Arx Fatalis

Arx Fatalis has lots going for it. The RPG elements are great. Might, magic, and stealth are all potent options. The world is pretty well crafted. The fighting is fun. However, Arx Fatalis falls short of true greatness. The magical system is innovative and cool but a little clumsy. Voice acting is uneven and the story is good but only just. It's not open ended. However, for the price it's a steal. Old-school RPGs don't come along often these days so if you need a fix, Arx Fatalis is a great addition to your collection.

The game is good and has a lot of good sides but the problem is this is riddled with bugs. Three in particular stand out: Random crashes unless compatibility mode is run which disables widescreen resolutions, long loading times with no fix and textures disappearing on load making me have to try again. Can't grade the game down too much because of it because it is amazing when it works but buyer beware.

Arkane is the only developer to escape the Imsim curse; kinda. This is their first game and still their best and most innovative. I mean, I like Dishonored, Dark Messiah and Prey but this spiritual successor to Ultima Underworld is amazing and should be played by all. You have no excuse. When it goes on sale it is less than the cost of a beefy crunch burrito at Taco Bell and it runs on anything, even a 13 year old laptop with Intel integrated graphics. Not 2000, not HD or whatever, the ORIGINAL GRAPHICS CHIPSET!!! Anyone can play this. Go find a laptop in a dumpster and it will run this. BUY IT BUY IT BUY IT BUY IT

The atmosphere is absolutely fantastic in this game, i had seen it around when it first came out but never purchased, i saw it here and thought I'd give it a go, its great, you wont regret getting this, hours of exploring.

Although System Shock I&II and BioShock I&II were the true spiritual successors of Ultima Underworld (my favorite game of all time, at least until I played Deus Ex), this game provided me with an excellent UW fix.