Atlas Fallen review: A unique action RPG set in the dunes

Atlas Fallen is a new action RPG developed by Focus Entertainment that takes players on an exciting adventure in the land of sand dunes, where they’ll achieve glory by vanquishing an oppressive sun god. For those who are unsure whether Atlas Fallen is worth their time and money, here’s our review.

With the popularity of action RPGs on the rise, a new competitor has entered the market with its own unique take on the genre and a thrilling world-building setting. Atlas Fallen, developed by Deck13 and published by Focus Entertainment, is the newest action role-playing game that immerses players in a dune-style arid landscape.

When I got my hands on the game, I was instantly reminded of Lords of the Fallen and Warhammer 40K, both of which appeared to be its inspiration. However, as I began playing the game on my PlayStation 5, it appeared to be a significant decline compared to the next-gen enhanced RPGs I’ve played recently.

Nonetheless, that didn’t prevent me from enjoying some aspects of the game and being captivated by its movement mechanics. And after 13 hours of playing this Prince of Persia meets Elden Ring-style adventure, I’ve formed a love-hate relationship with Atlas Fallen.

Atlas Fallen – Key Details

• Price: $49.99 (USD)
• Developer: Deck13
• Release Date: Aug 10, 2023
• Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC

Atlas Fallen Trailer

Fight the power!

From the onset of Atlas Fallen, you are immersed in a post-apocalyptic world in which the sun god Thelos, along with The Queen and The Watcher, has repressed the other gods and put an end to any hope of a rebellion. Because of this, the human population is now split between the oppressed “Unnamed” and the blindly religious and sun-worshipping.

You begin as a rebel trying to free the people from oppression when suddenly you come across a gauntlet, powered with a mighty spirit. That gauntlet becomes your weapon and to be honest, it’s quite chatty at times.

The spirit within the gauntlet is later revealed to be a god who looks like James Cameron’s Avatar, and commands you to discover numerous shards in order to continually reforge the gauntlet and gain access to a wide variety of in-game powers and weaponry.

Despite the initial thrill, the story quickly loses steam, leaving you with little choice but to spend the majority of your time searching for shards and the occasional anvil in order to improve your gauntlet.

“I don’t like sand, it gets everywhere”

There is sand everywhere in Atlas Fallen. The all-powerful sun deity who, through his oppression, has stripped the world of its formerly luscious vegetation and converted it into barren wastelands is always watching you and creates a mood of terror throughout the gameplay. 

However, the game’s most riveting element, Sand Slide, is revealed at this point. Before I began playing, in my mind I wondered if the PS5’s Haptic Feedback on the DualSense would let me feel the sand textures while walking or sliding on the desert, but sadly it did not.

In contrast to other games, this one does not make good use of the PS5 controller’s functions, which is a major letdown. Although I must admit that sliding across the desert is a lot of fun, and it’s a terrific way to get around when you need to cover a lot of ground quickly or get away from big beasts.

There are four different biomes in Atlas Fallen, or “Zones” as they are called in the game. Each Zone has its own unique setting, and the player’s path across it is determined by the Zone’s design.

Smash some dust out of your fists

In Atlas Fallen, you can equip two weapons at once and switch between them with ease, thanks to a cool gauntlet-morphing weapon system reminiscent of Kamala Khan’s hands in Marvel’s Avengers.

You’ll start off with a Dunecleaver Axe but will quickly acquire a Sandwhip and Knuckledust as you progress. The Dunecleaver is effective for smashing monsters, while the Sandwhip allows you to grab larger ones and rush in for a powerful strike. Knuckledust, on the other hand, is best used in ground-based combat rather than aerial combat due to its ineffectiveness against flying creatures.

Essence Stones are an intriguing addition to the combat system. These are special attacks and abilities you can use throughout the game to create momentum, allowing you to unleash a hammer-smashing finisher on your opponent.

The controls are intuitive, so you won’t need to spend too much time tweaking the key binds. The game mechanics, however, are more fun with a gamepad than with a keyboard.

Atlas has indeed “fallen”

Gameplay is seamless in performance mode, however, quality is sacrificed a bit as a result. In spite of my best efforts, even on a next-gen console, the visual quality was not good enough to make me appreciate the design of the creatures I was facing or the powers I was employing to defeat them.

However, the framerate took a huge hit when I switched to quality mode, and I experienced significant lag of 20 fps even while traveling throughout the enormous open area, let alone engaging in combat, where it dipped to 15 fps.

This is also immediately apparent during the character creation process, as a number of the face models and other materials look broken, giving the impression that the game was ported from the PlayStation 3 to the current generation of consoles. And that’s not to mention the bad lip-sync movements throughout Atlas Fallen, which make interactions feel really artificial.

I will say that the game does shine in co-op mode, where you can join a friend on the same platform and go on adventures while killing monsters and surfing the dunes together. However, it is not enough to make Atlas Fallen the next-gen RPG that competes with titans like Elden Ring or Baldur’s Gate 3.

Verdict – 3/5

If you want to have a great time with a friend while playing an action RPG, Atlas Fallen’s co-op mode is an ideal choice. However, if you intend to embark on a solitary adventure out in the dunes, you may find it becoming too monotonous at times when you’re just sliding across the desert in circles.

When compared to similarly priced role-playing games, Atlas Fallen isn’t as exciting as you might have hoped. Though the game’s traversal and combat have their own charm, the lack of substance in the main plot and excitement that an action RPG needs, leaves you feeling deserted.

Reviewed on PlayStation 5.