Atlas Fallen review: A decent oasis in a desert of action-RPGs

The sand-surfing action-RPG Atlas Fallen has you wielding the power of the gods with a Thanos-style gauntlet. Here's what we think of Deck13's latest game.

Tom West

Published 09 Aug 2023

Focus Entertainment is high up on my list of favorite publishers, and I rarely play a game from its catalog where I don't have fun. With Deck13 Interactive's proven track record for creating enjoyable action-RPGs (see The Surge 1 and 2), I had high hopes that the developer's latest title, Atlas Fallen, wouldn't be as dry as the world in which it is set. Atlas Fallen launches on Xbox Series X|S tomorrow, and after spending just over 40 hours attempting to overthrow a tyrannical god, I can happily say that this action-RPG isn't a completely dry affair, but there are signs of a slight drought.

Atlas Fallen sees you overthrow a god on Xbox Series X|S

From the moment you start Atlas Fallen, the injustices plaguing its population are hurled at you, setting the tone of the adventure to come. We're put into the shoes of an Unnamed — the lowest class of people in Atlas that are only referred to by their job roles or personal characteristics, such as Tracker or Quick Feet. These poor saps are practically treated as slaves, even referred to as such at times, mining and transporting a magical material known as Essence for the Thousand-Year Queen, a puppet for the tyrannical god known as Thelos. Those born into this class are worthless in the eyes of Atlas' nobility and fanatical priests, expendable in every way. It's a theme that carries through Atlas Fallen until the very end, and even though our adventure begins to give them a reason to fight for freedom, it's always clear just how broken these people are in the face of oppression from an ever-present God.

If the disdain from nobles, slave work for a religious sect, and living in squalor wasn't enough, the inhabitants of Atlas also have to put up with Wraiths: creatures shaped from the sand itself, which plague the land as it withers and dies from the extreme mining of Essence. Our journey as an Unnamed begins following a Wraith attack on an Essence caravan, which coincidentally leads to us finding a magical gauntlet that gives us the ability to wield God-like power, as well as communicate with a spirit that can match the strength of Thelos. With the magical gauntlet in hand, and a rather unpleasant altercation with the caravan's leader, Morrath, we embark on a mission that sees us uncover lost knowledge of the past, ally with an order of knights, and take the fight to Thelos itself.

Atlas Fallen's main story is an enjoyable adventure that doesn't stray too far from a typical zero-to-hero plotline. While it's filled with lore for the world we're exploring and introduces us to a cast of reasonably interesting characters, its biggest boon for me is that you're not the first person to have wielded the gauntlet. In Atlas' recent history, the gauntlet was used by an order of knights to try and overthrow the Queen and bring an end to Thelos' rule, but the power of the gauntlet backfired on them, bringing their rebellion to a swift end. With that engrained in the memories of the people you're attempting to help, they're wary of you instead of treating you as some iconic savior with incredible abilities. You certainly become a beacon of hope to your fellow Unnamed, but your journey across Atlas is a battle to prove yourself to potential allies.

While working through the main story to become strong enough to match the power of a God, you're free to explore the four open-world zones at your leisure (provided you've unlocked them by reaching story plot points). There are a hefty number of activities you can get stuck into when exploring, and as you uncover more pieces of your gauntlet, you begin to unlock more things to do. This is where Atlas Fallen can feel a little on the dry side. There is no doubt that the world is gorgeous to look at — Deck13 has crafted a world filled with rolling dunes of sand, towering magical structures, and more verticality than an Assassin's Creed game — but it falls into a similar map-clearing trap that many RPGs find themselves tangled in. It's certainly possible to just focus on the main story to experience the power curve and fame until you reach the God-battling crescendo, but you'll only be getting around 20 hours' worth of content, and you'd be missing out on a ton of lore, and more importantly, character upgrades.

To get the full Atlas Fallen experience, you need to explore the world, but for the majority of the time, that's all you'll be doing. Side quests are short and few, with the majority of them being fetch quests devoid of any meaningful stories. Many of them will automatically be completed when you speak to the quest giver if you've already defeated the creature they want you to deal with or found a particular item, further limiting the story-based content you can soak up between platformer-style Forgotten Paths, time-based Sealing Stones, boss-battling Watchtowers, and other short activities found on the map. There is a saving grace here, however, as I cleaned up all four maps and unlocked all but one achievement within 40 hours, so it's certainly not a slog by any stretch. I personally love a good map clear, but the general pacing of the main story feels pretty balanced on its own, so stepping away from it for hours without any relatable side quest stories to enjoy feels like you're doing it a disservice by upsetting the flow.

As I've said before, Atlas Fallen is beautiful — the lighting, draw distance, and attention to detail are wonderful, and Deck13 gets an extra point for adding a great photo mode. I'm a sucker for a photo mode (albeit sucky at actually getting around to posting my pretty pictures on my social accounts) and believe every game should have one... hell, I'd use one in Space Invaders if it was possible! Much of my time has been spent surfing across the sand — which is an awesome feature itself — looking for my next beauty spot to snap, and thanks to a well-balanced spawn system, you're given the chance to enjoy the surrounding landscape because it's not a world chock-full of enemies. Wraith spawns in Atlas Fallen are evenly spread out around each map, and while the more common enemies (Lesser Wraiths) spawn randomly every once in a while to pester you, most of your battles will be fought in allotted locations — generally against the stronger Greater or Colossal Wraith variants.

If exploring the world feels a little dry, the combat can only be described as a mirage of lush vegetation and cool spring water in the searing desert heat. It's exciting, and while it looks chaotic from the outside, it's a similarly choreographed dance of death as seen in other action-RPGs: attack, parry, dodge, attack, locate your next target, and repeat. While the Lesser Wraiths only need to be hit in a single spot for them to die, the Greater, Colossal, and Boss Wraiths all have numerous weak spots you need to destroy to fell the beast. It's worth mentioning that you can unlock all of Atlas Fallen's achievements on its easiest difficulty, so players of all skill levels should be able to get involved without feeling overwhelmed. Although, the higher difficulties could be favorable for those of you looking to get the most out of the upgrade system.

Atlas Fallen has two main currency systems: Tributes and Essence Dust. Tributes are found by searching the numerous chests around the world and by selling Artefacts. You can then spend them at vendors and the charismatic traveling vendor for armor dyes, treasure map pieces, and the materials required to upgrade your abilities — although I didn't feel the need to purchase any extra materials as I found enough on my adventures. As for Essence Dust, it's the most important currency in the game and is earned by slaying Wraiths, completing quests, and a multitude of other activities. You use Essence Dust to unlock the full potential of your gauntlet, unlocking and upgrading the hoard of Essence Stones you find on your travels for combat abilities.

Essence Stones are Atlas Fallen's skill system and require you to build a resource called Momentum when in combat to increase your power. They come in many varieties, offering direct damage attacks, heals, Momentum buffs, defensive bonuses, and even abilities to bolster your co-op partner. Personally, this is where I think Atlas Fallen shines the brightest, as there are so many different combinations you can use to really make your character unique. The Stones are broken into three tiers on your action bar, allowing you to equip three cooldown-based direct skills and eight buffs, with the higher tiers offering far superior benefits when you unlock them. When in combat, you'll generate Momentum, which slowly fills your action bar to unlock each Stone's effects. Naturally, allowing the Momentum to fill your action bar will offer you additional combat bonuses, but you also have the option to spend the collected Momentum on a powerful attack called Shatter, which deals massive damage to your foe, but also resets your action bar. It's a great system that works well during the heat of the moment, allowing you to decide if the trade-off is worth it — at times I've been splattered for being a little too hasty with my Shatter, or on rare occasions, seen the game crash due to being a little too heavy with my ability usage. My hope is that this will be fixed before Atlas Fallen launches. It's an infrequent thing, but disappointing to see because Atlas Fallen generally feels like a well-polished game.

Other than Essence Stones, there isn't much else you can do to upgrade your character, although I don't think you really need much more than the Stones! As you progress, you'll unlock new armor sets with predetermined buffs, with the only customization options coming in the form of dyes and cosmetic items, Idols are your main healing source, and you can equip two of the three available weapon types: Sandwhip, Dunecleaver, and Knuckledust. Combat is great fun and feels great as it is, but I was left wanting for a little more weapon variety.

As for the Atlas Fallen achievements they can all be unlocked within 40 hours if you're taking it slow. They're mostly linked to the main story beats and for completing the map-clearing activities and are fairly simple. My time with the game surpassed 40 hours due to a missing cosmetic item, which after spending an entire evening combing all four zones, I found was a reward for a side quest I just never came across before. However, I now have the completion and can happily say that the system is bug-free.

Summary

Atlas Fallen continues Focus Entertainment's run of publishing enjoyable new IPs and features the type of fast-paced action-RPG experience you'd expect to see from Deck13 Interactive. While it seems to lack much in the way of exciting story-based side content, which ultimately upsets the pacing of the main story, there is no doubt that Atlas Fallen is a feast for the eyes and a sand-surfing ride filled with plenty of high-octane combat encounters.

* Tom played around 40 hours of Atlas Fallen on Xbox Series X, unlocking all 36 achievements in the process. A key for the game was provided by Focus Entertainment for this review.

More Atlas Fallen stories:

Review Xbox Series X|S

Written by Tom West

Tom has been playing video games since he was old enough to hold a controller, experimenting with a number of systems until he eventually fell in love with Xbox. With a passion for the platform, he decided to make a career out of it, and now happily spends his days writing about that which he loves. If he’s not hunting for Xbox achievements, you’ll likely find him somewhere in The Elder Scrolls Online or fighting for survival in Battlefield.