Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura

This game was and is the gold standard for small unit rpg. The fact that your stats matter out in the world in interactions is something that still hasn't been done to such a level decades later and that is a lose to the community. The only game in recent time that is any threat to this one is Kingmaker..and yes both have their bugs and poor decisions..and stil I, on of the harshest critics of gmaes over the years, rate them both highly. Why? Because, while they can and should be improved, what they did right is to go above and beyond in depth and feel. This genre is about exploration and it is about character development..games that do that poorly, whatever they do well, are failures to this genre. Few other games come close.

I played this game for the first time this year. I didn't grow up with old cRPGs but I eventually fell in love with the genre, after playing Fallout 1/2. This game is really old and outdated, it caused my computer (I7-10th gen and RTX 2070) to brick. I lost 2 save files and had to redo 10 hours of gameplay. You would think that this would make me quit, right? Nope replay it and still loved it, this game is a gem and in some aspects a masterpiece. The best parts about this game is the story and the world building, it may seem like a run of the mill fantasy game but there is a lot more than that here. The magic is really unique and the tech class is outright impressive for a 20 year old game. I only played in turned based mode and the game was much more balanced, to keep in mind which mode you should stick to, since real time is broken beyond measure. Overall, this game is probably my favorite cRPG and really goes to show that despite the bugs and bad combat, this game still shines. Wish we could get a remaster or something to fix the problems, but other than that I definitely would recommend this game as someone who isn't just blinded by nostalgia.

This is a remarkable game, and it is true that it has many a flaw. I highly recommend you seek out the fan patch, as it fixes a lot of these problems and lets you really enjoy the game for what it is. Troika's developers were responsible for some of the greatest RPGs ever made (Vampire bloodlines, Fallout New Vegas) and you can see a lot of those elements in Arcanum as well.

A quick disclaimer: I never played Baldur's Gate type RPGs, so there was a bit of a learning curve for me. It took me three seperate attempts to really 'get' this game. But now that I have, there's some value to be had. PROS: -Highly detailed towns and cities with realistic layouts. -Loads of interesting characters and dialogue. -Lockpicking and the fact that you can steal everything the store sells (as opposed to magically disappearing at night). -The music. -The fact that you aren't nessicarily 'The Hero'--people can have very negative reactions to you depending on your character (I find this refreshing). -Fun side quests with multiple outcomes. CONS: -Aimless wandering for days and days and days with literally nothing of interest (not even wandering monsters) unless you know exactly where you're going. -Clunky movement aka click-scroll-click-scroll-click-scroll. I'd much prefer movement with the arrow keys or WASD and a screen that auto-scrolls with you. -Clunky controls especially in battle. Example: it can be a mess trying to click a healing potion and then trying to find yourself on screen because characters swarm around madly. It'd be nice if you could just right-click or something and it would know that you're the target. -Your NPCs are rather stupid. Most of my battles end up with me spamming F5 so they won't blindly aggro everything in sight. All in all I'm glad I purchased this game, and I enjoy the challenge. Once you get the hang of it, it can be pretty fun.

Ah, Arcanum sure is a weird one! So much to talk about ! To start, as a steampunk CRPG that allows you to choose both turn based or a real time system, Arcanum, with its clash between magic and steampunk technology, brings to the table an in-depth system that allows you to customize your character however you like : you can play a simple fighter, wizard (with TONS of spells at your disposal) a gambler, thief, a diplomat or an even inventor ( my favorite one and the truly unique feature : an enormous crafting system never seen in a CRPG, extremely well implemented) with no class restriction. On top of that, the amount of things to do is simply amazing : hinted sub-quests or secret places that you randomly discover are often great and fun. Sounds great, right? Actually, there are downside to it that almost made me rate this game with 3 star. First and foremost : the story : Victorian age inspired and sometimes it gets really dark. Actually, too much dark, there's even one particularly sub-quest almost get me to quit for how they handled certain themes, which one could call outrageous and really of bad tastes ( who played the game fully will surrey now what I'm referring about... Damn Gnomes). Speaking again of the main plot, funny thing : it is not really even bad ( a little pretentious), but there are clear sign that it wasn't nearly finished by the time they shipped the game ( it ends way sooner and without following any pace between start and ending). Indeed, near the end most stories that you ended up invested are abprutbly terminated, some of them are buggy as hell and most companions don't have any quest related to them. Second , as already said : start and ending. Unfortunately, the game starts great, with a new land to discover and lots of things to do, but more you spend time, the difficult starts to diminished (since there are no new enemies) and there are way fewer quest, bad designed too. So, worth it? Yes, but it's a game not for everyone's tastes.