Arx Libertatis is an improved, cross-platform and open source engine for Arx Fatalis. Arx Libertatis is now at version 1.2.

Eight years after version 1.1 we are finally ready to publish Arx Libertatis 1.2. This release brings improved rune recognition when casting spells, as well as a new bow aim mode. Support for high resolutions and wide monitors is enhanced with configurable HUD and player book scaling. The text and audio language can now be changed in the menu. Further, item physics have been fixed and item dragging has been refined. On top of that, this release adds a console to execute arbitrary script commands. See the changelog for full details.

Rune recognition and bow aim revamped

One of the defining features of Arx Fatalis is drawing runes to cast spells. However, that can also be one of the more frustrating mechanics as the game expects you to draw straight horizontal, vertical or diagonal lines with hard corners - all while dodging enemy attacks - without much tolerance for slanted or otherwise imperfect lines. To making casting more fun, bsxf47 has implemented a more forgiving rune stroke recognition algorithm. On top of that, we have also fixed problems with the recognition at higher frame rates.

Ranged combat might not be Arx's strength with only two different bows in the game, but for this update we have nevertheless decided to give it some love by adding an improved bow aim mode. With this mode, the orientation of the arrow while aiming matches the direction it will be launched in. Additionally, the cross-hair cursor that is normally disabled in combat mode is now shown once the bow aim is fully charged. This release also restores the arrow trail effect which was missing in version 1.1 and improves its appearance.

The new rune recognition and bow aim are active by default, but can be disabled in the options menu to experience the original controls.

High-resolution, widescreen, and high frame rate support

While the player book already scaled with the screen resolution, the rest of the interface elements always had the same pixel size since Arx Fatalis 1.21. This is now rectified so that icons and buttons are no longer tiny when playing on high-DPI monitors. With the default settings, HUD scale only becomes active at resolutions greater than 1080p and is restricted to round scale factors to preserve the crispness of interface elements. The exact scaling behavior is configurable separately for the cursor, player book, and HUD, with an option of linear or nearest-neighbor filtering. For the player book, the font size and weight can now be adjusted to improve readability. The size of light flares and other in-game effects has also been fixed to correctly scale with the display resolution, and we have disabled Windows' automatic DPI scaling to allow the game to render at the native resolution.

The player book and minimap are no longer stretched with widescreen or ultrawide displays, and there are options to limit the width of text lines in conversations and to control the rendering of cinematics at aspect ratios wider than 4:3. Weapons no longer degrade faster or generate more sparks at higher frame rates, and there is a new option to limit the frame rate.

  HUD scaling and aspect ratio fixes

Enhanced localization

Most Arx Fatalis versions come with audio files for multiple languages, but before now there was no option to select the language outside of editing the config file. With Arx Libertatis 1.2 the language can now be changed in the menu, separately for text and audio. Thanks to contributions from the awesome Arx Fatalis community, we are also able to provide localized text for new options in German, Italian, Russian, and Spanish. Entering names for save files now respects the active keyboard layout and input methods supported by the OS.

  You can now hoard all the items!

Item physics and dragging refined

With previous versions, thrown items could sometimes get stuck on walls, fall through the level geometry, or hover above the floor. We have fixed the physics code so that this no longer happens.

There have been numerous tweaks to inventory handling and dragging items both inside and outside of inventories. Accidentally dragging items when trying to pick them up using shift click is prevented, and the position and rotation of dragged items is corrected. Additionally, entire stacks of items can now be thrown or dropped outside inventories. When combining items, invalid targets are no longer highlighted.

We have also fixed a crash when loading save files with over 1500 entities in one level, so nothing is stopping you from obsessively collecting all items in the game. Playthroughs longer than 1193 hours are now also possible without running into save file issues.

New video, audio, and input options

Players who cannot tolerate (or don't like) the camera movement from the player character's head bobbing or from earthquakes, can now disable these and increase the field of view if desired. Objects and interface elements that have their shape influenced by textures now optionally have their outlines smoothed to reduce aliasing, and anisotropic texture filtering can now be disabled. Additionally, the display gamma can now be configured again when running full-screen.

The audio output device and OpenAL Soft's virtual surround (HRTF) mode can now be controlled from the audio options menu (enabled by default when using headphones). The subtle reverb that was available with sound cards supporting EAX in Arx Fatalis has now been re-added and is available for everyone.

Level transitions can optionally be activated by jumping (or automatically when walking into them), to avoid having to exit mouselook mode and click an icon in the corner of the screen. The Escape key now closes the player book and notes, and there is an option to automatically enter combat mode and draw your weapon when clicking on a hostile NPC while in mouselook mode. It is now also possible to assign a key to drink a Cure Poison potion without opening the inventory. Finally, the "Resume game" button (and F9 key) in the main menu will now load the latest save file if no game is loaded.

The windowing and input backend has been upgraded to SDL 2, bringing windowed fullscreen support (selected with the "Desktop" resolution) to Windows users, as well as fixing the keyboard being grabbed when in fullscreen mode under Linux, and adding Wayland support. We also made sure that the mouse grab is released during cutscenes, conversations, and cinematics. The SDL 2 backend also implements raw mouse input support for camera rotation with optional acceleration.

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DSOGaming reports on a remaster overhaul mod for Arx Fatalis called Arx Insanity in which a demo is now available.

In March 2020, we informed you about a remaster overhaul mod for Arkane’s classic action RPG, Arx Fatalis. And, we have some good and some bad news for all two Arx Fatalis fans out there. The good news is that there is a demo you can download for this mod. The bad news its final version has been delayed.

[...]

The demo for Arx Insanity will let you test the first levels of the game as early access, sneak and use stealth in the goblin prisons, visit the outpost and survive the dangers of the crystal caverns. This demo is only available in English, Spanish, Russian and Italian.

Arkane celebrates 20 years of existence by way of Arkane Outsiders, a free copy of Arx Fatalis is offered as well as a digital art book if you sign up before May 31st. Bethesda have a bit to say about Arkane's legacy here.

Join the Community

Join Arkane Outsiders to receive "The Art of Arkane" digital art book free! PLUS, between May 28-May 31 (10am EST), email subscribers get Arx Fatalis (PC) as an additional bonus - Check the box below to subscribe! Be the first to be notified about potential beta access and receive sneak peeks at upcoming games. Sign up now as the Arx Fatalis offer expires on May 31.

Users already subscribed will not see the checkbox. New Bethesda.net users must verify their account via email before joining to receive Arx Fatalis. Otherwise the game will be added to their account by June 3, 2020. Check our Arkane Outsiders FAQ for more details.

Thanks Couchpotato!

DSOGaming reports that on October 30th the Arx Fatalis Remaster Overhaul mod will be released.

Modder ‘Pedro_Ordaz’ has announced that his overhaul remaster mod for Arkane’s Arx Fatalis will release on October 30th. In order to celebrate this announcement, the modder has also released a new trailer that you can find below.

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OnlySP reports that Arx Fatalis gets an Unreal Engine Fan remake by BlackcatGameStudio:

Unreal Engine Fan Remake

A fan has recently undertaken the task of remaking Arx Fatalis in Unreal Engine 4, including a host of improvements such as DirectX 12 support, real-time ray tracing, and more.

The first-person RPG was originally released by Arkane Studios in 2002 to critical acclaim. Set in Arx, a world whose sun has failed, players must uncover the secrets of a large subterranean cave where creatures from the surface have been forced to take refuge.

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Thanks porcozaur!

Arx Fatalis was retrospectively reviewed by Ludo Lense.

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Script: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1E...

Arx Libertatis mod: http://arx-libertatis.org/

A review/critique/look at of one of my childhood favorites, Arx Fatalis.

A shamefully forgotten Immersive Sim by Arkane Studios.

Arx: End of Sun - a standalone Doom 3 mod - is a prequel for Arx Fatalis:

Arx - End Of Sun is a new free and fan made game that is based on the first person dungeon RPG: Arx Fatalis developed by Arkane Studios. In our game world you will play out the events ( with a liberal dose of poetic licence ) that precede the original story of Arx Fatalis. You will no longer require a copy of Doom3 to play Arx - End Of Sun. We are now running on a custom version of the engine code and we use no assets from any commercial titles in our game.

In Matt Chat #303 Matt Barton looks back at the classic Dungeon Crawler Arx Fatalis:

Ever heard of Arx Fatalis? It's a great CRPG, but don't feel bad if you don't remember it--you were probably too busy with Morrowind or Neverwinter Nights to notice it! The good news is that it's not too late to enjoy it today! It holds up surprisingly well for a 2002 game, especially if you install the right patches. Just don't forget to douse it with wine first!!! :)

Sin Vega published a new retrospective article for Arx Fatalis on Rock, Paper, Shotgun where he writes about how the game blended RPG Eras perfectly in 2002.

Confession time: I don’t like dungeon crawlers. The very name says it all. Why would anyone want to go to the non-sexy kind of dungeon? And crawling – the form of movement reserved for times of serious injury and distress – around a dungeon? It’s a recipe for a dreary, ugly casserole, served by a skeleton archer in a rusty slime-edged prison bucket with a bowl of kamikaze rats.

But then there’s Arx Fatalis, released in 2002 by Arkane Studios. I should hate it. It’s made of brown tunnels echoing with ambient dripping and distant wailing. It’s full of goblins and trolls and spiders and rats. You start in an Easily Escapable Prison, naked, with amnesia. It should bore me rigid, but through some arca… through some recondite formula it turns these uninspiring tropes into an imperfect, but unique and underappreciated brew.

Arx Libertatis is cross-platform, open-source port of Arx Fatalis that has just reached v1.0:

Wow, a bolt from the blue. Alec Meer has penned the first of a diary series for Arx Fatalis at Rock, Paper, Shotgun called Travels. It's pretty short but here's a snip:

I suppose I’d better break out of this jail, then. Fortunately there’s a wobbly bar, which is the sort of thing you’d have thought jailers would check for regularly. Then again, the jailers are goblins, and everyone knows goblins are stupid. Racial stereotyping’s fine when the race is fabricated, huh?

Egged on by a frail-looking friendly stranger in the adjacent cell, I use a curious system of pulling and wobbling to manually remove the bar, then sneak outside and clobber the guarding gobbo around the back of the head. Or at least that’s the plan. In fact, I’ve specced my character as a magic specialist, leaving him as psyhsically weak as an asthmatic kitten. A spell right now would be great. But no.

Hold onto your hats RPGWatchers this one will knock your retro socks off. Arkane Studios has released a patch that brings Arx Fatalis up to version 1.21.

According to Bethesda Blog this fixes the stability on Windows 7 and Vista machines, performance issues on Nvidia GPUs and a number of other things. You can get the patch here.

They have also released the source code. You can get it from the same page you got the patch.

I have verified that the patch and source code can be downloaded, but none of the claims about what the patch does. Read the readme for the source code and have fun revisiting Arx Fatalis on your modern rigs.

Thanks also to Dju for writing in.

Gamesinfo.net takes a look at Arkane Studios' 2001 action/adventure/rpg Arx Fatalis, citing it as a "good thing that slipped through the cracks" at time of release:

Summary:

Arx Fatalis is a wonderful game. It’s not the most polished game ever made, but it is fun. There are a lot of details that went into this game, and that really shows how much the developers care about it. Unfortunately, there are those moments of crashing. However, if you can absorbed into the world, it may not matter. Even though I could have bought this game back in college, I think I enjoyed it far more than I did all those years ago. I appreciate the elements of the game much more than did when I was 18. Best of all, the game has aged rather well.

Thus, those who are looking for an intriguing action-adventure RPG will probably be content with it. Even though it forces you down a certain path, it wants you to be the hero. Not only because it’s fun, but also because it is the right thing to do.

The review also notes that the game is available for a $5.99 download for Windows and Vista at Good Old Games.  Please feel free to click on our GOG banner if interested as all games purchased in that manner help support the Watch.

Kieron Gillen has reposted an older article at Rock, Paper, Shotgun titled Making of: Arx Fatalis, with input from Arkane's lead sound guy, Cristophe Carrier:

It was a simple aim… but the most complicated of simple aims. “What we wanted to do was Ultima Underworld 3,” Christophe explains simply. It’s quite the aim. While it was the game which invented the modern-first-person revolution, pre-empting Doom considerably, it was far from a simple game. It was all about complicated simulations in a role-playing environment. It was also the first game of the team who were then known as Blue-Sky Software, before swiftly transmuting into the venerable legends Looking Glass (R.I.P.). In fact, they /literally/ wanted to do Underworld 3. “We talked to Paul Neurath [Looking Glass Big Cheese – Ed] to work with us on it,” Chrisophe notes. It couldn’t be done, however, so they set off with their own setting… but with Ultima as a solid blueprint.

Worthplaying has a 1.18 patch for Arx Fatalis, as expected from the recent Anniversary Edition news.  Here's the fix list:

Of minor direct interest because it will only be available in France (at first, anyway) but Arkane has announced a special Collector's Edition of Arx Fatalis to celebrate it's fifth anniversary:

Arx Fatalis Collector Edition

Elektrogames and Arkane Studios proudly present ARX FATALIS – COLLECTOR EDITION.

To celebrate the fifth anniversary of the game, the new version of this worldwide acclaimed Action-RPG will provide the following new features:

- An updated version of the game, compatible with the latest hardware configurations

- The Arx Fatalis « making-of »

- The Strategy Guide

- The Art Of Arx Fatalis

Don’t miss this incredible edition on the 20th of October (in France only in the beginning).