Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura

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.

I'm a bit surprised at how well this game is reviewed here. Nostalgia, I guess. Good: The truth is that Arcanum really does have a lot to offer. Foremost, it is set in a unique, fantasy leaning steampunk world that sure is a lot of fun to inhabit. It feels enjoyably expansive to the point where you could do little plot wise and just enjoy being an insignificant member of the world and be happy. Rather than let you do everything, Arcanum skillfully limits you so that each character that you create feels extremely different than the last. There are a lot of ways to explore this world whether you are a brawler, gun toter, thief, technologist, mage, or dozens of different nuanced twists on those types of things. If you like to play creative characters that really feel like the world is embracing the archetype you've created, you'll like these things. Bad: This is why it's hard to understand why Arcanum goes so wrong. With such attention to creating a wonderful sandbox world, it is baffling that the plot elements and major character goals are so unyielding. Clearly, the developers had an axe to grind about conventional fantasy tropes, which starts out feeling refreshing. The plots don't go as you expect. Often, you are forced into moral choices that Arcanum forces you to live with. This is somewhat interesting .. until EVERYTHING you do is forced into that same situation over and over again. What's worse is that you could probably easily come up with compromises or other solutions to these plot lines but that is never an option. I mean that word "never". Constantly you are in a situation where you could improve your characters gear or talents or finish a quest only to find that your sole option to do so requires you to be a tool. Why allow so much freedom only to never provide alternate ways to achieve character goals that are morally acceptable to whatever character you make? I gave up about 50 hours in realizing I wasn't having fun anymore.

This is the Gothic of isometric RPG:s. Use the unofficial patch and the increased resolution mod.

NPCs that go to sleep at night then wake up and go to work in the morning. Shops close as they should. If you kill an NPC, that NPC is actually dead. Your decisions have consequences. You can craft your character as you wish. Arcanum has one of the best character creation and skill attribution systems available from any RPG. Eight available base attributes and a variety of skills ranging from technology, magic, to standard melee / rouge abilities. When you level up, you gain point(s) that you can apply to any attribute or skill. It's one of the few games where a pure charisma or pacifist build is viable for end game. You can talk your way out of a variety of situations or rely on brute force, technological devices, or utilization of magic. You can convince orcs to form a union, become a prostitute, be a degenerate gambler, and drink yourself stupid. Even for the most skilled gamer, there are dozens of hours of content in this game. Getting it to run properly is a bit of a chore, but with a fairly active community there are a variety of patches and addons to improve the experience. It's one of the best worlds ever created for an RPG with gameplay (when working properly) that is sufficient for immersion into the world. The soundtrack is fitting for the scene and the cut scenes (for the most part) are well-done. Arcanum is a game in need of a proper remake and a bit of editing to fix a few oddball issues (i.e. "Talk to Schuyler" is communicated by his 2 associates even after killing him. In my collection of over 1,200 games across over a dozen platforms, it is in the top 10 of my favorite and most-played games. Save often, apply the unofficial patch, add the better maps, and fix the old directdraw/dx7 files, and it will be a very enjoyable experience.

Innovative for its time. Still fun to play due to well-written storyline and interesting characters.