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Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura

in library

4.6/5

( 579 Reviews )

4.6

579 Reviews

English
5.995.99
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Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura
Description
An Industrial Revolution in a World of Magick Imagine a place of wonder, where magick and technology coexist in an uneasy balance, and an adventurer might just as easily wield a flintlock pistol as a flaming sword. A place where great industrial cities house castle keeps and factories, home to Dwa...
User reviews

4.6/5

( 579 Reviews )

4.6

579 Reviews

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Product details
2001, Troika Games, ESRB Rating: Mature 17+...
System requirements
Windows 10, 1.8 GHz, 2 GB RAM, 3D graphics card compatible with DirectX 9.0c...
Time to beat
31 hMain
44.5 h Main + Sides
84 h Completionist
45 h All Styles
Description

An Industrial Revolution in a World of Magick


Imagine a place of wonder, where magick and technology coexist in an uneasy balance, and an adventurer might just as easily wield a flintlock pistol as a flaming sword. A place where great industrial cities house castle keeps and factories, home to Dwarves, Humans, Orcs and Elves alike. A place of Ancient runes and steamworks, of magick and machines, of sorcery and science. Welcome to the land of Arcanum.

 

Character Design allows you to customize your character any way you choose

  • Whether you choose magick or technology, the Arcanum world adapts and responds to your character's development 
  • Classless, point-based attribute system allows for limitless creativity in guiding your character's development 
  • 8 basic stats, such as Strength and Charisma 
  • More than a dozen derived stats, from Poison Resistance to Character Speed 
  • 16 Primary skills, including Gambling and Healing 
  • 80 Spells with 16 Colleges of Magick 
  • 56 technological degrees within 8 disciplines

 

Extraordinary Adventure Features
 

  • Explore a world as vast as it is mysterious-it would take over 30 real-time hours to traverse the land of Arcanum 
  • Meet more than 300 unique characters and monster types across this huge land 
  • Many means exist to solve the myriad quests, from dueling to discourse to thievery 
  • Take on a band of ogres in real-time, or plan your strategy through turn-based combat - you decide 
  • Accurate day and night cycles affect the gameplay, from combat to thieving skills 
  • Automatic character management lets action-oriented players delve into the quest at hand 
  • Create your own worlds or play the included multiplayer scenario online cooperatively or competively

© 2001 Activision Publishing, Inc. Arcanum and Activision are registered trademarks of Activision Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. All other trademarks and trade names are the properties of their respective owners.

Goodies
manual (190 pages) artworks HD wallpapers map reference card avatars
System requirements
Minimum system requirements:

ACCEPTANCE OF END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT REQUIRED TO PLAY

ACCEPTANCE OF END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT REQUIRED TO PLAY

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This game is maintained by GOG in the Preservation Program with the support of our GOG Patrons.

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Why buy on GOG.COM?
DRM FREE. No activation or online connection required to play.
Safety and satisfaction. Stellar support 24/7 and full refunds up to 30 days.
Time to beat
31 hMain
44.5 h Main + Sides
84 h Completionist
45 h All Styles
Game details
Works on:
Windows (10, 11)
Release date:
{{'2001-08-22T00:00:00+03:00' | date: 'longDate' : ' +0300 ' }}
Size:
1.1 GB
Rating:
ESRB Rating: Mature 17+ (Violence, Blood, Mature Sexual Themes)

Game features

Languages
English
audio
text
GOG Preservation Program
We make games live forever! Since 2008 we enhance good old games ourselves, to guarantee convenience and compatibility with modern systems. Even if the original developers of the game do not support it anymore.
  1. This game will work on current and future most popular Windows PC configurations. DRM-free.
  2. This is the best version of this game you can buy on any PC platform.
  3. We are the only platform to provide tech support for the games we sell. If some issues with the game appear, our Tech Support will help you solve them.
What improvements we made to this game:
Update (13 November 2024)
  • Applied DDrawCompat for seamless support with modern displays
  • Set core affinity to 1 CPU core, improving performance on modern systems.
  • Fixed Alt-Tabbing leading to black screen
  • Validated stability
  • Verified compatibility with Windows 10 and 11
Internal Update (05 October 2018)
  • Improved compatibility with newer systems
Internal Update (30 March 2018)
  • Updated internal installer structure, no changes to game files
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User reviews

Posted on: June 12, 2011

mtwitte

Verified owner

Games: 6 Reviews: 1

Good but not stable

It's all the fun I remember. Unfortunately about 3/4 through the game it starts corrupting saves so quickly and crashing to windows that I haven't finished it yet


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Posted on: January 28, 2014

Mursa

Verified owner

Games: 203 Reviews: 2

An Unknown Treasure

This has to be one of the most under-rated games of all time. It has so much to offer, a great story, great game play, a huge immersive world with so much freedom. I played this back when it came out and it was my first experience in open world RPG's. Yet, almost every one I talk to has never heard of it. It's a shame really, I feel this is a game that suffered partly for being a bit ahead of its time. I've played it 4 times and each time had a very different experience. Some may disagree, but this seems like one you either love or hate.


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Posted on: September 3, 2014

sirdilznik

Verified owner

Games: 158 Reviews: 13

Buggy Unbalanced Yet Fun

This game is a mess. Even with the latest patch and community fixes this game still has plenty of bugs and glitches. The game balance is horrible with certain builds being exponentially more powerful than others. The combat is horribly clunky combining turn-based and real-time into a mess that takes the worst of both worlds. At this point you may be wondering how in the world I gave this 4 out of 5 stars? I mean, I just spent a paragraph trashing the game, and rightfully so. Well, despite these glaring problems the game is quite fun and engaging. Why? Because the writing is very good, the characters are interesting and fleshed out, and the setting and atmosphere are fantastic. The game takes place in a Victorian Era-esque fantasy world where magic has started to fade and technology is starting to take over. There is a conflict between magic and technology and those clinging to the old ways and those welcoming the new world. It's a really interesting setting that strays from familiar tropes and really pulls you in and immerses you in its charm and intrigue. This game is a case of story and setting over gameplay. If gameplay is what matters the most to you then this is likely not the game for you because the gameplay is, quite frankly, not very good. However, if you feel story and setting is king, then you will likely love this game.


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Posted on: September 6, 2014

aeroslimshady

Verified owner

Games: 184 Reviews: 3

Caution

I'm not sure if it's some sort of compatibility issue, but this game lags quite often even though my windows 8 computer far exceeds the system requirements. That and the fact that the game itself is very slow paced at first makes for an almost unbearable experience. I had very high hopes for this game and I heard many good things but it's just so slow. Sorry. I'm sure it's a great game, but it's just unplayable for me at the moment.


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Posted on: December 16, 2016

SkunkPlaysGames

Verified owner

Games: 58 Reviews: 1

A truly one-of-a-kind, quality RPG.

Arcanum is the pinnacle of 2D gaming. It occurred on the cusp of a technological revolution where gaming would go three-dimensional and in the process, ironically, lose a great deal of depth. I bought it when it was new for $60, I'd certainly recommend buying it now for six dollars or less. With an incredibly detailed and fleshed out world to explore, non-linear progression, complex character creation with an engaged and interesting population that responds to your character's uniqueness and deep mythos, Arcanum hits all the right marks. Reaction to your character's moral choices, race and gender, appearance, dialogue choices, magical or technological bias, prior actions, abilities and more are all well integrated. There are many paths to a goal: direct combat, stealth and cunning, perceptive qualities, intellect or flattery, and often many more. The game is highly playable and replayable upon completion. It's biggest fault by today's standard is its dated technology. The game engine isn't dated, gameplay-wise, and 2D isometric games continue to be made today which look more or less the same. The issue is in getting a modern machine to run the game smoothly and in widescreen. It is possible with some work and once successful will run butter smooth and look fantastic. It's also worth taking the time to learn how to add portraits and character back-stories so you can further customize the game and add replayability. What RPG allows me to fully flesh out a gnome gunslinger with a gem-cutting background who looks like Tony Soprano? Only Arcanum. If you played Fallout 2 and thought it was one of the best games you've ever played, the next game you play should be Arcanum.


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