The new game Atlas Fallen by Deck 13 immediately caught the attention of MeinMMO author Irina Moritz during the Opening Night Live.
Many of you will surely know this feeling when you see a trailer that instantly appeals to you. The initial curiosity that keeps rising until it transforms into “Oh wow, that looks really cool!” because everything just looks coherent.
I experienced this during the Opening Night Live on August 23, when suddenly Atlas Fallen was featured in the endless trailer stream. More information only ignited my interest further.
But unfortunately, I had to rein in my enthusiasm for Atlas Fallen quite a bit. At least for now.
This is Atlas Fallen: The cinematic trailer opens with the backstory of the world of Atlas, which was changed long ago by gods supported by human heroes.
The gods craved the essence of the world, a valuable resource that allows sand magic to be used. Thanks to the essences, the supreme god Thelos dominates the humans and keeps them in check. However, this leads to the world deteriorating further.
As a fan of destroyed or dying worlds from Dark Souls and Legacy of Kain, I was immediately hooked by the premise. The visual representation and the design in the trailer, underscored by epic music, sealed the deal. If there’s anything about the design that can instantly capture me, it’s cool capes and masks.
More information about the game, such as the detailed interview with our colleagues from GameStar, further intensified my interest. In the action game, you play with a self-created character and use a magical glove that allows you to utilize sand magic in battles.
The gameplay in Atlas Fallen revolves around this glove. In the trailer, you can see how the characters summon large weapons and can switch between them. This should also be possible in the game.
- You can unlock your active and passive abilities with essence,
- acquire new weapons,
- expand talent trees and more.
The combat system is faster than, for example, The Surge or Lords of the Fallen, earlier titles from the developer Deck 13. With the special movement abilities, you can glide over the sand, which is also shown in the trailer.
All in all, the information known so far about Atlas Fallen sounds like a game that is 100% my thing and would normally be an instant pre-order, were it not for one problem.
Bad experiences can be a game spoiler
As a long-time gaming fan, I regularly find myself in a paradoxical situation: On one hand, I am quickly excited when I see trailers and news about new games. After all, it is my absolute passion, and the anticipation of new gaming experiences quickly arises, especially with games like Atlas Fallen that hit my taste on all levels.
But on the other hand, every long-time gaming fan is often also a burned child. You know: Just because a trailer looks great and the information about the game sounds exciting, it doesn’t mean that the game will actually be good or simply match your taste.
Experience shows that there can be worlds between the announcement and the finished product. The pendulum can swing in both directions here, meaning: An announced game can either be a disappointment or turn into a hidden gem.
Experience has taught me (and probably many of you as well) to rein in my initial enthusiasm time and again. Especially when very little of the actual gameplay has been shown. It has often happened that games have appealed to me on all levels, only to turn out in the best case as “not so great”.
One such case that I immediately recalled with Atlas Fallen was, for example, Godfall. It sounded great before the release and the gameplay looked fun, but that was only enough for a rating of 61 on Metacritic.
I’m sure I could think of other examples, but you probably understand what I mean. I want to be excited about Atlas Fallen, really. It looks great and sounds like a game that could be exactly my thing. Deck 13 is also a studio that has a lot of experience in action games with Lords of the Fallen and The Surge.
But I have to keep forcing myself to dampen my anticipation to also keep the potential disappointment lower. This was also the case with Elden Ring, and FromSoftware is one of my absolute favorite developers, whom I trust completely after Sekiro.
Therefore, Atlas Fallen will be placed on my “cautious wish list” for now, and I will look forward to it very cautiously. The right excitement can come when the release turns out to be really awesome.
Fingers crossed.
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