Arx Fatalis - 21 Year Late Review 

If anyone else is thinking of trying the game, definitely use the Arx Libertatis engine. It replaces the original engine and is built for modern operating systems. It almost certainly would have fixed all of the weird graphical issues that were happening in cutscenes and such, as well as the weird stutters. It also re-implements the original EAX as OpenAL EFX, so things like the room echoes would have worked which also helps the atmosphere.

This game is a spiritual successor to the Ultima Underworld games. We need a more refined, newer game like this for sure!

The good days of developers experimenting stuff, instead of using the same basic formula that works that we have today. Great video as always!

this is one of the best games I've played. I hope one day that they decide to remake it and add more content. It's one of those games that you could play for a long time.

What a great love letter to a period of unbound creativity. This was a great trip down memory lane, and brought so many happy (and frustrating) emotions rushing back.

Man you absolutely nailed everything that is great about this game. the crypt section, I can remember playing through that like it was a real experience I had. I remember looking through the locked gateway at this figure, seen through the fog, it seemed to shift and recede a bit. Definitely a bit eerie, you didn't find out it was a statue until you got up close to it so the impression you got at first was that it was some kind of NPC. It really set the mood for the whole experience of delving down through the levels of the crypt. As you say, the changing architecture as you travelled down through the levels really works and makes it so much more immersive and believable. I played through it after midnight, in a darkened room, and I was errr SLIGHTLY "mood enhanced". There were a few times when the eerie atmosphere got right into me and I genuinely felt frightened, I mean actually quaking!! The bit at the end of the crypt, when you pick up the artifact you're supposed to recover, and all the candles blow out and emperor poxellis' (?) voice booms out accusing you of stealing his stash oh man I nearly had a heart attack. then I had to return to the crypt entrance pursued by a lich that I didn't have enough health to fight. And, it felt like the weight of centuries being lifted off your shoulders as you went up through the levels. That whole section is an absolute masterpiece of immersion & spooky atmosphere. Fucking 20 years later and I've never played through anything that even comes remotely close. It's a few years ago that I last played through it, I may be remembering wrong but I _think_ it's possible to prevent the child from being sacrificed by the cultists. I'm pretty sure I did it but I had to savescum about 20 times. I think you get prodigous thanks from the mother and you see the kid playing around in arx thereafter but I may be remembering it wrong. Killing the black beast in the dwarven level was - I don't know if it was "rewarding" or probably just a relief. I had to use a walkthrough. That was the only bit I didn't enjoy. There was some kind of fire spell, that when you launched it an an Ylside, burned it up inside its armour, but the spell drained a ton of mana so if the fuckers swarmed you, you were still fucked. Also, it was possible to break the game if you killed the wrong NPC at the wrong time. I remember either arkane or jowood's forum having all these posts where people had offed eg the barmaid and you needed the barmaid to give you a key to get through a door which you needed to do to progress the game and arkane/jowood's rep's response would be like "errr sorry you're fucked" ( they put it more politely than this TBF) I still have my CD ROM for this game, still with its paper manual so can add to the sum of knowledge in the world by telling you that the race-name for the snake women is the SISTERS OF EDURNEUM. What a great bit of character design, both visually and in the way they speak. Weird and "other", but kind of appealing too! Amazing to note that the humungous amount of content inthis came fits onto a single CD-ROM Great review! Subscribed.

This channel is definitely a great find recently! Please keep bringing reviews of these RPGs and older PC games from the 90s and 2000s. They are definitely gems.

Awesome video, as always! 😁 Your editing and humour are most excellent!

Very entertaining review with an astonishing amount of details and much fun to listen to. Thank you so much for you increadible work!

Loved your style of delivery. So unique and entertaining!

My man, keep going. This is quality content. Bravo!

I thought you will take a break. But here you are back again already! Didn't even take that long. Thanks mate. Gonna enjoy your video now. I already know, it's gonna be awesome :)

Omg I love your channel so much please never stop doing what you love

Never watched you before but kudos to you mate. I thought you had a couple hundred thousand subs by the quality of the video. I really like the name and concept of you channel. Gem of a channel this.

I can't be the only one who really wants Arx 2. The end even gave us a glimp of the possibiliies. A year ago I felt nostalgic and tried it again, because I missed half of the story. As a child i couldn't figure out the Cryptpuzzle and got easily frightned by some areas. Thanks for this video it really brought back some memories and you gave the game the good credit it deserves. For people who want to try it, as he mentioned below his video, the "Arx libertalis" made it working perfectly on modern system. Give this game a shot, you won't forget this adventure ^^

Great video love the bits of comedy thrown in while still reviewing the game in depth. That's an instant sub from me :)

Glad I found this review and this channel, thanks for the quality and the humor , got a sub😊

Strange that I discovered your channel this morning, have been playing arx for a week and you release this video!

I can't play Arx without Libertatis lol. Anyways, very entertaining review! Also wanted to point out that, there are two Arkane teams. Arkane Lyon were responsible for DEATHLOOP and Dishonored 2/DotO and they still retain most of their staff, obviously no company has the same people working on every single game. Some leave to try out newer stuff or get better pay elsewhere. Arkane Austin (the team behind Prey'17) were the ones who had several people leave. Even then the core staff (the people working there since Dark Messiah/ Bioshock 2/ Dishonored) are still working there. Most of the people who left were recruited to make Prey, so makes sense why devs that specialised in physics based reactive gameplay might leave the team when forced to make a multiplayer shooter. Several things affect how a game is made, management issues, changes in direction due to corporate interference, lack of resources, lack of experience in a particular field, etc. and Arkane Austin had all of these problems on Redfall. I don't think a team that has a single dud can't make great games again. I hope they come back with a bang on their next project.

i was so surprised to see an insert from DBD in Arx Fatalis review, it feels surreal to have 2 favorite games from different realities in someone's video ʘ‿ʘ

Another incredible review (still on the first seconds, but still... Your content is gold)! Thxx for the video🎉

Arkanes founder founded a new studio, WolfEye Studios. their first game was Weird West. which is sooo much like a Arkane game. so yeah i think they're doing well.

Thanks, just found your channel and you reminded me that I have this game on my Steam list. Well, downloaded it again (as I never got far) and will push on. Thank you and subscribed.

Love your content man, keep it up!

Thank you for this great review. The game, the humour, the presentation...the blacksmith of my trust told me, they are masterworks all, I cant go wrong :)

Thank you for making a video on the best rpg ever made and keeping this gem alive ♥️

Another great video, seeing Arx again reminds me of the old Arx vs Morrowind forum arguments of the 2000s. As for underground civilization games, you might enjoy NWN: Hordes of the Underdark if you haven't already played it

Clicked on the vid because I loved this game since it's release, but the joke about Polsius being locked up in goblin prison due to discord memes complete with the visual gag accompaniment made my day. Great stuff right there

Will just drop this here to get some boosts to the good old algorithm. I don’t think I’ve heard of this before so really looking forward to hearing what you have to say on it mate. Great to see another video 🙌

Really solid video. Will check out more of your stuff.

Really enjoyed this video, you have good humour. Subscribed!

About the Shany quest. The thing about the crypt is unrelated. A house across from Maria's has a note directing you to where the cultists will meet. There's also a scene where some cultists book it when they hear you come in.

well. better late than never :D great video . happy i found your channel

I just replayed the game last week, and your vid pops in my feed, great timing! Amazing game, still holds very well to this day with Arx Libertaris, that fixes every issue caused by the outdated engine (broken on high resolution screens), including literally every issue that occurs in your vid, and brings a lot of QoL, such as better level transition. I genuinely prefer this gem over Skyrim or any other recent action RPG where you unplug the brain and click the buttons. You're saying the combat is "not great" but I find it vastly superior to the spammy Action RGs of our age: You have to prepare your attacks swing and angle, require good timing in order to land the hit without taking one as well, and of course the active spellcasting, both difficult to achieve mid-battle but potent enough to be worth the risk. That's depth of gameplay you don't find in many other games... I hope Arx Fatalis gets the same treatment as the Baldur's Gate series got with the 3rd installment! Excellent video overall, Also I 100% share your passion for these crypts, such an amazing design! Here are just some corrections: - You can get items repaired to perfect condition by giving them to the blacksmith. Costs quite a bit of money, but it's manageable. - Several spells never get inscribed in your book even if you have the correct runes (Not only the portal one or harm). You're expected to guess them, because runes have meaning! For example, Fireball is 3 runes that read "CREATE - FIRE - PROJECTILE" and there's a hidden Ice Projectile spell, that obviously requires "CREATE - ICE - PROJECTILE" That can make spellcasting easier for some people, and is also how you discover the most powerful spells of the game. 100% recommend to anyone willing to put just a bit of effort in the game

Amazing content - hope more is to come

Great review! I really like what this game was going for.

Watched my older brothers play this when I was growing up, but I don't think they ever finished it. Never played it myself but I do love Arkane(well, before they got skin suited). Dark Messiah was a childhood classic, Prey is great. Hopefully someday we can return to having more games like this and Thief.

Great review. Subbed.

The Dragons Dogma inserts make my soul smile

great video, i love Arx Fatalis, though i never managed to finish it, i got stuck on the Akba stones i believe, i could never find the last one. But i loved everything else about it. I love the classic immersive sim and dungeon crawling vibe. I would love a remake with similar graphics and updated and expanded mechanics, and more cities or kingdoms to explore.

perhaps the best game review I've ever seen and I'm not even halfway through kudos

thank you for the great content 👍

Leaving a comment here to support the channel.

Great review as always. I personally never got around to playing this game, it certainly unique in the way that i can't think of RPG that takes place exclusively underground alongside all such a setting entails for the rest of the game. I think a remake( directed by Warren Spector) would be very well received, given its pedigree.

I love you and how you write your scripts!

excellent review, loving your content so far. Please keep up the good work. Wouldnt mind an original Spellforce review btw!

Another banger, I never got into arx. Im not HUUUGE on immersive sims (love deus ex and thief, I only like prey and dishonored tho) Keep up the late reviews!

Such a cool game. And a great review - ty! Not going to happen, but I would love for this game to get a remake.

Cool stuff!

Always enjoy some Trek references! Great review and some cheeky humor.

My apologies for my late comment. but i love your content!

I don't care what anyone else says but this era of RPG graphics will always be the best! It takes me back to the visuals of Morrowind and Gothic!

For the shany quest you can find a book behind a locked room/house in a chest near her mother. Once you enter you hear cultist talking and leaving the room next door. When reading the book you learn that they will meet near the snake pillar on the 4th level telling you to be careful to not be followed. Even with that I failed the quest cause I rushed the cultist and that make the demon spawn. You really have to tail them and wait for them to get in the sacrifice room.

An excellent review of a game clearly ahead of its time. I wish someone would try something like this game today, with a healthy budget and a group of experienced and gameplay focused developers.

This game was insane, but the most insane thing was the debug mode available from the beginning of the game: You did not type in a *password* or use some *Tilde key* like in other games; and it wasn't hidden in the settings like in Deus Ex; it was hidden in the interactions you could do within the first minute of the game. By grabbing the relatively useless bone with one durability you can use it on the chair in the beginner dungeon a few times to unlock the debug menu, a series of items that give you enchanted armor; all runes; maxing your stats; and *advancing story flags* which would almost always *break your game.* I've only seen one other game use in-game mechanics to set up cheats like this: Banjo-Kazooie/Tooie. It delights me when I find areas to do what I wish but even more so when it's using the in-game world to accomplish it.

Nice in-depth review of a game buried in my pile of too-cheap-to-pass-up-during-a-sale purchases many years ago. Even Arkane Studios founder is surprised how well this game continues to sell.

You were correct, playing as a mage or spellsword is the best way to do it in Arx. Also, if I recall right (I seem to remember hearing or reading it somewhere) stealth is kind of stunted by armor enchants. Because the glow isn't just there to clue in the player, it's an actual light source that makes you more visible.

This game is like the king of video game ASMR. Also the cooking system is so satisfying. You can cast a spell to light up the oven, then you literally place the food materials in order to get what you want.

one thing about the MC weird voice lines, it might be because of his nature (spoilers). This was an idea a fellow youtuber posted back when I played Arx Fatalis. I think you can figure out the rest

The statue with the bowl is interesting. You will find writing somewhere about a vampire. The statue has vampire fangs. The way to show hints is amazing.

I have played hundreds of video games and all the games that are considered top games from old to the new ones and this game is still my top 1 game. If you get very into it and read every book in the game. You realize how everything click and it is so amazing. There is so much mysteries and so many things to wonder about that it can be endless. I hope this game is remaked one day with the right marketing. It would be a total success.

My favourite thing about the magic runes in Arx, is that it's a language all of it's own. I somehow managed to learn most of their meanings years ago when i last played, and you can just instictively cast spells rather than by memory so to speak. As well as finding some hidden spells by using the logic of the language! (like the death aura spell i believe, an inverse of one of the healing or curing spells, so if you inverse the language, life turns to death, so that was a fun discovery) But trying to re-learn the language now would be something else lol

He is ALIVE!!!

I think what's an interesting theory is that the voice lines of the main character sound so fucking soulless because, well, that's what the main character is. He's completely detached from reality, and his desire to help stems only from his mission. So of course he doesn't feel any emotions.

banger of a review

There is game currently under development called Monomyth, it's spiritual successor of Arx Fatalis

I think about this game alot. For the same reasons you mention. Its clunky and buggy and frustrating but it has possobly the best atmosphere and setting I have ever seen in any game. If you like this type of thing but dont want to jank wrangle check out Lunacid, an all dungeon world apocalyptic dungeon crawler with killer vibes.

This was and still is good stuff - Back when role playing on PC meant more than levelling your character and upgrading guns and swords...

I love this game. One of my all time favorite hiddem gems. I always remember being stuck at the beginning of the game, repeatedly getting killed by a single bat.. XD

Amazing I had never heard of this game but it looks like something I would try even today.

I loved this game with a passion. I never finished it though... i have it on my steam account. I think it is time to finally conquer it. Thanks for this well thought in depth reminder of this gem.

The jazzy piano is genius. F-cking genius. EDIT: ok I actually for real think Benny Goodman's "Sing Sing Sing" could be an awesome battle theme.

I played both this and Spellforce back in the day. Great games. For their day.

I discovered and played though Arx Fatalis this year and had a great time. Wish there were more games like this in the world.

"Yuan-ti ? Yuan-ti ? 2 sugars" in my kind of humor and means everything that it made it tin to the video.

you can double click the spell symbol on the top right to end that spell also.

fantastic atmosphere in this game

God damnit! You did a star trek reference. I have no choice but to subscribe to you now.

Great video. Brb remaking my 4 year old Arx video

Really enjoyed this one but had to look up a walk-through for some sticky parts where I didn't know how to use an item or what to do next. So if it's your first time and your getting frustrated do yourself a favor and just look it up or give yourself a hint.

somebody might have mentioned this already, but you can actually pay Miguel to fully repair any item as many times as you like.

This game would be perfect to be played using Haptic gloves, it would be an incredibly good immersion

You think Arkane Studios now being a part of Bethesda Softworks... they would make Arx Fatalis 2 in New Engine like Skyrim! ❄️❄️❄️

The amount of secrets in this game is amazing.

The key to saving Shany is to follow the guys from the stairs to the sacrificial chamber, as the last few are walking in, throw a fire spell at the bottom of the doorway and whip a magic missile into the guy next to the altar.

This game is so much fun. I didn't play it with Arx Libertatis, either, but it was good fun. I remember getting stuck at a jumping section, and you just couldn't make the jump without being in that engine. So you could dash way forward if you quick saved and jumped, so I just did that to get across.

My favorite part is you can buy stocks in the company of the trolls who are on strike from the bank,when you solve the problem you can sell the stocks back for a huge profit,buy low sell high

Well, that's an instant sub for me!

Less than $1 sale now on Steam!

Thanks for the video. I had this back then but bounced off it. Surprisingly, another first person game with world interaction was less obtuse - lands of lore 3, from good old westwood. That and wizardry 8 but that's a turn based dungeon crawler. Banger though.

21 years, the time pass to quickly, I played this game in that moment. I can remember the instant dead when fight with a mummy lich

Good video.

Im always amazed folks can remember games this old, it's all hazy to me

I played this game a few years ago, and I wish there were more games like this. They are quite rare.

I will play this mainly because of the setting and eviroment, i recomend Lunacid, even if its not a late review, as it just launched, it's the same kind of game and i love it.

ah , back when Arkane still had their soul... Arx Fatalis is one of those games that whenever you see a new video essay on it , u just gotta give that video a thumbs up , such a classic , janky af and still beautiful/wonderful/atmospheric/unique , these games feel like an art that was lost and yearns to be found again by modern gamers

I loved this game. Wish this one had gotten a sequel.

Great review. I suggest you to check Gothic - it's would make quite late review. But in overall feels like mood somewhat comperable to Arx Fatalis.

One thing I cannot understand or approve is calling any element of a game "dated". It either works or does not. One either likes it or not. Some are objectively jank, and always were, some are objectively good and always will be. Same with subjective components. There are some elements of a specific game that might require getting used to, but everything does. Arx' I is quite good to achieve what the game tries to achieve - a feeling of being involved in direct interactions with the world. The only games getting close to it are Thief games, System Shock 1 and 2, and Ultima Underworld titles (to which Arx is a spiritual successor).

Ahhh, the game they wanted to be Ultima Underworld 3. They got knocked back as there is a degree of Jank inherent in the engine. So it was destined to be a 'Cult' game. Theres a lot you have to forgive but its obviously a love letter to the sort of game Looking Glass were the early masters of. They had another crack at a Looking Glass classic when they developed Dishonoured, which is what a modern day update of the classic Thief games should look like. Of course the 'actual' Ultima Underworld 3, Underworld Ascendant, was a whole different barrel of phlegm.