Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura

One of the handful of games I remember from that far back. Its really stuck with me. I remember having tons of fun and getting lost in the world. I would love to see a MMORPG set in this type of world. Sort of a Steampunk Fantasy or Fantasy Industrial Revolution time period. Very cool.

Welcome to the land of Arcanum; a land of magic, technology, intrigue, and betrayal. You come from far away; escaping a past that either promised much more adventure abroad or one that threatened to consume you if you stayed in your old life. In the end it didn’t it matter; you picked the wrong blimp and ended up coming down in a fiery blaze that was seen for miles around, far from your destination. Upon stumbling from the wreckage you are approached by what appears to be a monk babbling about you being the reincarnation of some dead god and he needs to get you to his mentor so you can fulfill some prophecy. Of course the blimp didn’t crash by itself and you seem to be attracting the attention of some people who would be rather happy if their were no survivors of the crash. With your slightly confused companion , Virgil, you begin the long trek to discover who is trying to kill you and why everyone seems to think that you will either bring a new age of peace to Arcanum or usher in its destruction. Despite it’s age this is still a pretty good Crpg if your looking for an interesting story to play through. The writing is pretty decent and there are some interesting twists and turns. The graphics are what you would expect for the time and do the job. The music is also decent and does the job. The one thing to keep in mind is that this game is a little clunky in the combat department and it is not always clear how you are supposed to accomplish what you need to do and it is possible to miss whole chunks of the backstory if you aren’t paying attention and exploring. The other side is that this game is a bit buggy and there probably wasn’t much gog could do about it considering that's how the thing was made. Thankfully fan patchs do exist and are very easy find with a search. They fix most of the old problems and even add back in some cut content. If you like these types of games its worth picking up.

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.