Atlantis: The Lost Tales

Story

The game as one might expect is set on a fantasy version of Earth where the city of Atlantis was not just a myth but the center of human civilization. From Atlantis humans have developed airships and gain the ability to wield magic. The protagonist and player character of Atlantis: The Lost Tales is named Seth who has recently become initiated into the ranks of the Queen of Atlantis’s personal bodyguards, a title called the Queen’s Companions. However immediately following Seth’s entrance into the Queen’s Companions the Queen of Atlantis mysteriously disappears. Taking upon himself to locate the missing queens Seth uncovers a conspiracy to dethrone the Queen of Atlantis.

Seth discovers that the Guards of the Consul have become victorious in their insurrection of the Queen and are led by the head of the Guards Consul, Creon. Seth eventually uncovers Creon’s plan for world domination in the name of the Atlantian gods. However Creon not only wishes to displace the Queen of her throne but also aims to elevate the Atlantian god of the sun, Sa’at as the main deity of Atlantis thus supplanting the Atlantian goddess of the moon, Ammu the traditional main deity of Atlantis, of the position. Creon aims to conquer the entire planet in the name of Sa’at using an at first unidentified super weapon of awesome power.

After conducting research as to what Creon’s weapon may be Seth discovers that it is half of a powerful crystal which grants the holder of the crystal the power to emanate raw energy in blasts. Seth finds out the origin of the crystal in that it is the dark half of a split crystal with the dark half being hidden under Stonehenge while the light half was hidden on Easter Island. The crystals were hidden to prevent their use for evil and corruption of any uses who do not understand their power. Creon having located the dark half has been driven mad by its dark energy.

After having traveled to Easter Island and locating the light crystal Seth confronts Creon and defeats him by combining the two crystals and using the whole crystal against Creon. Unfortunately the raw power of the crystal causes the plate tectonics of Atlantis to shift resulting in a volcano erupting from the ground. The volcano all but destroys Atlantis and only a few survivors, including Seth are able to get away from the disaster alive.

Gameplay

Atlantis: the Lost Tales is a Myst inspired adventure puzzle game. Like Myst the game is played in the first person and the player progress through the story by completing various environmental puzzles. The player navigates through panoramic screens by using the mouse to move the entire screen itself a opposed to moving the camera around. The game features a HUD-less interface and even lack a crossair to indicate where the game screen is centered at.

As already mention the player progresses through the story by completing various environmental puzzles, some of which are timed and require the player to pick up on environmental ques. Most of the timed puzzles require the player to react correctly quickly or else the player character will die forcing the player to restart to their last save or checkpoint. Most puzzles however are abstract environmental patterns and contraptions, similar to Myst, that the player must correctly figure out how to use and decipher.

Graphically Atlantis: The Lost Tales is rendered completely in 3D, excluding cut-scenes which are pre-rendered clips, using Cyro Entertainment’s proprietary technology. Cryo’s 3D rendering engine, OMNI 3D, provides Atlantis with its clean panoramic environments. All character animation however was done using motion capturing. The character animation utilizes Cryo’s audio and video synching technology called MNI Sync which provides seamless lip synching with voice acting in the game.

Soundtrack

The Soundtrack for Atlantis: The Lost Tales was composed collectively by Pierre Estève and Stéphane Picq, with each working on separate tracks and occasionally working together on others.

Disc 1

1. Sunriders - 2:15
2. Awakening - 6:44
3. Rhéa - 5:09
4. Ancient Winds - 1:52
5. Am Ma Eya - 2:30
6. Pretress - 4:31
7. Crystal Winds - 4:37
8. Para Nua - 2:48
9. Back To Atlantis - 4:41
10. Spitzberg - 5:12
11. Stonehenge - 2:35
12. Dream Of The Owl - 6:55
13. Dream Of The Dolphin - 5:03
14. La Lune... - 11:16

Disc 2

1. Dark Spirits - 3:05
2. La Tisseuse De Destins - 5:12
3. Dream Of The Rat - 1:50
4. Coq Rouge - 3:12
5. Metamorphosis - 6:32
6. Muria - 4:57
7. Nightmare - 0:53
8. Labyrinth - 5:26
9. Aube - 4:01