Arx Fatalis

2025-01-02
Am Sheagar follows a goblin into what turns out to be a bathroom. The goblin says "I need to use this now. Please leave." Am Sheagar does not leave because he is the hero and thus above the law. He is also a deviant. The goblin barks "Go now or I'll attack you." Am Sheagar does not leave. The goblin attacks and Am Sheagar kills him. No one in goblin kingdom notices the toilet murder. This is Arx Fatalis.

Arx Fatalis is very much Morrowind crafted with Arkane's weird immersive-sim-y predilections. It is chock full of novel ideas and weird systems. You cast spells by spelling out runes like 2001's venerable Black & White and you cook food by placing it in the 3D environment next to an actual fire. And similar to Morrowind what's here is clunky as all hell. You vacillate between interacting with the world as you'd expect from a first person view with a Use key on items in the environment and a secondary mode where your first person view is fixed and you must use your mouse to select and interact with things like some point and click game of yore. This and the rune drawing stuff will have your head hurting but weirdly after 5-10 hours it becomes second nature as your mind is warped to think in the subterranean fucklogic of Arx.

Arx itself is a cool concept: an entire city moved underground because the sun died and life aboveground became hell. Apparently the leaders of Arx followed the teachings of Patrick Star. And despite the pitch of "An entire game set underground" sounding like it'd get quite monotonous the variation in environments as you trudge through the various cavern-cut levels of Arx is enough that I was always interested to see what the next area held. A big part of this is the ambiance is fantastic. This is a game that is almost entirely creepy with low light, Ratmen slinking about, and the sounds of wind from air vents and spooky whispers accompanying your every step.

And really you're here to soak up the vibes and see Arkane's roots. Because the actual gameplay is about as dated as you'd expect. Melee feels floaty and unrewarding, most of the systems are obtuse as hell unless you study the manual, the puzzles can be tedious relying on you to be combing through environments with a fine toothed comb, and the final boss is genuinely an all-timer garbo fight extraordinaire. And don't get me started on the goblin lords having proto-Jamaican accents.