Atlas Fallen is my highlight of gamescom 2022, but I’m not really looking forward to it yet

Deck 13’s new game Atlas Fallen immediately caught the attention of MeinMMO author Irina Moritz during Opening Night Live. But then came the voice of reason.

Many of you will surely know that feeling when you see a trailer that immediately appeals to you. The initial curiosity, which keeps growing and eventually turns into “Oh wow, that looks really cool!” because everything just looks right.

That’s what happened to me during Opening Night Live on August 23rd, when the endless trailer train suddenly featured Atlas Fallen. More information only piqued my interest.

But unfortunately I had to curb my enthusiasm for Atlas Fallen. At least for now.

This is Atlas Fallen: The cinematic trailer opens with the prehistory of the world of Atlas, transformed long ago by the gods aided by human heroes.

The gods lusted after the essence of the world, a precious resource that can be used to harness sand magic. Thanks to the essences, the supreme god Thelos dominates the people and keeps them under control. However, this causes the world to continue to deteriorate.

As a fan of destroyed or dying worlds from Dark Souls and Legacy of Kain, I was immediately hooked on the premise. The visuals and design in the trailer, set to epic music, then sealed the deal. If there’s one thing in design that catches my eye right away, it’s cool capes and masks.

More information about the game, such as the detailed Interview of our colleagues from GameStar, increased my interest even more. In the action game you play with a self-created character and use a magic glove in fights, with the help of which you can use sand magic.

The gameplay in Atlas Fallen revolves around this gauntlet. In the trailer, you can see how the characters can summon and switch between large weapons. This should also be possible in the game.

• You can unlock your active and passive skills with essence,
• acquire new weapons
• Expand talent trees and more.

The combat system is faster than previous titles from developer Deck 13, such as The Surge or Lords of the Fallen. The special movement skills allow you to glide over the sand, which can also be seen in the trailer.

All in all, what we know about Atlas Fallen so far sounds like a game that’s 100% my cup of tea and would actually be a slick pre-order were it not for a problem.

Bad experience can be a spoilsport

As a long-time gaming fan, I regularly find myself in a paradoxical situation: On the one hand, I’m quickly excited when I see trailers and news about new games. After all, it is my absolute passion and the anticipation of new gaming experiences comes up quickly, especially with games like Atlas Fallen, which meet my taste on all levels.

But on the other hand, every long-time gaming fan is often also a burned child. You know: just because a trailer looks great and the information about the game sounds exciting, it doesn’t mean that the game will be good or simply meet your own taste.

Experience has shown that there can be worlds between the announcement and the finished product. The pendulum can swing in both directions here, meaning: An announced game can be both a disappointment and an insider tip.

However, experience taught me (and probably many of you as well) my initial enthusiasm to rein in strongly again and again. Especially when very little of the actual gameplay has been shown. It has often happened that games have appealed to me on all levels, only to turn out to be “rather not so cool” at best.

For example, one such case that I immediately had to remember about Atlas Fallen was Godfall. It sounded great pre-release and the gameplay looked fun, but that was only enough for a 61 rating on Metacritic.

I’m sure I could think of other examples, but I’m sure you get what I mean. I really want to look forward to Atlas Fallen. It looks great and sounds like a game that could be right up my alley. Deck 13 is also a studio that has a lot of experience in action games with Lords of the Fallen and The Surge.

But I always have to force myself to contain my anticipation to keep the potential disappointment down as well. That was the case even with Elden Ring and Fromsoftware is one of my absolute favorite developers, whom I actually trust completely after Sekiro at the latest.

As such, Atlas Fallen will be on my “cautious wish list” for the time being, and I’ll be cautiously looking forward to it. The real joy can come when things get really awesome for the release.

Anyway, fingers crossed.

Gamescom 2022 opened a big, new MMO – but fox get it, nobody can do anything with it

Disclaimer: Webedia Gaming (GameStar, GamePro, MeinMMO) accompanies the games fair 2022 as the official media partner of gamescom.