Darklands

So far as I know, there has never quite been anything like "Darklands" in RPG gaming before and hasn't been since. Yes, it's a typical blanket statement but it definitely applies here. Think about it: when was the last time when you ran into an RPG where having basic (or even advanced) education was a potential challenge for your characters in their interactions? The last time that an RPG used an actual historical setting (with a few tweaks) as the place where you adventured around? The last time where magic going right every time was not a guarantee and primitive firearms was part of the ranged weapons mix (okay, the answer is "Arcanum" on that last, but you get my point)? Indeed, I find myself a bit frustrated that more games don't follow the lead of "Darklands", as they showed a good model for any number of historical RPGs that could work in our new era. The enemies make sense in historical context, you need skills beyond the usual RPG standards to make it, and the main story is sufficiently warped to be interesting. Surely, someone can make this a little less complicated for the 21st Century.

A legendary name among CRPG fans, Darklands is unique, offering a historically-focused world instead of a fantastically-focused one, as well as a mechanically rich gameplay experience based on an entirely original ruleset. Complex. Deep. Unmatched.

i played this heavily back in the day. It had epic visuals, phenomenal play value, but was buggy as hell. It is impossible to save in underground areas, which often take more than an hour to complete, and as often as not the game would crash at some point after 30 minutes+ in an underground mission. The watercolor graphics have stuck in my head to this day (20 years later), and i've always thought it to be one of the most beautiful games of its time. Just don't venture underground if you can avoid it, because you can't save there and it will likely crash on you.

Classic and Massive RPG but with one of the first open worlds, and this one is huge, the size of greater Germany 400 or so years in the past. The character custimation is intence and could be a mini game in and of itself. It has a very long story and the game play could reach 100 hours of play time.

This classic is a fantastic open world game. Just make sure you monitor your characters in combat; they'll watch their pary get killed if you dont tell them to fight.