Deck 13 explores new battle territory in the upcoming action-packed Atlas Fallen-rpg – PlayStation.Blog

Hi guys! I’m Jérémy Hartvick, game design director at Deck13 and currently working on the recently announced Atlas Fallen. Atlas Fallen is a heroic, fantasy action RPG that will transport you to a world covered in desolate sand, where ferocious creatures are waiting to drag you into breathtaking battles. The combat system is different from our previous products — it’s one of the biggest challenges we’ve taken on… and that’s what I’m here to talk to you about!

Our team at Deck13 has already gathered a lot of experience with close-quarter combat and we want to continue in this direction, but with a different angle and completely new mechanics, aiming to be even better. Fast paced battles and higher effects require skill and time. We designed combat to be easy to take, but also equipped it with hard-to-implement mechanics to perfection.

While retaining the visceral feel as well as some of the core moves of The Surge series, Atlas Fallen’s combat is largely defined by speed and flexibility. We kept ideas like the body part targeting system and the implant system, using a different approach to best support the outstanding RPG aspect. We’ve taken things a step further towards advanced character management and moveset customization, so you’ll approach combat your own way.

Game feel was our main concern when designing Atlas Fallen. We’ve pushed aside the strict limitations of realism to focus on bringing an overwhelming, suspenseful feeling to the game. One of the key design elements to achieve this is Sand Gliding, which is how the hero will move across the vast world of Atlas Fallen. That’s key to the game’s highly portable system, and it brings incredible speed and verticality to breathtaking combat action.

Another powerful aspect of Atlas Fallen’s combat system comes from the hero’s gauntlet. Instead of using an actual weapon, the gauntlet’s magical power allows the hero to manipulate the sand that covers the world and transform it into a transformable weapon. Thus, there is no need to reset the weapon before taking out another, and changing from one weapon to another during combat becomes a seamless transition.

This leads to epic, hybrid dynamics that in turn provide another central element to Atlas Fallen’s combat system: the Momentum bar. It includes a gauge that fills up as you multiply combos, gradually powering up the gauge to increase damage and additional skills. It gives a great overwhelming feeling to your attacks.

In a nutshell, we’re exploring how far we can take a combat system based on speed, agility, and dynamics, and how that combined with an RPG world offers plenty of exploration. We feel that it is a lot of fun and we are sure you will enjoy killing extraordinary beasts with the power of sand!

Atlas Fallen will release on PlayStation 5 in 2023. Game favorite list now and stay tuned for more news!