Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura

-and its consequences have been a disaster for magick users. Thanks for the sale Mandy!

This game has been produced by the same team as the first Fallout games, and it shows in many ways, good and bad. If you enjoyed these games, there is a good chance you will enjoy this one too, if you manage to pass the first ten levels. The steampunk universe of Arcanum is based on the opposition between magic and technology – each interfering with the working of the other. You can learn spells, and/or you can learn how to make technological items like weapons, guns, pharmaceuticals, traps and other electrical wonders, but the more you learn in one way, the less effective you will be the other way. The NPCs themselves will react to you according to past deeds, your magic/tech bias, and also to your race: that’s right, a good number of NPCs are complete bigoted racists, and you can play along if you don’t mind getting in fights with everybody (and getting evil in the process). Some of the social interactions are actually quite unsettling (like the Orcs and Ogres races being literally enslaved by humans and gnomes), hitting too close to home. But it’s OK: I don’t mind a game addressing real-life social topics, pushing me outside of my comfort zone. In short, there is a well-done steampunk background, quests for all tastes and plenty of NPCs to talk to, with an emphasis on realistic interactions. There seem to be a plethora of options for your character, from character build to ethical choices. All of these were why I bought this game. However, the game is quite difficult (even on Easy mode), the interface does its job but needs some time to get used to. Most importantly, the character level-up system is very, very frustrating, especially during the first levels, because you only get one point per level and you need it everywhere, and there is a level-up cap of 50, so it’s not as if you have a limitless supply – you have to plan well in advance. By level 15, your start getting more comfortable, but then you realized you will have to specialize in a single tech line, or in one or two spell schools, if you want to unlock one of the highest tech or spells. Or give up on both magic and tech altogether because you need these points in your basic skills. Frankly, if it was not for all the other positive reviews and the fact I paid for this game, I would have given up on it.

I discovered this game in my very early teens around 2005 and could not make heads or tails of it. But the world drew me in so much that I could not stop playing it and finally leared what's what. I come back to it every few years or so to remember how absolutely fun Arcanum is, and how infuriatingly broken it is. Buyer beware - even with Drog's unofficial patch it's still... janky. But if you're willing to give it a try and overcome the bugs when they pop up, you're in for an amazing adventure.

extremely enormous dialog for diverse situations. More complex than common DnD games.

Maybe it's the rose tinted glasses talking, but I played it before, and I still love it now. I forgot so much of the story that I only remember the main twist; but on revisiting this classic, I got so much more of the nuances. The... "bodyguard making factory"... was a particualry dark questline. Although a lot of the modern features that we're used to isn't in this game, do stick with it. Also, get the fan patch. You have no idea how much better the fan patch makes this. This is one story you'll have to exprience to understand.