Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura

Arcanum can be described as “Steampunk Fallout”: faithfully recreating the feel of a pen and paper RPG, it allows you to create a wide variety of heroes and to take part in an adventure where situations can often be solved in a number of ways, through violence, dialogue, or else. Be mindful of what you do: your choices have consequences! Gameplay-wise, it is not a perfect title: it's easy to permanently botch quests, improving your character is a slog since you get only one XP point per level, and while you can alternate between turn-based and real-time combat, the latter is cumbersome. Dungeons are filled with enemies of uneven level: you may often be forced to grind levels before being able to overcome some encounters way tougher than they should be. Cue the first dungeon and its ore golems... However, the great thing about the game is its writing: you play as the sole survivor of a blimp crash, thrown into a plot involving ancient evils. Not only is the main storyline rock-solid, but every secondary quest has its own intricacies and twists, its share of unique characters, and explores different aspect of the lore: in Arcanum, the power of steam has recently been harnessed and is quickly changing the world, giving us a story that deals with themes of technological transition and dying traditions. The dialogues are well-written, often having a lot of humor and a very classy ring to them. The game looks like it's from 1997 instead of 2001, but the graphics do a fine job of making the world immersive. Each new place you explore has a surprise for you: you really feel like going on an adventure! In typical Troika fashion, Arcanum is a solid game, undermined by weird design choices and some lack of polish: it can be hard to shake off the “great, but could have been fantastic” feel it gives. It is mostly fun to play though: if you're willing to forgive a few missteps and are a fan of old school RPGs with great writing, you should definitely add it to your collection!

Having finished Arcanum 4 times, exploring every option and a lots of ways to play this game or how it can be played, I must say that I quite like Arcanum, but I feel kinda disappointed in a way with this game. Being a admirer of Tim Cain work since I played the first Fallout, I TRULY felt that this was a Tim Cain game, with a lot of his uniques designs choices and care put into it, but as with Fallout, a lot of his questionable and kinda bad designs come around again. You can choose and create your character, and I must say I am quite impressed with the character creation. A lot of options to choose, customize your character the way you want him/her to be. Its truly amazing and it felt like a true table RPG. Though, as with Fallout, the UI is pretty bad, is even worse then Fallout, too much infomation. Also, the only stats that matter are DEX, CHA and WIS (magick) or INT (tech)... the rest is useless. Also speaking of technology The world of Arcanum is like a D&D world, but you add industrial revolution and its consequences to a world that was not ready to deal with the rapid spread of technology. Because of this, the fight of magick and technology increases everyday... And you are a random guy, that survived a plane attack/suicide bombing and is told you are the reincarnation of a powerful elf... You control your character likes Fallout, attacks like Fallout and even shoots like Fallout. Because of that combats is kinda fun, but kinda clumky... like Fallout. Now adds magick or technology to the mix, and the combats becomes pretty broken, especially with magick. Now to the choices... While this game offers more choices, it clearly was meant to be played as a good guy adventure, which kinda disappoints me, because the game does not really change from you being good or evil, aside from the companions that follow you, the end game quests and your first companion. Though, I still like the game. For me, its a Tim Cain experience, which even with flaws, still good.

This is a truly unique game with endless repeatability. A huge and detailed world, incredible atmosphere, endless and fun quests, tons of secret locations, dialogues, NPCs and so much beautiful artwork. Very diverse possibilities for character creation and development! The combat system has its flaws, but also gives a lot of opportunities to test unique play styles and determine which suits you the best. I have played this game for years now and still prefer it to many modern RPGs.

Arcanum is surely not the best game out there, but it's still enjoyable. Each quest has multiple solutions (usually divided into stealthy, diplomatic, dishonest or brute force) and most character skills will influence your gameplay. The game is poorly balanced, with certain skills towering above the others and some that are utterly useless. Go for a mage on your first playthrough and get Fireball ASAP. This will allow you to breeze through the battles as you explore the game and you learn the mechanics. Add thieving skills to earn yourself a five fingers discount in the shops and you're golden. What I found more fascinating is the history of the world around the character and the ambientation. The storyline is good and it will become more intriguing as you delve into it. This is the first game that made me seriously ponder upon the possibility of joining the BBEG; I mean, his reasons are quite sound, albeit extreme... At the current price is worth giving it a try. You're not going to love this game, nor hate it. It's just a decent game that could have been much more better.

Hier geht's zu meinem Nostalgie-Waetsch's Play: https://youtu.be/DDkhYnjUmJ8 Dank Highres-Patch wird die Spielumgebung in Full-HD auf unseren Monitor gezaubert. Aber man sollte sich nichts vormachen, die Grafik ist halt aus dem Jahr 2001, demzufolge pixelig und kantig geht es zur Sache. Auch die Animationen generieren ein leichtes Grausen, so wie die herum ruckeln. Was aber eine gute Geschichte ausmacht, ist die Tatsache, dass dies einem schon bald gar nicht mehr auffällt und man in das interessante Setting des 19. Jahrhunderts Fantasy eintaucht. Kaum sind wir mit einem Zeppelin abgestürzt, drückt uns ein Zwerg einen geheimnisvollen Ring in die Hand und... stirbt. Kurz danach werden wir noch von einem "Priester" angequatscht, der uns für den "Auserwählten" hält. Es gibt also jede Menge Fragen zu klären. Die umfangreichen Dialoge lassen sich gut lesen und sind teilweise sehr gut vertont. Die Steuerung lässt nur wenige Fragen offen und schon bald kommt man damit klar (ein Blick ins Handbuch schadet aber nicht). Die Story packt und macht Lust auf mehr. Ein feines Old-School-RPG, bei dem man natürlich über die Grafik etwas hinwegsehen muss. Dafür wird man mit einem interessanten Spiel und spannender Story belohnt.