Atlas Fallen Preview: Surf the Sands

ign.com:

It's a shame we don't see more open-world games set in the sweeping dunes of a great desert, and yet Atlas Fallen embraces this setting stylishly – bringing plenty of new ideas to the table, including a sand slide move that replaces the traditional sprint and quickly makes me feel like I’m back playing Journey again as I pave my way through Atlas Fallen’s golden oasis of destruction. That’s saying nothing of the unique combat system which has me darting around mid-air between explosive attacks that often leave my foes shattered into a thousand bits of sand and crystal dust, and I do mean that literally! Granted, the demo build I spent several hours testing didn’t always feel as smooth as I’d have hoped, and I couldn’t figure out whether it was my ultrawide monitor or something in my PC causing random slowdowns and frame drops at inopportune moments, but I found it difficult to walk away from my overall experience with Atlas Fallen without remaining curious and excited for what’s to come when it finally launches on May 16 in a, hopefully, more stable state.

Atlas Fallen centers around your own custom character who has come into possession of a magical gauntlet, an important piece of gear that's central to its post-apocalyptic story. I really enjoyed the pacing here: a quick cutscene explains why the world is in its present state, you're introduced to each major element of gameplay, and then it's right to the action. Atlas Fallen deftly explained everything I needed to know during the first few minutes of play, and its early tutorials also served the purpose of bonding me with Nyaal, the mysterious entity living inside my powerful and legendary gauntlet.

Once I got myself out into the sun-baked world where Atlas Fallen