Year: 2002
Type: Gamerip
Composer(s): Kemal Amarasingham, Simon Amarasingham
Number of tracks: 42

★★★★★

Arxtually bad

If you have never heard the words Arx Fatalis in your life, you have probably not been to Latin class as well as missing out on an interesting game from the 00s. With their first game, the developers at Arkane Studios, who would later create such gems as Dark Messiah of Might and Magic, Dishonored or Deathloop already proved their skill for innovative game design back in 2002.

In the spirit of the Ultima Underworld-games, our protagonist also finds himself in a subterranean fantasy world at the beginning of 'Fatal Fortress' ( Arx Fatalis in English). Naturally, we begin our adventure in a prison cell with both an empty inventory and a blank memory, which means our first goal is quite clear: escape!

As far as video game beginnings are concerned, this creative achievement is only just on a par with the pick-up lines of a Bachelorcandidate during mating season. However, great backstories would only become important in later video game generations, when it was no longer sufficient for us to simply move animated blocks from A to B. Arx Fatalis ' greatest strength was the freedom of the game world and the almost limitless possibilities.

From little things like crafting, where we could make a cake from combining dough and a rolling pin, to a new type of stealth system and the complex magic system, where we didn't just select spells and cast them, but had to actively draw them in the air with the cursor.

There were a large number of runes that - similar to the alphabet - represented specific words. For example, a simple stroke to the left produced 'Aam', which meant 'create'. A stroke to the right, on the other hand, produced the rune 'Nhi', which can be translated as 'remove'. In combination with other syllables, it was possible to cast different spells. For example, 'Aam' (create) and 'Taar' (horizontal N, translation: projectile) together produce a magic arrow that injured enemies. While adding the rune 'Yok' (U, translation: fire) turned it into a fireball, 'Fridd' (upside down U, translation: ice) turned it into what? An ice projectile, of course.

Trying out and combining the different syllables was incredible fun for young Mattis and gave him the feeling of decoding an entire language and making it usable for himself, as well as showing him the technical limits of an early computer mouse. Because if the drawings were not exactly as the game had intended, instead of a powerful fire spell, a flame was quickly extinguished.

However, the real potential for frustration was not to be found in the game's magic system, but its open world. Especially as a newcomer to role-playing games/dungeon crawlers, I was overwhelmed by sensory impressions and never knew what to do next due to the lack of mission markers. It didn't help that some quests could only be solved later in the game. For example, you couldn't find the birthday present for the sad troll Greu, as is usual in children's games, in the already explored areas or even in his immediate surroundings, but only hours later.

Consequently, I spent several days presenting every item to the aforementioned ill-fated troll, only to receive the same answer: 'No good gift, Greu still sad. Burwaka better friend than Am Shaegar'. This quote is more firmly embedded in my skull than my father's birthday. And I can't get rid of it. I understood that I had to find Burwaka ... but where? He just wasn't to be found. And that was killing me.

In fact, due to a lack of help from the internet (because we didn't have that at the time), I eventually got so desperate with Arx Fatalis that after countless attempts, exploiting bugs and glitches and sheer willpower, I was finally able to get past the far too strong troll guards. At last! I was so happy! I explored several dark shafts until I was chased through a gloomy and abandoned forge by an invincible monster. Of course, I had overwritten my save games, my frustration tolerance had been exceeded. As a result, I never played through Arx Fatalis , even though the thought of it makes me want to do so ... maybe I'll pick it up again sometime.

Enough of the memories, let's talk about the soundtrack. Despite its length, it is a rather short gamerip, with 42 tracks and a duration of just under 19 minutes. It was 'composed' by the siblings Kamal and Simon Amarasingham and boy oh boy, does it suck. Well, as I said, it's a gamerip that was never designed to see the daylight beyond the cavernous corridors, but at least a bit of music wouldn't have hurt.

What we hear instead is not music, but ambient pieces. Due to their sometimes poor quality, they are on the level of a sound recording made in a subway station through a snow jacket - underwater. The fact that the brothers already had gained some experience as audio engineers in games such as Thief: The Dark Project and Thief II: The Metal Age can be guessed from the similar tonality, but the scores of these games didn't exactly impress with their captivating character either.

It is true, the distant rushing of the subterranean rivers, the soft whistling of the wind and the diffuse metallic humming create a comparatively dense atmosphere and a constant feeling of anxiety. And the SFX-tracks in particular trigger a pleasant feeling of nostalgia in me. Nevertheless, the thought remains that a lot of potential was wasted here to make an interesting game even better, even more memorable. I would have liked to give it a recommendation, but for soundtrack enthusiasts this hodgepodge is definitely a no-go.

No.	Title	Artist(s)	Ratings
01	Intro	Kemal Amarasingham; Simon Amarasingham	2
02	Imprisoned by Goblins	Kemal Amarasingham; Simon Amarasingham	2
03	Goblin City	Kemal Amarasingham; Simon Amarasingham	1
04	Cave Theme A	Kemal Amarasingham; Simon Amarasingham	1
05	Human Outpost	Kemal Amarasingham; Simon Amarasingham	1
06	The Tavern	Kemal Amarasingham; Simon Amarasingham	2
07	Troll Mines	Kemal Amarasingham; Simon Amarasingham	1
08	Cave Theme B	Kemal Amarasingham; Simon Amarasingham	1
09	Goblin City (Stress)	Kemal Amarasingham; Simon Amarasingham	1
10	Greu's Camp	Kemal Amarasingham; Simon Amarasingham	1
11	Important Place	Kemal Amarasingham; Simon Amarasingham	2
12	The Temple of Akbaa	Kemal Amarasingham; Simon Amarasingham	1
13	The Temple of Akbaa (Depths)	Kemal Amarasingham; Simon Amarasingham	1
14	Snakes Arrive	Kemal Amarasingham; Simon Amarasingham	2
15	The Crypt (Level 1)	Kemal Amarasingham; Simon Amarasingham	1
16	The Crypt (Level 2)	Kemal Amarasingham; Simon Amarasingham	1
17	The Crypt (Level 3)	Kemal Amarasingham; Simon Amarasingham	1
18	The Crypt (Level 4)	Kemal Amarasingham; Simon Amarasingham	1
19	The Crypt (Level 5)	Kemal Amarasingham; Simon Amarasingham	1
20	The Lich	Kemal Amarasingham; Simon Amarasingham	2
21	Fighting	Kemal Amarasingham; Simon Amarasingham	2
22	Fighting (Alternative)	Kemal Amarasingham; Simon Amarasingham	2
23	The Giant Worm	Kemal Amarasingham; Simon Amarasingham	1
24	Rebel Hideout	Kemal Amarasingham; Simon Amarasingham	2
25	Rebel Hideout (Tense)	Kemal Amarasingham; Simon Amarasingham	1
26	Dramatic Theme	Kemal Amarasingham; Simon Amarasingham	1
27	The Noden	Kemal Amarasingham; Simon Amarasingham	1
28	The Sisters of Edurneum Outpost	Kemal Amarasingham; Simon Amarasingham	2
29	The Sisters of Edurneum Temple	Kemal Amarasingham; Simon Amarasingham	1
30	Lava Caves	Kemal Amarasingham; Simon Amarasingham	1
31	The Dwarven City	Kemal Amarasingham; Simon Amarasingham	1
32	The Black Beast	Kemal Amarasingham; Simon Amarasingham	1
33	Frozen Caves	Kemal Amarasingham; Simon Amarasingham	1
34	The Ylside Bunker	Kemal Amarasingham; Simon Amarasingham	1
35	Credits	Kemal Amarasingham; Simon Amarasingham	2
36	Mission Complete	Kemal Amarasingham; Simon Amarasingham	1
37	Level Up!	Kemal Amarasingham; Simon Amarasingham	2
38	Game Over	Kemal Amarasingham; Simon Amarasingham	1
39	SFX 1	Kemal Amarasingham; Simon Amarasingham	1
40	SFX 2	Kemal Amarasingham; Simon Amarasingham	1
41	SFX 3	Kemal Amarasingham; Simon Amarasingham	1
42	Unused Theme	Kemal Amarasingham; Simon Amarasingham	1