Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura

mouse becomes frozen from time to time

Back when writing and mechanics were valued more than graphics, we got games like this. Hillariously janky at times with fantatically abusuably systems, but oozing charm at every turn. I wish this had gotten more love, with possibility of user created content, mods and campaigns. GOG has this running remarakably well "out of the box" but I would reccomend getting the unofficial patch to smooth out the experience further. RIP Troika games, this is a masterpiece.

Little bit of a slow burn, but the build making is fantastic

One of my favorite games from the golden age of RPGs. It has it's quirks, but once you get going it's a great game. Good story, simple mechanics, interesting setting. Although the base game is good, look into the UAP patch, it's mandatory for the best Arcanuam experience. In a similar category as Planescape: Torment, BG 1 & 2, among others. Definitely a good value at five bucks.

The excellence of this game overwhelm its shortcomings, it still deserves 5 stars. The worldbuilding, role play and reactivity to your character are all absolutely amazing. I'm a combat -junkie gamer, being enthusiastically into a game without good combat is something that just doesn't happen. The fun factor is still there, it's not *just* interesting and well written. I burn hours without noticing every day. The biggest flaw and missed opportunity is magic consisting of a small handful of useful to totally broken spells and a ton of impractical to completely useless ones, you have to learn them in order for each college's 5, forcing you to waste level ups with spells you won't ever use to get to the few you'll always use. Tech has a similar problem, and of course those are the things I bought the game for and probably why you're considering it, so it should be a deal breaker, right? But it's not, and that's the caliber of worldbuilding and RP we're talking about here.