I played and replayed the entire Geneforge series dozens of times, and the first chapter was always my favourite; this remake is a fantastic opportunity to make an old jewel shine once more! If you have never played the original: give it a try, without any doubt! You'll wander an abandoned isle of scientists/magicians as an apprentice, meet out-of-control experiments, be tempted by the dark side, choose between stealth and combat, and position yourself anywhere in the range between zealot and anarchist. If instead you are not new to the shaping arts: enjoy all the greatness of Geneforge I, with some significant differences: 1) Creations now feel more like creations and less like pets. Your cryodrake just died in a tough fight? no problem, with enough essence you can recreate it at exactly the same level. I even stopped giving them names. Your degree of control over the creations also depends on the level you decide at the shaping time. 2) New upgradable artifacts 3) Bonus creation, fun to use, you can make it early on but need to go much later through a tough fight to properly control it 4) Few new inhabitants of your favourite barred island
This game is an impossibly rare combination of isometric eye-candy, good story, morally difficult decisions, interesting companions, voice acting and more. I absolutely recommend it to any fan of good old games like Baldur's Gate, especially to chaotic good players (enjoy dealing with dark-side zealots and lunatics). For the mage types, you will be able to create and later improve your own spells depending on discovered knowledge and character stats, which I found quite nice. Most Items can be upgraded, and you can research and craft new items as well. I loved the pop-up lore system, that allows for fluid conversations (references that the character would get, but the player wouldn't, are explained by hoovering the mouse on certain names). Also nice is the experience system: you use a staff with frost damage and you get frost proficiency, you climb a wall and you get athletics, you train some skill at a trainer and you get XP. I would have preferred more dungeons, but you can't have everything... For those concerned about the "short game" reviews, my playthrough was 42 h (occasionally skipping a dialog line or two)
The game offers the same dilemmas, good writing, quirks as usual for Spiderwebsoftware games, but also an innovative level-up system intertwined with fort management (you may love it or hate it but it is refreshing). The graphics may look like a step back, even with respect to older games like Geneforge, but I slowly got used to it: in the end it is another interesting differentiating point for this title, and it contributes to the overall atmosphere. What I also find interesting is the challenge of running out of mana to complete a dungeon, with the enemies respawning if you go back for a quick nap, and a complete lack of mana potions until late in the game. In summary: definitely give it a try. Should you not like it, you'll still have experienced something quite unique
