Arx Fatalis is an action game where you play a character, created by Arkane Studios in 2002. It was released for computers and the Xbox. Players see the game from their own viewpoint. The story takes place in a world where the sun has stopped working, so creatures that live above ground must hide in caves. Players use mouse movements to cast magic spells. Critics gave the game mostly good reviews, but it did not sell well. In 2011, Arkane Studios made the game's code available for free under the GNU General Public License (GPL), but the game's images and other materials are still owned by the company.
Plot
Arx Fatalis (Latin for "fatal fortress") is set on a world where the sun has failed, causing creatures that live above ground to seek shelter in caves. The story takes place inside one of these large caves, where people from different races, including trolls, goblins, dwarves, and humans, live on different levels of the cave. The player begins the game inside a prison cell. After escaping, the player learns their mission is to stop and capture Akbaa, the God of Destruction, who is trying to appear in Arx.
Gameplay
Arx Fatalis offers a flexible gameplay style, allowing players to choose how to improve their character's abilities in areas like spellcasting, weapons and armor, and stealth. Players can complete optional missions and use a basic crafting system to create items, such as a fishing rod (made from a fishing pole and rope), keyrings (using a key and ring), or pies (using dough, a rolling pin, and optional ingredients like apples or wine). Players can also cook raw food, such as bread, chicken drumsticks, or pies. The main story is not fixed, and players must collect items to forge a sword needed to defeat Akbaa in the final battle. Additional challenges include dealing with rebels, snake women, and The King of Arx. Players can resolve conflicts between these groups and experience different endings that affect the story.
There is no dialogue system in Arx Fatalis. Instead, players make choices through their actions, which lead to different outcomes. Players can complete quests in multiple ways, such as fighting enemies directly or avoiding them using stealth.
A user-friendly feature in Arx Fatalis is the spellcasting system. Players use the mouse and control key to draw runes in the air by making specific gestures. Correctly drawing runes is required to cast spells. Players can find or purchase new runes as the game progresses, which can be combined to unlock new spells.
The Xbox version of the game simplified this system to work with a joystick. Directions on the joystick control mouse movements, and specific patterns of directions are used to draw runes and cast spells. Players can prepare up to three spells in advance, ready to use with a button press. There is also an instant magic mode, where players can select a learned spell from a list during gameplay.
Arx Fatalis also includes a stealth mode that activates when a stealth icon appears on the screen. In stealth mode, players can move unseen in dark or shadowy areas, making it harder for non-player characters to detect them.
Development
Arx Fatalis was the first game created by Arkane Studios, a company from France that was started in 1999 by the game’s lead designer and CEO, Raphaël Colantonio. The design of Arx Fatalis was inspired by games made by Looking Glass Studios, a company that no longer exists, especially a game called Ultima Underworld. Arkane Studios said that Arx Fatalis was meant to be Ultima Underworld III. However, Raphaël Colantonio had support from Paul Neurath, one of the original creators of Ultima Underworld. But Electronic Arts, the company that owned the rights to Ultima Underworld, would not allow Arkane to make a sequel unless Colantonio agreed to some of their conditions. Colantonio refused and instead created Arx Fatalis in the style of Ultima Underworld. Colantonio had trouble finding a publisher. After running out of money, they signed with a small publisher that went bankrupt within a month. Later, they secured JoWooD Productions to publish the game, and it was released in 2002.
Arx Fatalis was first released for Windows in Germany on June 28, 2002. It was later released in the UK on November 8, 2002, and in North America on November 12, 2002. The game was later made available for the Xbox in North America on December 22, 2003, and in Europe on February 13, 2004.
On January 14, 2011, Arkane Studios released a version update called 1.21 and shared the game’s source code under the GNU General Public License (GPL). Using this source code, a project called Arx Libertatis was started to fix problems in the game and to make it work on systems like Linux, FreeBSD, and the OpenPandora handheld. As of April 2022, the latest version of Arx Libertatis is 1.2.1.
Several fan-made translations of the game have also been created, including versions in Turkish and Korean.
Reception
Arx Fatalis was liked by many people but did not sell well. The PC version of the game received mostly positive reviews, while the Xbox version received fairly positive but not excellent reviews, according to Metacritic, a website that collects game reviews.
Arx Fatalis was released after two more popular fantasy role-playing games: The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and Neverwinter Nights. Reviewers said that while it is not as open as Morrowind, it may appeal to fans who enjoy dungeon-crawler RPGs, which are inspired by games like Ultima: Underworld.
GameSpot’s Greg Kasavin praised the PC version, saying that "Arx Fatalis is entertaining and visually appealing, and it should especially appeal to fans of other atmospheric first-person games, including Thief: The Dark Project, System Shock 2, and Deus Ex, as well as this year’s Morrowind. Although it had some technical problems (many of which were fixed with updates) and sometimes made it hard to find your way around, Arx Fatalis still provided a memorable and original role-playing experience." IGN’s Dan Adams also enjoyed the PC version, stating that "The atmosphere, spell system, puzzles, voices, and story were good and interesting enough to make the game enjoyable."
Arx Fatalis was nominated as one of the best computer role-playing games of 2002 by Computer Gaming World, GameSpot, and the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. It was also a runner-up for RPG Vault’s "Surprise of the Year" and "Debut Game of the Year" awards, and for GameSpot’s "Best Sound" and the Game Developers Choice Awards’ "Rookie Studio of the Year" prizes. It won RPG Vault’s award for sound design that year. The editors of Computer Gaming World wrote that Arx Fatalis "has definitely the most frustrating interface of the year, but it also has sharp graphics […] and a great story."
Legacy
Arx Fatalis received good reviews, which allowed Arkane Studios to work with Valve to create a new game using Valve's Source engine. Colantonio chose to make a follow-up game called Arx Fatalis 2. However, the first game did not sell well, making it hard to find a publisher. Eventually, Ubisoft approached Arkane and asked them to use the Arx Fatalis game engine for their Might and Magic series. This led to the creation of Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, which was released in October 2006. The game improved the first-person combat system from Arx Fatalis while focusing less on role-playing features. During this time, Colantonio moved from France to Austin, Texas, leaving his colleagues to manage the main studio. He started Arkane Austin in June 2006 and left the studio in 2017 to focus on smaller projects. To celebrate Arkane Studios' 20th anniversary, the original Arx Fatalis game was made free to download on PC from May 28 to May 31, 2020.