GameSpot has posted up an updated preview of Arkane's underworld RPG Arx Fatalis. The article is based on a "nearly feature-complete" press beta copy of the game.
Here's a teaser:Arkane's homage to these classics is most apparent in its story. Much like the first Ultima Underworld game, Arx Fatalis begins with the lead character in a prison. You awaken with no idea of who you are (a cellmate dubs you Am Shaegar, which means something like, "He who has no name"), or what you did to deserve imprisonment in a dank dungeon. All that you're immediately aware of is the history of your world, which is known as Arx. This history is doled out in bits and pieces as the game progresses, although the initial cutscene reveals how the mysterious disappearance of Arx's sun forced the planet's inhabitants to go underground. Facing extinction, the five main races of Arx--human, dwarf, goblin, troll, and ratman--learned to work together. Now, some years later, the old conflicts are beginning to reemerge, and tensions are rising. Dwarves have again realized how much they hate the goblins, ratmen have acknowledged once more that they hate everyone, and trolls have started to grasp the fact that there won't be any bridges underground. Outstripping all this, however, is the evil cult of Akbaa, which plans on resurrecting the god of destruction and ensuring that the sun stays in the witness protection program for good. |
Arx Fatalis: Preview @ GameSpot
