Humans, dwarves, goblins, trolls and snake people dwell in relative peace within Arx. You never see the overworld because the sun burned out ages ago, forcing all sentient beings to relocate to caverns. The entire game transpires within a connected cave system. Finally, I began to see shades of its brilliance.Īrx Fatalis draws from ancient 'rat maze' titles like Anvil of Dawn, Swords & Serpents and especially Ultima Underworld. Once those events concluded, though, the game loosened its restrictive grip on me. For the first three hours, I chatted with trolls, searched the goblin kingdom for event items and tangled with rats. After I reached that destination, the campaign moseyed onward as if I were still playing through its introductory bits.
I had to force myself to escape the goblin prison that comprises its starting point, and push myself to sniff out the pathway to the titular town of Arx.
It didn't help that I had to download a fan-made patch in order to even run it, and from there I lacked the motivation to advance beyond its intro. I initially didn't see why Arx Fatalis is such a beloved RPG. ' Arx Fatalis is proof that RPGs don't need to be open world to be worthwhile.'
