Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura

I've played through both Baldur's Gate 1+2, Icewind Dale 1+2 and Fallout 1+2 and I really wanted to like this game but, unfortunately, after 7 hours or so of playing, it just didn't click with me. The steampunk-ish theme is really not much different than standard fantasy with its swords, bows and magic. As has been mentioned in many of the reviews, the combat is inconsistent at best and, more often than not, just plain excruciating. I'm sure there is more story and characters to discover, but that would require a level of patience that my middle-aged time constraints just can't muster. Also note, the GOG.com version of the game ran *very* poorly on my Windows 10 system. The game would suffer from horrible slowdowns after 20 minutes of so of play, requiring a restart. And don't even think about alt-tabbing out of this one.

Does not run on windows 10. This should be made clearer on the product description, especially as GOG.com have tested this and know it to be the case.

...but this game have awesome atmosphere and it is worth to complete it many times with various character builds and choices. Gameplay could be very hard or awesome easy (my magician just go trough and kill everything thats stands in his way). I remember I tried this game about 15 years ago, with technic character and it has rejected me back then but now it is still a very good game. It would be nice to have a continuation or game with similar fight/craft system (magic vs technology).

Considering the Fallout developers helped make this game was insane! The game play has been really great so far. I got it and played the game the game play is good so far. You can either go and do side-quests or stick with the main storyline. The fact you can pick from lets say...2 factions or types of...I don't know this is hard to explain without spoiling. Well if you pick to use guns you can only go to merchants that sell guns/armor you'd become a "tech fan" if you decide to use magic/armor you'd become a "magic fan" and the fact that some stores are limited to what type of technology/magic you use just makes this game one of my top 10's!

arcanum features a delightful & imaginative setting. the plot (at least it's first few acts) is also terrific. there's so much to love about this game. it's a shame that the final product was rushed to market. the endgame clearly lacks the polish of the opening. the combat veers between imbalanced and completely broken. many skills and spells are utterly worthless, but you won't realize this until you reach level 20 or so, when you encounter enemies that are absolutely unlike anything previously encountered. they just suddenly show up and kill you (most likely) or (less likely) just ruin all of your hard-earned equipment. enemies will traverse the entire map in one turn, rendering ranged attacks of limited value. the waypoint system is awful. invest in an ergonomic mousepad, because a ridiculous number of clicks will be required to traverse impressively large areas. the only person who can identify magic items lives on the outskirts of town, because lulz. you will want to cry the 30th time you have to walk there by creating FIVE WAYPOINTS that aren't enough. you'll have to create more once you get to the fifth waypoint. i still rated this game 3 stars on the strength of the imagined world. it's that good. many of the characters are fascinating. you may be (as i am) the sort of person who finds the punishing gameplay experience worth the pain, just to explore the world and dig on the lore. but don't be fooled. it really is that bad. you have been warned.