Retro Revival, Part #16 - Arx Fatalis (Patch 1.21 and Source Code Released)
18It's not often that a ten year old game gets a new patch, but the good guys over at Arkane Studios - which was newly acquired by The Evil Empire (A.K.A. Bethesda/ZeniMax) - have returned to their highly immersive first-person RPG Arx Fatalis (2002) and taken care of a few compatibility issues with newer Windows versions and similar minor problems. Not only that, they threw in the source code as well while they were at it, meaning that creative Fatalis fans (Fatalists?) can more easily mod the game if they so desire.
As for my own personal experience with Arx Fatalis, I really appreciated the game for the atmosphere and ambitious mix of combat, exploration and RPG mechanics. Sadly, the quest design was somewhat lacking and it was all too easy to get stuck without knowing what exactly you were supposed to do to proceed without reading the developers minds or, failing that, resorting to a walkthrough. That's the main reason why I never finished it despite making a fairly ambitious attempt less than two years ago. Returning to the game to check if the new patch works with the GOG version of the game (thankfully, it does), I immediately got sucked right back into this highly atmospheric action RPG. which easily establishes its own identity while simultaneously being a worthy homage to classics of the genre like Ultima Underworld.
New patch (1.21) and source code available for download here;
http://arkane-studios.com/uk/arx_downloads.php