Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura

This game was rushed in its final days. If you dig through the original files, you'll find a text document named "Eh" which simply reads "well, that's that then" hinting at the frustrations of the developers. That said, in its heyday, it garnered some acclaim as the most replayable game of all time. There are tons of alternative endings and endless permutations of characters. Want to be a dwarf with a machine gun and power armor? Or maybe a snobbish elf with a degree in necromancy? Arcanum can do it. I've played this for hundreds of hours and may yet do so again. I love the music, and the lore. The technology and crafting is fun, if not exactly effective, while the magic system is endlessly entertaining. I've spent hours and hours just dabbling. Pro-tip, if you cast a magic reflection shield onto a mechanical arachnid then target it with a polymorph spell, then deactivate the spider, you'll be transformed permanently into a sheep. I've never found a game with such open ended shennanigans. It's unique and probably not to everyone's tastes, but if you like it then you'll love it to bits.

It's based on a modified D&D system. Primary statistics are expanded Wisdom is split into Willpower and Perception which makes more sense and Charisma into Charisma (mental/social) and Beauty (pysical). Skills have have levels and require training using skill/advancement points. You still have levels and xp but every time you level up to gain 1 skill/advancement point that you can buy things with. Backgrounds are a great tool for roleplaying as well and add lots of replayability. Overall I find Arcanum better than og. Only minor weakness for me is that the whole tech/magick mechanic feels a bit uncooked. Many or most guns seem underwhelming and magic system needs needs a re-design. Fun game with great story, world design and a huge map to explore. Look for unofficial arcanum patch UAP 2.0 which restores cut content, adds dark elves and orcs as playable races, high resolution patch, graphics fixes, bug fixes... Improves the game experience quite a lot while keeping it vanilla.

It breaks my heart that this game does not enjoy the recognition it deserves, a lot of people are put of by the apparent lack of polish as was I on my first couple of unfinished playthroughs but thankfully deep down I knew it was going to be something quite special and I kept going back to it to experience it in full. Steampunk genre sadly does not have nearly enough representatives in video games and this one has to be one of the leading examples. Possibly the main thing that put me off was the apparent skew of power between magic and technology - I despised the fact that I might need to play as a magick user only to make the game not as torturous but it was never ment to be. I simply had to play as a technologist and I'm happy to report that the game makes you want to be more involved into becoming propper, it does not do it in an artificial way. It seems an easy path to simply choose healing spells, magick potions and magick items but in my estimation it's a lot more rewarding going the tech route; for every magickal conundrum there is a tech answer. So fret not my technologist comrades and be on your way to explore the depths of Arcanum!

thank you GOG for having this game patched! Also to note, it works fabulously on Debian via wine.

Let me say this: I never played arcanum until now, nostalgia is not a factor here. First time I played, a few months ago, I enjoyed the chatacter creation and the very original art, atmosphere and greta music. Didnt play long, I made to the first town and was beaten to death by stuìd wolves while I tried to hit back and failed once and again. Second time I tried, a few weeks ago I turned off the real time combat, and used the turned based. And was shocked to see how the game was playable. The first part of the game is hard to newcomers and if you place points where you must not you may have a problem. If you overcome the first town and get out to the Arcanum world you will be slowly (but inevitably) addicted to this game. As a late fallout fan (tactics, 3, new vegas), baldur gate lover and classic rpg fan I have to say that arcanum has been one of the best gaming experiences, maybe because I expected only a crappy game and found despite some flaws an rpg gem. The game is hard (save often) and you need to write down where people are cause your journal is not as detailed as it should and turned based combat is a bit too simple compared to modern games, but... The plot is one of the best and most intriguing I have ever seen, the game has plenty of sub quests, quite a few characters to recruit, an insane number of magic colleges, and, well, a lot more, but others have described better than me the good parts. Important: -More than 55 hours into the game so far and no bugs. -Specialize is important -Your stats really impact the game: I started a new game with a character with 4 intelligence and ALL of the main character´s speeches were different. People recognize you as a "poor creature", "imbecile" or "simpleton" and deal with you accordingly. Some wont even give you a quest, others offer you a potion for completing a quest while you are not able to even say okay and can only vocalize "Otay". Best laughs with a game ever.