Arx Fatalis
Worth it · RPG · 2007
Steam Deck PlayableThe verdict
BUY IT.
Worth it at $4.99.
- Length
- 19.4h
- Value
- $0.26/hr
- Reviews
- 88% positive
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Windows only.
This critically acclaimed first-person RPG from Arkane Studios takes the player on an amazing journey into the fantasy world of Arx. Arx is wrought with turmoil, brought to the brink of destruction by a violent war.
What drives the score
How to read this
Every input gets a grade, S to D, read from the buyer's side. The score is multiplicative, so an input only counts as raising when it sits near the top of its own scale. Anything with real room left is holding the score back, because that room is the gap to 100. ▲ marks a lift, ▼ a drag or a dock, ? an input we do not have, • a fact this genre's score does not use. The exact weights stay secret.
The value story
The lowest price on record is $1.24, set in November 2015. 61 discounts in the 14 years on record. They run about 67 percent off, roughly 8 weeks apart. Today it is at full price. The last sale was about 12 weeks ago, and on this game's rhythm the next one tends to arrive within 8 weeks.
Value puts it in the top 2 percent of the games it competes with. It is cheaper than 68 percent of its genre, and better reviewed than 90 percent. Among the games that feel like it, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion® Game of the Year Edition (2009) ($14.99, scores 94) beats it on value, while it beats Dark Messiah of Might & Magic ($2.49, scores 72).
77 from critics against 88 percent from players, and the player number comes from people who own the game.
This site sampled 500 of its Steam-purchase reviews; 1 was written by a buyer who refunded it, sampled from reviews written March 2020 to September 2026. Inside the two-hour refund window, 72 percent of the 614 reviews written there were positive, against 88 percent overall, and those are 25 percent of everything written about it.
Finishing takes 19.4 hours; clearing it takes 51, which is 2.6 times the campaign.
Players
6 players at peak in the last day.
The chart appears once this game has been counted more than once.Player counts via SteamSpy.
What players say
Don't let silly animations and asinine writing fool you into a mistake of rushing this unofficial Ultima Underworld 3 like I did. This game is magical, you just need to let its cave mold seep in through the screen, hear the wind groan in the megavents and feel the weight of rock over your head. Also, it has a priest going by the name of Fallan Orbiplanax, which would assuredly be my nom de guerre had I aspired to...
There's arguably a LOT to love here and more than a few things to dislike, but if there is one thing to remember this game for, or even something to convince you to try it out for the first time, its that Arx Fatalis irrefutably has one of the most interesting magic systems in all of gaming.
Arx Fatalis definitely shows its age at some points but it is absolutely worth a playthrough. Beyond the rough edges there is some quality RPG adventuring to be had. When it goes on sale these days, it is an absolute steal for what it has to offer.
Player reviews from Steam: the most helpful all-time, plus the newest that clear the same quality bar, with the hours each player had put in when they wrote it. The mix of Recommended and Not recommended follows the game's Steam ratio. Rotates daily. Opinions are theirs.
No data upstream: achievement curve (Steam global achievements).
Cite this score
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Arx Fatalis scores 77/100 on the BANG Score (worth it). The BANG Score rates what a game is worth for the money. Via Steam BANGERS. https://steambangers.com/game/1700/arx-fatalisThe BANG Score is one number for value, 0 to 100: price against how it reviews and how long it was built to be. It answers the money question and stops there; whether the game is for you is still your call.
Reviews set the ceiling and price moves you inside it, so a cheap game that reviews badly cannot climb. Ratings from few reviewers are shrunk toward the middle, so 100 percent from nine people does not outrank 96 percent from ninety thousand. Length comes from HowLongToBeat where it can be matched, measured against a per-genre floor so a five-hour narrative game is judged against other narrative games rather than against a sixty-hour RPG. Where no verified length exists the score says so and carries a dock, because the biggest input is then a guess. The full method, including where it is weak → Steam reviews as of Sep 3, price as of Sep 24.
A number here look wrong? Tell me what it got wrong and I will look at the inputs behind it.