[Robert Jr]

Welcome to the forums for Arx Fatalis!

More than the first game Arkane released, Arx Fatalis was the dream that founded the studio back in 1999. Almost ten years after its original release - in 2002 - we're proud to see that people from around the world keep playing it, some of them even calling it a classic.

What's important to us is to keep sharing our passion for this game with our community, made up of gamers who have always been faithful to the unique combination of immersive first-person action and deep, cohesive world building - the kind of games we've developed since Arx.

Hope you will enjoy this forum!

[Carlitos Avila]

Wow I never heard of this game but I should check it out on YouTube!

Wow it looks ALOT like Morrowind!

[Rachel Cafferty]

I too have never heard of this game either. But I just Googled it an the screenies look promising, I may have to procure a copy for my computer. Any place that still sells it?

Ninja Edit:

Found it on GOG.com.....

[Laura]

Looks pretty cool! The background for this section of the forum is awesome too. I want to find it and make it my wallpaper.

[Tasha Clifford]

Interesting game, and it was released for both Xbox (Original) and PC. Not to mention it's an RPG, that's very important in my books.

[Jason Wolf]

Welcome to the forums for Arx Fatalis!

More than the first game Arkane released, Arx Fatalis was the dream that founded the studio back in 1999. Almost ten years after its original release - in 2002 - we're proud to see that people from around the world keep playing it, some of them even calling it a classic.

What's important to us is to keep sharing our passion for this game with our community, made up of gamers who have always been faithful to the unique combination of immersive first-person action and deep, cohesive world building - the kind of games we've developed since Arx.

Hope you will enjoy this forum!

A great game with many innovative ideas. Not perfect but it made up it's flaws with it's charm and spirit. The sequel has much to live up to.

Will this be a genre-busting classic the original never had a chance to be or will innovation, immersion and depth be sacrificed on the altar of a safe investment, catering to the lowest denominator? Will the game grow in depth just like it's audience from a decade ago or will it lose the very qualities that made it unique?

Only time will tell. Best of luck and remember - create the game you yourself want to play.

[Adrian Powers]

Arx Fatalis is one of the few games I ever picked up used - I couldn't find a brand new copy. It is a fantastic example of letting a character effect the world around them, I can't remember the number of different ways I've dealt with the goblins and trolls.

And the secrets are great, the last time I played there were still things I couldn't crack.

Dishononred looks incredible, but I will pester you guys (or at least Gstaff ) until Arx Fatalis 2 or a spiritual sequel is announced

[courtnay]

I bought it a while after release, but while it was still on the shelf. Sad to say, I think I may have left it in a disk drive I trashed.

But then Steam came to my rescue.

[amhain]

I downloaded a demo a long time ago. The menus never showed up and I couldn't find a fix.

[Roy Harris]

i downloaded the demo and it was interesting, but i think i didnt have the money to spend at the time and then i forgot about it. may look back into it

[Jose ordaz]

Oh snap! I was expecting a sequel announcement. I know I know, wishful thinking given that you're working on Dishonored, so here's my proposal; Finish the current project and then start on a "prequel" to AF. You win by not having a smelly, obnoxious and crazy bum picketing your studio.

Welcome to the forums for Arx Fatalis!

More than the first game Arkane released, Arx Fatalis was the dream that founded the studio back in 1999. Almost ten years after its original release - in 2002 - we're proud to see that people from around the world keep playing it, some of them even calling it a classic.

What's important to us is to keep sharing our passion for this game with our community, made up of gamers who have always been faithful to the unique combination of immersive first-person action and deep, cohesive world building - the kind of games we've developed since Arx.

Hope you will enjoy this forum!

It's also important to note that the http://bethblog.com/index.php/2011/01/14/arx-fatalis-source-code-patch-released/ were released earlier this year.

[Gemma Flanagan]

I bought Arx Fatalis quite a few years ago for 20$ at Gamestop, pretty much an impulse purchase (having recently gotten off my Morrowind-furlow), and I absolutely fell in love with it. The game is great, very old school. The design philosophy is very much first person immersive sim RPG. The spell casting was marvelous. You had to draw runes on the screen in real time with your mouse in order to cast spells. Took the difficulty of combat casting out of dice rolls and put it in the simulation. Extremely atmospheric and great exploration elements. Spelunking for Gandalf.

Some cool moments I remember.
* Having just got out of goblin prison with only a dagger (and having dumped my stats into spell-casting and objects), I come across this intimidating Goblin Lord. I need to get past him so I pick up an object and throw it to the other side of the room. I sneak over to this cell and pull a lever while he goes to investigate the sound. The gate opens. The goblin sees me. I run inside. The goblin follows. I run outside, and just as the goblin is underneath the gate I pull the lever again sending it crashing down. Goblin's head is torn off and blood spurts everywhere.

*The first time I was just randomly putting runes together that I thought might form a spell and actually cast something similar to what I was trying to do.

Spoiler

* The dwarven forges... anyone who has played will know what I'm talking about...*

* Summoning a demon thinking it will destroy my enemies. Only to have it turn around and attack me.

[Benjamin Holz]

Oh snap! I was expecting a sequel announcement. I know I know, wishful thinking given that you're working on Dishonored, so here's my proposal; Finish the current project and then start on a "prequel" to AF. You win by not having a smelly, obnoxious and crazy bum picketing your studio.

Make that two.

[Josh Dagreat]

Saw this game in a GI article. Well at least the Dishonored lead talked about it. Curious, but doubt I'll be getting it. TES does RPG's too well .

[Minako]

Saw this game in a GI article. Well at least the Dishonored lead talked about it. Curious, but doubt I'll be getting it. TES does RPG's too well .

? It's an excellent game. Very different from TES. You owe it to yourself to play it if you like RPG's. ?

[neen]

? It's an excellent game. Very different from TES. You owe it to yourself to play it if you like RPG's. ?

Hmm I could. Honestly I'm hugely biased.. I kinda like having more than 1 game for background and lore and such. Makes the game world feel more established. However, everything starts somewhere. I don't know though.. I'm already poor, and going to get Skyrim.

I don't play every RPG that comes my way though. It needs to engross me. What's so engrossing about Arx Fatalis?

[Flutterby]

I remember being intrigued by Arx at the time of its release, but 2002 was the year of Morrowind and Neverwinter Nights. I've been eyeing it for some time in the GOG catalog though so I imagine it will be mine eventually. Glad to see a place to discuss the game here on the Beth boards.

[alicia hillier]

I remember being intrigued by Arx at the time of its release, but 2002 was the year of Morrowind and Neverwinter Nights. I've been eyeing it for some time in the GOG catalog though so I imagine it will be mine eventually. Glad to see a place to discuss the game here on the Beth boards.

That was a good year, or an unfortunate one. My social life took an irreparable dive.

[Dawn Porter]

Great

[Natasha Biss]

Hmm I could. Honestly I'm hugely biased.. I kinda like having more than 1 game for background and lore and such. Makes the game world feel more established. However, everything starts somewhere. I don't know though.. I'm already poor, and going to get Skyrim.

I don't play every RPG that comes my way though. It needs to engross me. What's so engrossing about Arx Fatalis?

I'm probably biased the other way because it was the first RPG I was motivated to play other than Daggerfall, which I found at about the same time.

It positively oozes atmosphere. You go somewhere new and weird and it doesn't just feel like something might jump out at you; it feels wrong. The claustrophobic dungeons, scary things (no level scaling here) and sense that the world has gone wrong with twisted magic are the stuff of nightmares. Morrowind managed this sometimes and so did System Shock 2.

If you like TES games it also has pleasing features. You're not restricted in what skills you advance, there are different ways to vanquish enemies, and it made an attempt at dynamic world simulation long before Oblivion tried it. The NPCs have schedules and it factors into quests. The game is beatable even if you manage to kill everyone in it.

It's a pretty sweet game and you might be able to find it dirt cheap by now. It was about $25 when I found it in 2004 and I wasn't complaining at all. That was in Canadian dollars too, which were worth garbage at the time.

[Milad Hajipour]

I can't remember how I first heard about Arx, but I bought it in 2002 right when it was released. It's been years since I played it, but one of the strongest memories is of the ambient sound in the main town area. It got right into my head and I even remember having a dream with those ambient sounds in it. I remember how creepy the game is too. There are red, bloodied walls in some places, clumps of flesh strewn about. Very unsettling. And I remember being freaked out by the crypt full of zombies. I'll need to grab the disc and load it up again.

[Charlie Sarson]

I remember walking into a store way back when, seeing Arx on the shelf and buying it without knowing anything about it. What a wonderful, atmospheric and excellent game. Arx also has some funny stuff in it and some of the things the goblins say are stuck in my brain. It also has one of the toughest dragons ever.

[Alexandra walker]

The very first time I played I skipped out on the main quest quite early to explore, and didn't resume it until after I'd gotten all the way down to the bottom. Shortly after resuming the main quest I was taught the gate spell, and I felt like such a moron.

[Elisabete Gaspar]

I love the way magic worked in this game, by drawing runes in the air.

[Claire Vaux]

That was fun, but I wish we'd been able to store more spells - it was very awkward to handle in the middle of combat.