Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura

Cool twist on RPGs - but kind of prone to bugs.

even got it working on linux which is a plus. thanks for this game GoG Team!

Now after Fallout 1&2 comes this masterpiece of RPG genre. Simply fantastic setting for all fantasy and steampunk lovers. GoG made me really happy today 'cause I looked for this game for a long time and now I could get it for a reasonable price. Thanks!

Troika Studies may have passed on, but in their time on this Earth they created a selection of the finest RPG's to grace the PC, and Arcanum is no exception to this. A hugely atmospheric, open-ended and ambitious (read: bugged) title, Arcanum's biggest asset is that it does something so few games today do: It acknowledges the player has a brain. Complex (but not inaccessible) gameplay mechanics, vast player customisation, a fairly adult plot and enough stat-tinkering to satisfy even the most hardcore, OCD-suffering gamer ensured that Arcanum would never become more than a cult classic. The game itself places you in what initially may appear to be the standard RPG fare of Tolkienesque elves and orcs, but it soon becomes apparent the game is a lot cleverer than that. The world is currently undergoing a cultural revolution and the ways of magic are being pushed aside by the might of technology, creating a great mismatched land of enchanted daggers and potions sitting uneasily with stream trains and gatling guns. As the player, you are given a very real choice as to not only the typical good/evil alignment, but also to your stance on the tech/magic divide. You can just as easily be an elven water mage as you can a dwarven gunslinger. Ultimately, Arcanum does expect a degree of commitment and *gasp* intelligence from the player to be enjoyed, but persevere and the pseudo-Victorian world will pull you in and you wont want to leave this bleakly beautiful classic until the fate of Arcanum has been decided. And then you will want to start again as a new character. A gnome gambler with a love for high explosives? Why not?

Now in 2019 this game works on Win10 without any problems and without any need for fan patches or workaournds. But that does not make the game better. Nobody doubts that the combat is an unbalanced mess that does neither require skill nor tactics. And there is no other gameplay mechanic that would make this game a good game. Quest are often fetch quests and dungeons are only there for combat without riddles or puzzles. There is maybe a good story that can be explored by different character builds, but even that story is hidden behind a mess of user interface. Characters look almost all the same. And their names are only displayed when one initiates a conversation, what makes it a chore to find those characters which are worth talking too. So the game might have a good story which can be explored by different character builds, but one has to work too hard for the story to unfold.