Well, nigh-timeless - sure, there's an element of jank with very cheeseable melee combat, constant churning from gameplay to inventory to switch weapons suited for per-enemy tactics, etc., but the undeniable pull of this game beyond and through all that is a testament to its glory! Even in 2024 its delightful what kind of visual polishes have been added back in 1996, and I simply yearn for the original writer to somehow return to this series and finish this stellar narrative, the style of which is just immeasurably pleasurable narration and dialogue between the characters in a gleefully over-dramatic, gothic fantasy vein. In balance to its alternatingly very hard difficulty the game offers plentiful secrets to find that more than make up for the harder challenges in an explosive change of pace with all the bonus spells and items you can use to blow through otherwise daunting bits.
