Arx Fatalis Demo

The RPG genre has received a lot of attention ever since video games were first created, albeit the first attempts were much more crude and lackluster. However, what text-based dungeon crawlers lacked in visual appeal and level design, they made up for through exquisite storytelling, as well as solid characters and plenty of content. As the time passed and the technology evolved, 3D graphics engines made it easier to convey the story, but it also made it simpler to just dazzle the audience with a high polygon count, rather than work on a decent plot line.

Arx Fatalis is the type of game that can be rather difficult to classify, due to the fact that it doesn't really fit in with any crowd, although it shares a lot of elements with many genres and it can certainly pass unnoticed as either one of them. However, it is safe to say that the main intention of the developers was to create a solid role-playing experience, although this assumption is also based on the fact that you get to generate a custom character at the beginning of the story and you keep on gaining experience as you go along, in what seems to be like an old-school dungeon crawler, since the game world itself is literally one huge dungeon.

As far as the story goes, the main character wakes up in a prison cell, detained by unsavory creatures that do not seem to be planning on any kind of trial anytime soon. On top of that, a serious case of amnesia is also part of the equation, which makes the rest of the tale a bit more interesting and exciting, although the amnesia subject has definitely been overused since the release of the game at hand. As you slowly make your way out of the prison, you keep on learning about the world you are in: Apparently, the sun went dark a long time ago and everyone hid underground, to look for warmth. Naturally, the humans weren't the only race to have this idea, so everything from goblins to various other monsters can be found in this cave.

What sets Arx Fatalis apart from the majority of role-playing games is the fact that it uses a first-person perspective, rather than the classical top-down isometric view. While this is not entirely new, since it is was also used in The Elder Scrolls, Wizardry and Might and Magic series, it can be quite disorienting for those who are not accustomed to it. However, the camera is very easy to handle and you can also quickly change to interaction mode with a simple click, in case you want to pick up items, talk to people, or shuffle through your inventory.

Another thing that's quite unique is the spell casting system, which about as interactive as it can get, short of requiring you to loudly reading the words from a scroll. Hence, in order to cast a spell, you need to find specific runes around the game world, which then give you the power to use that specific spell in battle. However, to actually cast it, you need to move your mouse around and draw a specific symbol, otherwise the spell fails. This hands-on interaction with wizardry is indeed quite exciting and interesting, although it can also become annoying if you are not in the mood for it.

Arx Fatalis does manage to impress through its complexity and diversity, although it also suffers from a few design flaws that might make it hard to swallow for those who are not accustomed to this approach to the genre. Moreover, there are various puzzles that need to be solved along the way, as well as powerful enemies to defeat and epic artifacts to make use of in battle.