Atlas Fallen Review – A confusing mess

Atlas Fallen is one of the strangest games I have ever played. Perhaps with one of the best marketing teams of all time, the game’s press and screenshots will sell you on this idea of an epic fantasy world and a triple-A quality experience. My time with the game, however, was starkly different, and I was shocked to discover that this wasn’t some indie title made in the Unreal Engine. While not all good and not all bad, Atlas Fallen occupies a peculiar middle ground, showcasing elements that are remarkable, juxtaposed with others that fall significantly below expectations. These stark contrasts create the impression that the game may not have been developed by a consistent team throughout its production.

Let me start with what I like about Atlas Fallen.

Visually, the game is stunning. Huge, sharp rock formations jut out of a golden sandscape and create a world that is phenomenally interesting to look at. The environment is lovely, whether you be in an underground cave or skating across the dunes, and it provides wide open spaces that are fun to traverse while still being visually interesting, so you actually want to look around while traveling. It’s very hard to make a desert setting look good but Atlas Fallen certainly succeeds. All of the screenshots in this guide will just be some of the more stunning visuals that I personally enjoyed looking at. Credit where credit is due, these breathtaking sights can say more good about the game than I can muster into words.

Not just the environment, but the lighting and colors used for a lot of the game is just spot on. The desert world feels arid and hot, but still whimsical and colorful. Most of the armor sets are really cool looking and look like they would sensibly belong in a fantastical desert world like this one, with elements of Bedouin inspiration in the look of a lot of the clothes and armor sets in the game.

The game offers a lot of movement tech that is both fun to use and feels in-line with your characters. Skating across sand using your magical gauntlet makes moving around the map convenient, and is present basically everywhere, so you won’t find yourself having to walk around a lot if you feel like rushing ahead. Air-dashing to cover distance and outmaneuver enemies is also really fun. You won’t feel static or slow in Atlas Fallen and that is certainly something I give it praise for.

The game’s combat, which is the primary gameplay you’ll experience, ranges from mediocre at its best to somewhat uninspiring at its worst. It seems to take inspiration from Devil May Cry, with weapon swapping and air juggling, but without any of the flashy combos or switch-ups. Weapon attacks basically happen in a series of three or an alternative attack you can use by holding the button down. This is usually a stronger or longer range version of the main attack pattern.

The game has a sort of interesting build-up mechanic where hitting enemies increases your damage dealt and damage received. This falls off over time if you don’t hit anything. I’m really mixed on this feature, but I think the clear purpose is to reward putting out a lot of damage and timing your dodges and counters well. It is what I imagine Dark Souls might be like if it was a fair bit easier.

The same meter you build up from successfully attacking foes also allows you to use one of four special abilities. These are definitely the flashier, more impactful side of combat, with such effects as throwing a huge boomerang-warhammer out at your foes rewarding you for setting the fight up correctly. I don’t love that these abilities, along with other ‘upgrades’ that are really just invisible stat improvements, have to be unlocked by opening chests and exploring the world. Unlocking them should be tied to combat, if you like the combat and do a lot of it, you should be rewarded with more tools to use in combat.

What absolutely boggles my mind with Atlas Fallen is the writing.

I can’t sugarcoat how much I hate Atlas Fallen’s writing. In broad terms, the story is full of fantasy writing tropes that have been done to death. A god worshipped by the people is actually the villain, an ancient order of knights has to be reunited or discovered to help save the world, a group of people is systematically put down by a blatantly evil higher class, a normal person finds a magical being sealed within an artefact that gives them the power to save the world, et cetera, et cetera. Tropes, when used correctly, aren’t a bad thing and can uplift a story. To quote Masterclass.com, “The problem is when writers lean so heavily on these tropes that they’re no longer telling an original story.” This is a problem that is very much present in Atlas Fallen.

In less broad terms, the dialogue is awful. Interactions between two characters are awkward, packed full of exposition, and just don’t feel like two people are talking to each other. There wasn’t a single part in the game where I felt like I was listening to two actual people having a conversation.

I don’t want to simply say “Atlas Fallen has bad writing” and leave it at that, but I struggle to describe just how uniquely terrible the writing is without just showing you a clip. Most conflict in the game follows a three sentence beat and is solved. A couple of only slightly exaggerated examples of this:

‘I can’t help you to defeat our oppressors. I’m too scared.’
“We have to. We have strength in numbers.”
‘You are right, let’s work together to defeat them.’

‘Stop right there, unnamed! You’re not allowed in this area.’
“I want to go in here to fight monsters.”
‘Hahaha! Go ahead, just buy some armor first.’

Again, I’m only slightly exaggerating, and I might have just written those scenes better than the actual dialogue itself. Every interaction in the game feels like this, with awkward and over contradictory actions from characters with unclear motivations, no real conflict that isn’t resolved a second later, or repeating information over and over and over again. It is so jarring that I was actually confused about how a game with such a good visual direction could stumble so hard in the writing.

The voice acting is just as bad. Our main character certainly tries, and is the best of anyone in the game. Nyaal, on the other hand… our talking gauntlet, which is the source of most of the dialogue beside our protagonist, has the most emotionless and awkward line reads in the game.

I wonder if Atlas Fallen was designed first, with the writing and voice acting coming second, and falling victim to the ongoing writer’s strike. There are times in the game where I genuinely wondered if everything was written by an AI. If not that, I wonder if the German studio behind Atlas Fallen lost something in translation. Maybe the dialogue and voice acting is way, way better in the German dub?

Try Hard Guides was provided with a PC review copy of this game. Find more detailed looks at popular and upcoming titles in the Game Reviews section of our website! Atlas Fallen is available on Xbox, Playstation and Steam.