Atlantis: The Lost Tales
Encyclopedia
Atlantis: The Lost Tales is a fantasy adventure computer game developed by Cryo Interactive
and published by Dreamcatcher Interactive, and released on September 30, 1997. The game is named after its initial and most important setting, Atlantis
. It is the first in a Myst-like series, and is followed by Atlantis II
(Beyond Atlantis outside Europe), Atlantis III: The New World
(Beyond Atlantis II), Atlantis Evolution
and The Secrets of Atlantis: The Sacred Legacy
.
The weapon is revealed to be half of a crystal that is capable of granting immense knowledge to its holder. Long ago, the crystal was split into Light and Dark halves, and the halves were hidden in Easter Island
and Stonehenge
, respectively. Creon found the Dark Crystal, which has a side effect of driving its holder mad.
Seth retrieves the Light crystal from Easter Island, then returns to Atlantis to face Creon. After Creon's defeat, the weapon he built causes a volcano
on Atlantis to erupt. Seth and a few survivors are seen sailing away from Atlantis as it is destroyed by the volcano.
is basically a 'window' into the world of Atlantis, instead of moving a mouse around the screen, moving the mouse actually moves the screen itself. To interact with the world, the player must position the item, NPC or thing into the middle of the screen. Some critics have found this annoying, as there is no crosshair
in the middle of the screen. This means the player must guess where the centre is, and move the screen accordingly. This has since been fixed in Beyond Atlantis and Beyond Atlantis II
, where a crosshair is apparent.
Progression through the game involves solving various puzzles of varying difficulty. Some puzzles are extremely abstract and the solution is completely unexpected, whereas other puzzles are very simple. Another feature of Atlantis is having periods where the player must react quickly to certain events happening in the game. For example, in one section guards chase the player away from a certain area. If the player hesitates in moving backwards and looking for shelter, then the player will lose and will have to restart from the beginning of the scene. This can also be frustrating, as there is only one particular path the player may take, and taking any other part results in capture, death and restarting.
Cryo Interactive
Cryo Interactive Entertainment is a French video game development and publishing company founded in 1992, but existing unofficially since 1989 as a developer group under the name Cryo...
and published by Dreamcatcher Interactive, and released on September 30, 1997. The game is named after its initial and most important setting, Atlantis
Atlantis
Atlantis is a legendary island first mentioned in Plato's dialogues Timaeus and Critias, written about 360 BC....
. It is the first in a Myst-like series, and is followed by Atlantis II
Atlantis II
Atlantis II is a fantasy adventure computer game developed by Cryo Interactive and published by Dreamcatcher Interactive, and released in 1999. It's a sequel to Atlantis: The Lost Tales. However, unlike its precursor, not much of the game is based around Atlantis...
(Beyond Atlantis outside Europe), Atlantis III: The New World
Atlantis III: The New World
Atlantis III: The New World is a fantasy adventure computer game developed by Cryo Interactive and published by Dreamcatcher Interactive, and released in 2001. It's the third in the Atlantis series by Cryo, as well as the last one made before Cryo's downfall. Similar to the second game, not much...
(Beyond Atlantis II), Atlantis Evolution
Atlantis Evolution
Atlantis Evolution is a fantasy adventure computer game developed by The Adventure Company and published by Dreamcatcher Interactive, and released in 2004. It's the fourth in the Atlantis series by Cryo, and the first one made by The Adventure Company. Unlike the second and the third game in the...
and The Secrets of Atlantis: The Sacred Legacy
The Secrets of Atlantis: The Sacred Legacy
The Secrets of Atlantis: The Sacred Legacy is a fantasy adventure computer game developed by The Adventure Company and published by Dreamcatcher Interactive, and released in 2007...
.
Story
The game begins with Seth, the protagonist, joining the Queen's Companions, the personal guardians of the Queen of Atlantis. He discovers after he arrives that the Queen disappeared shortly before he joined. As the story progresses, Seth learns that a power struggle is taking place between the Queen and the Guards of the Consul. The leader of the Guards, Creon, wishes to supplant Ammu, the goddess of the moon, as the most worshiped of Atlantis' gods, replacing her with Sa'at, the sun god; he then wants to conquer the world in the name of Sa'at, using a new weapon that he has developed.The weapon is revealed to be half of a crystal that is capable of granting immense knowledge to its holder. Long ago, the crystal was split into Light and Dark halves, and the halves were hidden in Easter Island
Easter Island
Easter Island is a Polynesian island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian triangle. A special territory of Chile that was annexed in 1888, Easter Island is famous for its 887 extant monumental statues, called moai, created by the early Rapanui people...
and Stonehenge
Stonehenge
Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument located in the English county of Wiltshire, about west of Amesbury and north of Salisbury. One of the most famous sites in the world, Stonehenge is composed of a circular setting of large standing stones set within earthworks...
, respectively. Creon found the Dark Crystal, which has a side effect of driving its holder mad.
Seth retrieves the Light crystal from Easter Island, then returns to Atlantis to face Creon. After Creon's defeat, the weapon he built causes a volcano
Volcano
2. Bedrock3. Conduit 4. Base5. Sill6. Dike7. Layers of ash emitted by the volcano8. Flank| 9. Layers of lava emitted by the volcano10. Throat11. Parasitic cone12. Lava flow13. Vent14. Crater15...
on Atlantis to erupt. Seth and a few survivors are seen sailing away from Atlantis as it is destroyed by the volcano.
Gameplay
Atlantis is a first-person perspective puzzle game. The entire game is in 3-D. The HUDHUD (computer gaming)
In video gaming, the HUD is the method by which information is visually relayed to the player as part of a game's user interface...
is basically a 'window' into the world of Atlantis, instead of moving a mouse around the screen, moving the mouse actually moves the screen itself. To interact with the world, the player must position the item, NPC or thing into the middle of the screen. Some critics have found this annoying, as there is no crosshair
Crosshair
A reticle is a net of fine lines or fibers in the eyepiece of a sighting device, such as a telescope, a telescopic sight, a microscope, or the screen of an oscilloscope. The word reticle comes from the Latin "reticulum," meaning "net." Today, engraved lines or embedded fibers may be replaced by a...
in the middle of the screen. This means the player must guess where the centre is, and move the screen accordingly. This has since been fixed in Beyond Atlantis and Beyond Atlantis II
Atlantis III: The New World
Atlantis III: The New World is a fantasy adventure computer game developed by Cryo Interactive and published by Dreamcatcher Interactive, and released in 2001. It's the third in the Atlantis series by Cryo, as well as the last one made before Cryo's downfall. Similar to the second game, not much...
, where a crosshair is apparent.
Progression through the game involves solving various puzzles of varying difficulty. Some puzzles are extremely abstract and the solution is completely unexpected, whereas other puzzles are very simple. Another feature of Atlantis is having periods where the player must react quickly to certain events happening in the game. For example, in one section guards chase the player away from a certain area. If the player hesitates in moving backwards and looking for shelter, then the player will lose and will have to restart from the beginning of the scene. This can also be frustrating, as there is only one particular path the player may take, and taking any other part results in capture, death and restarting.
Engine
The game features a number of proprietary technologies developed by Cryo. One such technology is called OMNI 3D which provides a smooth, panoramic 360-degree first-person view of the game environment. Unfortunately, this view tends to be less crisp looking than the movement clips that are pre-rendered in the game. All the character animations are motion captured and feature another technology called OMNI SYNC to ensure proper lip synchronization with audio speech.Soundtrack
The soundtrack for Atlantis: The Lost Tales was composed by Pierre Estève & Stéphane Picq of Shooting Star and was released in 1998 as a two-CD set (one of which being an enhanced CD containing wallpapers) on the Shooting Star label.External links
- Atlantis Review of Gameplay and Engine, Adventure Classic Gaming
- Dreamcatcher games