Wikipedia

Arx Fatalis

Arx Fatalisis a 2002action role-playing gamedeveloped byArkane Studiosand released forWindowsandXbox.The game is played from afirst-person perspectiveand is set on a world whose sun has failed, forcing the above-ground creatures to take refuge in caverns. The game's mechanics include the use ofmouse gesturesto cast spells.Arx Fatalisreceived mostly positive reviews from critics but was not commercially successful. In 2011, Arkane Studios released the game'ssource codeunder theGNU General Public License(GPL), though the game assets remain proprietary.

Arx Fatalis
European cover art
Developer(s)Arkane Studios[a]
Publisher(s)
Director(s)Raphaël Colantonio
Producer(s)
  • Friis Torben Tappert
  • Holly D. Kreie
Designer(s)Raphaël Colantonio
Programmer(s)Cyril Meynier
Artist(s)Olivier Enselme-Trichard
Composer(s)
  • Kemal Amarasingham
  • Simon Amarasingham
Platform(s)Windows,Xbox
ReleaseWindows
Xbox
Genre(s)Action role-playing,dungeon crawl[7]
Mode(s)Single-player

Plot

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Arx Fatalis(Latinfor "fatal fortress" ) is set on a world whose sun has failed, forcing the above-ground creatures to take refuge in caverns. The action inArx Fatalistakes place in one of these large caves, where the members of various races, such asTrolls,Goblins,Dwarves,Humans,etc., have made their homes on various levels of the cave. Theplayerawakens inside a prison cell and, after making his escape, eventually discovers his mission is to subvert and imprison the God of Destruction, Akbaa, who is trying to manifest itself in Arx.

Gameplay

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Arx Fatalisfeatures somewhatopen-ended gameplay,allowing the player to allocate skill points for their character type in skills such asspellcasting,weapons and armour,stealth,and so on. There are several side quests that can be undertaken. A simplecraftingsystem involves enchanting ammunition and weapons, or creating items, such as a fishing rod (fishing pole and rope), keyrings (key and ring), or pies (dough and rolling pin, optional apple and optional bottle of wine). Raw food can be cooked, like rounds of bread, chicken drumsticks, or pies. The main plot line is non-linear with the player collecting the various items to forge a sword required to defeat Akbaa in afinal showdown.Additional goals come up such as dealing with the rebels of Arx, the snake women and The King of Arx. The player can resolve the conflict between them all and experience several different endings to the conflict with different consequences somewhat affecting the story.

There is no dialogue system inArx Fatalis.Rather, the player makes choices through actions which lead to different consequences. There are also multiple ways to finish quests and the player can progress through the game in several different ways. For example, the player can use force to kill enemies and break down doors, or they can use stealth and avoid enemies.

One of the intuitive interfaces inArx Fatalisis the spellcasting system. Using themouseand thecontrol key,runesare drawn in mid-air withmouse gestures,which must be correctly drawn in order to successfully cast a spell. The player can find or buy different runes as gameplay progresses, combinations of which unlock new spells.

This gestural interface was simplified in the Xbox version to account for the limitations of thejoypad.Each direction of thedirectional padcorresponds to a different mouse direction and different combinations of directions are entered with the directional pad to draw runes and correspondingly cast spells. A queue of up to three spells can be cast in advance, ready to be activated at the press of a button. There is also an instant magic mode that allows the player to simply select the desired spell they want to cast from a list of learned spells during gameplay.

In addition,Arx Fatalissupports a stealth mode that is active when a stealth icon is visible on the interface. In stealth mode, usually when a player is in dark or shadowy areas,non-player characterscannot see them.

Development

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Arx Fataliswas the first title of French developerArkane Studios,founded in 1999 by the game's lead designer and CEORaphaël Colantonio.[8]The design ofArx Fataliswas influenced by games from the now-defunctLooking Glass Studios,especiallyUltima Underworld.Arkane Studios have stated thatArx Fataliswas intended to beUltima Underworld III;[9]however, whileRaphaël Colantoniohad support fromPaul Neurath,one of the original developers ofUltima Underworld,Electronic Arts,who owned the rights, would not allow Arkane to make a sequel with theirintellectual propertyunless he accepted some of their provisions. Colantonio refused to accept this and instead had Arkane set out on the game in the spirit ofUltima Underworld.[10]Colantonio had difficulty in getting a publisher; with finances nearly exhausted, they had signed one small publisher who had gone bankrupt within the month, but later securedJoWooD Productionsfor publication, eventually releasing in 2002.

Arx Fataliswas released forWindowsinitially in Germany on 28 June 2002 before releasing in the UK on 8 November 2002[11]and in North America on 12 November 2002. It was ported theXboxin North America on 22 December 2003[12]and in Europe on 13 February 2004.[13]

On 14 January 2011,[14]Arkane Studios released a 1.21 patch and the game'ssource codeunder the terms of theGNU General Public License(GPL).[15][16]Based upon this source code, theArx Libertatisproject was formed tofix bugsand incompatibilities, and toportthe game to operating systems such asLinux,FreeBSDand theOpenPandorahandheld.[15][17][18]As of September 2021,the most recentArx Libertatisrelease is version 1.2.[19]

Severalfan-made translationsof the game have also been made, including toTurkish[20]andKorean.[21]

Reception

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While the game was well received, it was considered a commercial failure.[10]The PC version ofArx Fatalisreceived "generally favourable reviews", while the Xbox version received "average" reviews, according to thereview aggregationwebsiteMetacritic.[25][26]

Arx Fataliswas released after the more successful fantasy role-playing gamesThe Elder Scrolls III: MorrowindandNeverwinter Nights,with reviewers stating that although it is not as open asMorrowind,it will appeal to fans that like dungeon-crawler RPGs, paying homage to games likeUltima: Underworld.[citation needed]

GameSpot'sGreg Kasavinwas pleased with the experience that the PC version offered, stating that "Arx Fatalisis entertaining and great looking, and it should especially appeal to fans of other atmospheric first-person games, includingThief: The Dark Project,System Shock 2,andDeus Ex,let alone this year'sMorrowind.Though marred by some technical issues (many of which have already been addressed by patches) and at times confusing to navigate in,Arx Fatalisnevertheless delivers a memorable, original role-playing experience ",[36]andIGN's Dan Adams enjoyed the same PC version, stating that "The atmosphere, spell system, puzzles, voices, and story were good and interesting enough to give me a pretty enjoyable experience."[7]

Arx Fataliswas nominated as one of 2002's best computer role-playing game byComputer Gaming World,GameSpotand theAcademy of Interactive Arts & Sciences.[45][46][47]It was also a runner-up forRPG Vault's "Surprise of the Year" and "Debut Game of the Year" awards,[48]and for GameSpot's "Best Sound" and theGame Developers Choice Awards' "Rookie Studio of the Year" prizes.[49][50]It won RPG Vault's award for sound design that year.[48]The editors ofComputer Gaming Worldwrote thatArx Fatalis"has hands-down the most annoying interface of the year, but fortunately, it also sports sharp graphics [...] and a great story".[47]

Legacy

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Arx Fatalis'critical praise gave Arkane the opportunity to work withValveto develop a new title on theirSource engine,and Colantonio opted to make a sequel,Arx Fatalis 2.However, the poor sales of the first game made it difficult to find a publisher. Arkane was eventually approached byUbisoftand asked to apply theArx Fatalisgame engine to theirMight and Magic.This becameDark Messiah of Might and Magic,released in October 2006. It refined the first-person melee combat ofArx Fataliswith a lesser emphasis on role-playing elements.[10]During this time, Colantonio moved from France to Austin, Texas, leaving the main studio in the hands of his colleagues while he set up Arkane Austin in June 2006.[10]Colantonio left the studio in 2017 to concentrate on smaller projects.

To celebrate Arkane Studios' 20th anniversary, the game was made available for free on PC from 28–31 May 2020.[51]

Notes

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  1. ^Additional development byFloodgate Entertainment;ported toXboxbyWizarbox.

References

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  3. ^"Arx Fatalis".Red Ant Enterprises.Archived fromthe originalon 24 November 2002.Retrieved15 April2024.
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  6. ^"Arx Fatalis".4 February 2004. Archived fromthe originalon 4 February 2004.Retrieved22 March2023.
  7. ^abcDan Adams (11 November 2002)."Arx Fatalis (PC)".IGN.Ziff Davis.Retrieved17 April2015.
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  10. ^abcdRuss Pitts (27 June 2012)."The Mirror Men of Arkane".Polygon.Retrieved17 April2017.
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  15. ^abMatthew Humphries (21 April 2012)."Arx Libertatis: cross-platform port of Arx Fatalis released".Geek.Ziff Davis.Archived fromthe originalon 19 June 2018.Retrieved1 October2019.What's interesting aboutArx Fatalisis that development of the game started up again last year. Arkane Studios released patch 1.21 and with it open-sourced the engine. That led to a new project calledArx Libertatis,which aimed to update the game to be played on multiple modern operating systems including Windows and Linux.
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