There were plenty of neat spells (nearly 50) that ranged from the usual suspects to the more enterprising ones. But if you had to step up your boom, you had the ability to combine three or even four runes. The garden variety spells in Arx Fatalis only needed you to use two runes together. You had to draw them, one at a time.įacing a snake woman with a clumsy spell. The problem? You couldn’t click on runes and call it a day. But nope, the magic system is what really drove me nuts. You’d think that a kid would have had bigger problems with unforgiving stealth mechanics or the absence of a quest arrow telling you where to go. Secret rune combos replaced cheat codes with a healthy serving of novelty. Even enemy magic users could be seen drawing runes in the air. Arx Fatalis’ magic system delivered organic growth as the player remembered rune combinations over time. A line from left to right meant “create” flip it and it became “negate.” A line drawn from the bottom up meant “improve” invert it and it became “reduce.” Night vision meant using the “improve” and “sight” symbols. The runes themselves also made sense from a logical point of view. For instance, you could detect traps or fake walls and torches could be lit from afar. You could use these tools to bolster your defenses or interact with the environment. When it worked, the results were spectacular.Īrx Fatalis let you mix and match about 20 runes to devastating effect. But the magic was admittedly the coolest part of your skillset. An open class system further drove home a sense of immersion. I still remember making a pie with dough and water using a crafting system that made me feel invested in the game’s world. The sheer variety in Arx Fatalis’ underground level design is remarkable for a title that’s nearly two decades old.
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