Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura

I first played Arcanum some 6 years after it was release, and even then I was aamzed by the complexity of the world and the amazing story. The flaws of the game - and there definitely are some, the biggest being the huge imbalance between classes (magician is overpowered, technician is underpowered) - are so decisively outweight by its qualities, I suspect I'd forgive the game pretty much anything, just to be able to follow the story (or should I say stories - many sidequest are actually elaborate adventures for themselves - I'will never forget quests like "Gnome Conspiracy", or the quests involving your companions, whose fates might actually be intertwined) and experience the joy of exploring the amazing world.

Because I've never finished it, I can't say whether or not there's any bugs or anything that make it unfinishable. My reason for never finishing it has to do with life, and not the game. Beautifully written, especially for when it was released. Great art, for when it was released. Creative magic and technology system. An amazing world to explore. If you enjoy Final Fantasy, Elder Scrolls, Neverwinter Nights, Pillars of Eternity, Divinity, and similar games, you'll probably enjoy this game. It's magic & steam punk. A bit like Shadowrun and Numenera.

Be warned: this game is LONG and SLOW. This is because the major complaints people had with Fallout 1 and 2 (this game was made with the same engine and the same devs) was the low repeatability. So they artifically inflated the game life in the worse possible way: long winded and tedious quests. Everytime you think you've made a breakthrough in the story, they send you to another filler island. The world feels progressively emptier (you can see the end areas are quite barren and unfinished, the starter areas are well done however), until eventually you grind to the end of the game. If you can stomach that and have the patience and time, this is a very unique game with some great mechanics. One of the first game to introduce crafting, and the system still holds decently to this day. Magic is also awesome and arguably superior to crafting. The possibilities are huge and the game has a lot of replay potential, if you can deal with the grindy slow sections every time you do another run. Highly recommend the community patch to clear the many many bugs the original game has.

It's just perfect! It's something much more than a game. After a few months I still remember the plot, the game's world (unique!), the characters and, well, I'm kind of missing all of that... It is definitely one of the most impressive game experiences I ever had.

I cannot believe I missed this gem growing up! Think classic fallout meets steampunk meets oblivion (if it were in classic fallout style), and you get gun-toting knights, or a Doc Holiday type, or a classic Mage character, or even a Gnomish merchant if you want. I absolutely love the character creation and the leveling up. It is the type of game where I can keep starting new characters, spend hours and hours on each and still not even finish 1% of the main story, there is just that much to do. I recommend this to any RPG fan. There is simply not enough space given for these reviews for me to list all the things I enjoy about this truly underrated and amazing game. I really wonder what Fallout 3 would've been like if these guys won the rights over Bethesda, and Bethesda has released some of my all time favorites, which this game Arcanum, is now one of.