How Arx Fatalis Blended RPG Eras

Rock, Paper, Shotgun has published an editorial on Arkane Studios’ first-person dungeon crawler Arx Fatalis that posits that the title is a bridge between two different design eras for RPGs, and that it ultimately deserved better sales and reception. A couple of short excerpts:

As absurd as it is to describe magic as (authentic), it feels more so than clicking to fire off spells like they’re glorified bullets, or swearing as random numbers decide that you’ve fizzled. It rewards forethought, as in a compromise between instant magic and the D&D approach of preparing spells overnight, you can spell and save three spells in advance, to be cast later without the pressure. Excellently, even NPC casters can be seen writing runes in the air.

Combat, too, feels lively and involving. It’s simple by modern standards, and mostly means charging up power strikes (holding the attack button) and trying to catch enemies with them while dodging their own swings. An embryonic form of the combat from Arkane’s later Dark Messiah, it feels more natural than the combat of its contemporaries because you have direct control in a way that’s frankly still too scarce. You swing an axe, and if you see your weapon hit them, your weapon has hit them. No dice, no tricks, no fault but your own. Hey, you could have run away, dead boy.

…

However much I analyse it, Arx Fatalis feels like a bridge between its older, detailed but abstruse inspiration, and more modern, action-oriented but patronising fare. The 2000s may have been the era of (RPG elements), but first person fantasy romps are still thin on the ground, and that Arx stands alone is a great shame. It feels like the start of a series that never was, largely as it fought both Neverwinter Nights and Morrowind for our attention and money, and consequently never quite gained what it deserved.