Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura

Good grief this game is mediocre. I was really excited to play this, I'm not the best at CRPG games because I'm not much of a tabletop player, but I do like the open worlds and quests these games have. I've played many of the greats- Baldurs Gate, Icewind Dale, Neverwinter Nights to name a few. Lets just address the elephant in the room. This game is bad. I'm suprised it is so highly regarded by some, but as my friend likes to joke "It's okay to be wrong". And I say that jokingly here too- I suppose some might like this but it definitely was not for me. The good things? The town designs. I really liked the modern grid-like cities that filled the game, one in particular feels pretty big compared to what I have experienced in other isometric CRPGS. But that is where the fun ends for me. So much is bad. The combat is outright broken. There is physical, magical, and technological paths to follow. Technological is an enormous handicap in the game. Guns are worse than swords. You can put all your points to spec into your stats instead of learning skills. The list goes on. The story is also really bad. You would think a steampunk game would have a really cool steampunk story right? Nope. You will visit Dwarves in mountains. You will visit Elves in trees. It's another high fantasy game with a touch of steampunk flavor to pull you in, but you soon realize the story is boring doesn't feel original at all. Lastly, there are bunch of terrible design choices that will piss you off. Two recent examples are a portion of the map you lose access to without warning- forcing you to abandon quests you picked up, and a "door" near the end of the game requiring an item that you should have held on to from the first area of the game. Don't have it? Sold it? Guess you will spend 10 hours grinding random encounters until an enemy drops one. Some people like the novelty of these kinds of games despite their flaws, but I impore you to look elsewhere for a good CRPG.

Really out of any good. Wasn't even worth the 3.99. I am done trying to used old games.

if you are dumb gtfo and find a fps or hack n slash this is a RPG

Whats boasted is a BG like experience but with tons more freedom, a great steam punk environment, your choices having a real outcome of how the game play out and more. But none of that matters if the game is no fun to play. Unlike the BG games, playing this feels like a terrible chore. It also suffers from "where am I supposed to be going?" syndrome. You're given very vague clues. Leveling up is tedious, and combat is very lame in all three of its flavors. The only solace I take in buying this, is that I can warn people that it isn't worth their money. Spend the extra 4 bucks and get Baldurs Gate instead!

This is a bad game. Story is not interesting, combat is just a mistake. If you played Fallout, Planescape: Torment, Icewind Dale or similar games you will be sorely disappointed with this game.