Atlas Fallen: Reign of Sand (PS5)

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DaHeckIzDat
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Atlas Fallen: Reign of Sand (PS5)

Postby DaHeckIzDat » January 21st, 2025, 9:33 pm

This is an interesting and ambitious title that falls into the awkward "AA" classification (higher budget than an indie game but not as high as a AAA game) and it since it just became free on PS+ I figured I'd give it a try.

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It's a sandbox game (lol) taking place in a desert. The map doesn't seem all that big, but what there is definitely looks like it has personality. The combat is surprisingly smooth and acrobatic, letting you grapple enemies from a distance, double jump and dash in midair, and chain combos from one enemy to the next. The enemies feel a bit spongey, but I'm still in the very beginning so maybe that'll change after I level up. What I don't like is the momentum system. There are three momentum tiers, and you rise through them by attacking enemies. Your attacks grow more powerful with each tier, and you unlock new moves. That's all well and good, but why does it buff your enemies too? The tutorial straight up says that the higher your momentum gets, the stronger the enemies will become as well. So what's the point? Either there's no noticeable difference because I don't get to beat up weaker enemies with stronger weapons, or I'm just making things harder for myself by spawning enemies that hit harder and tank more hits.

But the biggest draw so far seems to be the traversal. As long as you're standing on sand, you can press L3 to sandslide, zipping across the desert like a snowboarder. It's both fast and satisfying to pull off, especially when combined with your other movement powers.

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The story seems pretty boring so far. You're a nameless slave who happens across a magic gauntlet with what I'm pretty sure is one of those giant smurfs from Avatar trapped inside. Your oppressors want the gauntlet's power for themselves, so you set out to find its missing pieces and lead a rebellion while trying to help the smurf regain his lost memories. It's not bad, per se, but it's obvious the effort went into making the game play really well instead of crafting an epic tale, and that's fair.

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Atlas Fallen: Reign of Sand has my attention so far. Whether it'll be able to keep it or not, we'll have to see. But if you have PS+, I recommend you at least check it out.

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