Despite Deck13's Atlas Fallen showing much promise before release, the German studio's game failed to deliver a truly compelling experience. On paper, the mix of the combat mechanics of the Monster Hunter series and character action games like Devil May Cry and Bayonetta sounded exciting, but a clunky execution of these concepts made the experience very middling despite a well-designed world with deep lore.
Not wanting to leave their game in a state that the studio itself did not find optimal, Deck13 has launched the Reign of Sand free update, which attempts to fix many of the base game's issues to present an experience that is not worthy of players's time. Does it succeed? Yes and no at the same time. While the enhancements are substantial, they go on to improve features that were already good enough to begin with, not addressing those core issues that impact the experience the most, namely the combat mechanics.
The Reign of Sand update doesn't introduce any major change to the Atlas Fallen story, as the studio opted to lightly expand it with new lore elements. So, once again, players will control a fated Unnamed who obtained the Gauntlet, an ancient and powerful artifact that grants them the power to banish the Wraith who have been plaguing the world that was once almost destroyed by the Sun God Thelos and covered in sand. With the mysterious Nyaal at their side, the Unnamed will get to meet all sorts of people on their journey, letting them learn more about the world they live in and the battle they are fighting.
While the update doesn't shake up the story a whole lot, Reign of Sand does bring some improvements that influence the narrative. For starters, the beginning of the game has been tweaked a bit to get the player faster into the actual adventure, which is a very welcome change, given how the first few minutes were probably the dullest part of the campaign. The biggest change, however, is in regard to voice acting. The original male voice for the Unnamed was replaced with much higher quality acting provided by Ben Starr, who rose to fame in the video gaming world by voicing Clive Rosfield, the main character of Final Fantasy XVI. Needless to say, the difference between the old and new voice acting is night and day, presenting dialogues in a more polished way and improving the experience considerably.
In a similar way, the Atlas Fallen gameplay saw mostly an expansion and some tweaking with the Reign of Sand update. The update adds a revamped progression system that makes it easier to enhance the Unnamed, new abilities, and new Essence Stones that grant players even more customization options. Having not played again after having reviewed it last year, I can't tell for sure, but I feel the game's balance has been tweaked as well, and I had far fewer issues achieving high Momentum, unlocking the ultimate form of the main weapons and unleashing the most powerful abilities, in the new version of the game. While these tweaks and quality-of-life improvements are very welcome and make the game slightly more enjoyable than at launch, they fail to address the core issues with the game's combat, which is still clunky and floaty.
The camera, at the very least, has been improved slightly, so it is a little easier to spot and avoid off-screen attacks, but blocking using the Sandskin ability or dodging attacks still doesn't feel as responsive or satisfying as it should have. Again, I find these issues weird for a studio like Deck13, which proved in the past with The Surge series it is more than capable of crafting weighty, satisfying combat. So, if you expect the combat to reach the heights of other games with the update, you will still be disappointed.
Rounding up the additions brought to Atlas Fallen by the Reign of Sand update are additional challenges. The long-awaited New Game + comes with Nightmare Mode, putting player skills and builds to the test, while those still in the middle of the adventure will find new combat challenges like the Source and Watcher's Challenges, which task players with defeating enemies under certain conditions, also giving them the chance to take control of Nyaal and use some brand new abilities. Again, welcome additions, especially considering similar content is usually added via paid DLC but hardly game-changing.
Deck13's commitment to improving Atlas Fallen is commendable, and, for the most part, the Reign of Sand update achieves what it sets out to do, enhancing the game enough to make it a little more worthwhile to players who might have skipped it at launch. Still, the update doesn't address what are, in my opinion, the game's biggest issues, so those who didn't like how the combat felt last year will not change their opinions with the game's updated version.
Tested on PC. Update early access provided by the publisher.
About the author: Francesco De Meo has been covering video games and technology since 2012, starting his career at small outlets like Gamersyndrome and GeekSnack. After joining Wccftech gaming section in 2015, he quickly expanded his video gaming coverage with in-depth reporting, interviews with iconic industry figures such as Grasshopper Manufacture founder and No More Heroes creator Goichi "Suda51" Suda, Resident Evil series creator Shinji Mikami, Team NINJA's president and Nioh series director Fumihiko Yasuda, and Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama, reviews and on-the-ground coverage of major industry events such as Gamescom and E3. When he's not reporting or reviewing, Francesco can be found playing the genres he loves most, spending time with his six cats, reading, writing music, playing guitar and drumming for his progressive rock band.
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