flaws in this game hinders it from being a masterpiece although it is a very fun game nevertheless.

The Good
First of all, let's make things straight. Deadly City is the English translation for Arx Fatalis (latin). I don't really know why the game is called like that, Arx isn't that deadly, but I guess its all about the history of Arx.

Most people hate this game because of it's small world and few characters. I personally love this feature, the game is easy to explore and you will never get lost in the world. Also, you will always know what you have to do. You won't need to travel 998383838 regions to get to an NPC in order to get... one Magical Feather of the Phoenix (random name) or another...

The combat in Arx Fatalis is easy to learn since it uses the classic "recipe". You hold the mouse button to "deliver" a stronger hit. You can use bows, swords, axes, daggers or any other weapon you can get.

I liked the spellcasting system. Each spell can be casted only if you cast specific runes (each spell requires specific types of runes.) in a specific order. To cast the runes you must "draw" with the mouse cursor the symbol which represents each rune. Switching between melee/ranged combat mode to spellcasting mode is easy thus making combat even more intense and at the same time interesting.

The character's interaction level with the surrounding objects is simply "heroic"! You can cook, go fishing, read books, steal and more!

The story in the game is interesting overall, but the ending seemed a little "abrupt" to me...

The game graphics are absolutely great and the atmosphere offered by the graphics is unequaled. Maybe some buildings look a little bit weird... but I won't consider that a flaw.

Each character has it's own voice and the actors did a great job. I watched all the characters in the game, and believe me they seem to be real! Also each character has it's own "daily routine", which makes things even better. However, you can't tell if there's a day-night cycle since the action takes place in the underground so I've never seen any character sleeping. Too bad...

The quests you recieve are always different, I've never seen any "cloned quest". Each quest, even if it may seem to be secondary, affects quite greatly the main storyline.

The game also features some puzzles, which aren't entirely difficult, but you never get bored by solving them since they are interesting and if you ever get stuck on one puzzle you'll be very satisfied if you solve it after.... don't know why but you will be :)

The opponent's AI is well scripted and each enemy seems intelligent... some may even cause you trouble.

The environment sounds and sound effects are helping the overall atmosphere of the game to get even higher! I liked the music played by the local musicians and the atmospheric sound from Arx...

The Bad
Well first of all the loading times are... deadly... The world is made of many "regions" that you can access one at a time, and everytime the loading is really deadly. Maybe that's why the game is called Arx Fatalis...

The spellcasting system requires the caster (player) to go somewhere for training before casting spells in a fulltime combat... Sometimes it's really difficult to cast some runes just because you "missed" a "shape" with the mouse.

The Bottom Line
That would be all bad things... the game is great, a classic even. Maybe it does not surpass other "great" RPG's, but Arx Fatalis is special in a special way and maybe if you play it you'll put the CD in a special place, to be seen by everyone. The game deserves such a "sacrifice"...

The Good
Arx Fatalis is one of the more ambitious roleplaying games that I have seen for the PC. This is no doubt in part because it is a clear homage to another very ambitious, though better executed, game - Ultima Underworld. But I want to make it clear that "homage" does not by any means indicate a lack of creativity from the developers of Arx. It is very much its own game.

Much like Underworld, Arx Fatalis takes place almost entirely underground. There are glimpses of the world above available for the curious, but since the story involves an entire civilization hidden below the earth to survive the difficult conditions above, this is rare.

This dark environment is both an asset and a shortcoming. It certainly becomes atmospheric and, in some place, tense. And some of the places you end up visiting have an otherwordly beauty to them.

Arx Fatalis is an extremely free-form game. You generally have the ability to roam where you wish while following the primary storyline. The world is populated with various useful items which may be combined at times to make better items. No doubt the best of these are ingredients for alchemical use and food which may be cooked at various fires. There is something satisfying about taking ingredients and making an apple pie yourself.

Exploration can be enjoyable and yield some nice treasure. And the fact that you can definitely run into places that are deeper than you can deal with at your level is a nice touch.

Of course, the real claim to fame for Arx is its spell system. Spells in this game are made up of runic combinations. In order to cast, the player must actually draw these combinations on the screen with the mouse. In a hurried situation, this can be almost painfully difficult - a problem somewhat remedied by the ability to "store" a few spells up for later use. But overall it really adds to the enjoyment and memorability of the game. I would love to see this idea used again with a more forgiving system.

The story of Arx is very standard fantasy fare for the most part. It is serviceable, though. I enjoyed the plot as it unfolded and the ending was satisfying.

The Bad
Graphics looked a bit dated in Arx, even at the time of release. Sound was decent but did not leave a big impression on me. Thankfully, in an RPG, the gameplay takes an even higher place than usual.

The rune casting system was definitely clumsy when it was most important. Some runes I was almost never able to cast properly. This could have been fixed with a more forgiving system.

While I praised it above, the darkness of the game can also get a bit grating. If you play it for too long, you may find yourself longing for brighter colors and daylight.

Finally, the NPC's in the game were largely uninspiring.

The Bottom Line
If you have the patience to deal with the flaws, Arx Fatalis is definitely worth playing. Fans of Ultima Underworld should be especially interested.