Article / News

Fantasy Action RPG Atlas Fallen Coming in 2023, Plus Developer Combat Interview

Screenshot of the environment in Atlas Fallen

During Gamescom 2022, Focus Entertainment, alongside developer Deck13 Interactive, announced Atlas Fallen, a fantasy action RPG based on a brand-new IP. The title is currently in development for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC and is set to release sometime in 2023.

Atlas Fallen – Gamescom 2022 Reveal Trailer:

Rise from the dust and liberate mankind from the oppression of the gods.

Glide the sands of a timeless land, filled with ancient dangers, mysteries and fragments of the past. Hunt legendary monsters, using powerful, shape-shifting weapons and devastating sand-powered abilities in spectacular, super-powered combat.

Target and gather the essence of your enemies to shape your own custom playstyle, forging a new era for humanity in a fully cooperative or solo story campaign.

Atlas Fallen – Key Features

The title’s Steam page gives us some insight into the game’s key features, including:

• Master the sands to explore a unique fantasy world teeming with secrets, locales and dangers
• Hunt legendary creatures alone or with a friend in heroic, super-powered combat
• Unleash your power to create deadly shape-shifting weapons
• Rise as the ultimate champion with unique custom skills and abilities

Interview With Developers Deck13

Following Atlas Fallen‘s announcement, the PS Blog has released an interview with Deck13 Interactive’s game design director, Jérémy Hartvick. The interview provides insight into a lot of the creative decisions behind combat in Atlas Fallen.

Jérémy explains that the title’s combat system is a big departure from any of the studio’s previous games and that it has been one of the biggest development challenges for the team.

The team at Deck13 has naturally gathered years of experience with close-combat fighting duels as they worked on their previous projects such as The Surge and its sequel. This time around, the team has decided to change it up a bit. Atlas Fallen will still feature close-combat fighting, but this time the studio has come at it from a new angle by introducing new mechanics “aiming for even more fast-paced and effects-loaded fights that require skill and timing.”

Here’s what Jérémy Hartvick had to say on the matter:

While keeping a visceral feel as well as certain moves which were core to The Surge series, Atlas Fallen’s combat is primarily defined by speed and fluidity. We’ve kept ideas like the body part targeting system and the implant system, using a different approach to best support the accentuated RPG aspect. We pushed everything a step further in the direction of advanced character management and moveset customization, so you’ll get to approach combat in your own way. 

Game feel is our main concern when it comes to designing Atlas Fallen. We’ve let strict constraints of realism aside to focus on giving a thrilling, overpowering feeling to the game. One of the chief design elements to achieve this is Sand Gliding, which is how the hero will move across the vast world of Atlas Fallen. It’s key to the game’s high mobility system, and it brings amazing speed and verticality to the spectacular action of combats. 

Another powerful aspect of Atlas Fallen’s combat system comes from the hero’s gauntlet. Rather than using actual weapons, the magical power of this gauntlet allows the hero to manipulate the sand which covers the world and turn it into a transformable weapon. Thus, there is no need to put a weapon back before taking another out, and changing from one to another during combat becomes a seamless transition.

This leads to epic, combo-driven dynamics, which in turn feed another central element to Atlas Fallen’s combat system: the Momentum bar. It consists of a gauge which gets filled as you multiply combos, progressively powering the gauntlet for increased damage and extra skills. It gives a wonderfully overpowering feeling to your attacks. 

Atlas Fallen Media


Atlas Fallen is coming to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam sometime in 2023! If you like what you’ve seen of the title so far make sure to keep an eye on RPGFan’s news feed for future updates.

Sources: Gematsu & PS Blog

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Tom Cox

Tom Cox

Tom is a News and Social Media Editor at RPGFan, with a love for Pokémon and One Piece. When he's not playing RPGs, he can also be found running, reading manga and watching anime.

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