Necropsy: “Arx Fatalis” – What Went Wrong.

PLATFORM: PC

This game had such potential, but for me, a handful of technical and performance issues were far too frustrating to realize it. The overall concept of society underground was very interesting to me, however, and provided a rich bed for fantasizing about what else could be going on outside of the game’s storyline.

PROS:
Interesting story and world, with nicely developed characters that I could care about. Excellent balance between stealth and slashing, as well as some nicely designed puzzles.

CONS:
The voice acting was a frequent source of frustration, as it regularly pulled me out of the game experience. The physicality of the characters was also sub-par, with awkward motion, poor staging, and often random blocking. The sound design had some nice ideas but, sadly, they were not fleshed out enough. The player was required to spend far too much time on managing inventory (sorting, making room, searching for items, etc.). Lastly, the magic gesturing system was incredibly frustrating. I do not think I ever cast a spell on the first attempt; usually requiring anywhere from 5-20 tries to get it right.

COULD MYTHOS HAVE HELPED?:
From a more technical perspective, the inventory would have been automated or at least some sort of “sort” or “distribute” button would have been added. Sound would have been pushed farther to accommodate the look and feel of the game more, rather than relying on commonly heard and often-indiscernible samples to bring more life to the game. The magic gesturing system would have been overhauled by making the gestures required for each rune more relaxed and less specific as the character’s magic skill grew. This would have had the effect of making a high-level caster very facile with spells, allowing the player to actually “feel” more of the power by being able to quickly cast in the middle of heated combat. Finally, a careful eye for the details of character interactions would have lent a far greater sense of realism to the entire game, making the NPCs much more believable and organic.