Nox™

This game was westwood's answer to Diablo 3's release date being pushed back several times. The idea was to wait for diablo 3 to come out, wait until everyone was over it and release NOX. Unfortunately westwood was running out of funds and had EA nipping at their heels, so they were forced to release the game early and with little advertisement. This was also the age of everquest, so the only way you would have known about NOX was to walk into a store and pick the game because the box looked cool, or you played a demo put out by PCaccelerator ... Which is what I did, the demo blew my mind even though it was only a multiplayer showcase of only one class with only a few abilities. The actual game was fantastic, I get bored of games easy, but I've played through each character at least 3 times, there was also a sort of rough expansion for the game which I believe was released before it was finished, but it came with some of the shelf copies. Sadly, once EA took over westwood, the game died after a short, obscure life, and EA refuses to support the game in any way. I've been hoping against hope that someday, someone would remake NOX, I would kickstart the crap out of it.

I'm sure Nox itself is a great game and was eager to try it after watching Grim Beard's review but I've tried a bunch of compatibility settings and can't get the freaking game past the opening cinematic without crashing, and sometimes it crashes before the opening cinematic has even finished. I get the same "blinking" issue other people are reporting so this is a common problem.

It was not the game I played the most, nor the game I remember the best. But it was the first to truly enchant me. Though Hack & Slash games were never my big thing, Nox I could (and can still) play for hours. There's something about it, even to this day, and I can not put my finger on what it is, but it's there.

I like the atmosphere of the game, it has an innocent graphic style, a simple but captivating story, 3 well-balanced classes (as far as I've played, I haven't finished the game yet) and it's a lot of fun. The game is very linear at the beginning, I believe it is completely linear, but it has very different beginnings for each class. I really like it, I just recommend that you look for a fix that is easy to find on the internet to stabilize the menu on newer systems (Windows 10 and 11).

This game comes from a time when "you're the hero of a fantasy world go and save it" was still not cliché, but still it has enough fresh and interesting things to cautivate anyone who pays attention and doesn't play it like it was a modern game or expect as such. Still this game impresses in the creativity department because of it's gameplay and world, it has many mechanics that even today are not common in games. It has a bestiary which you need to fill to gain info and advantages (like mind control) by collecting scrolls. The summoning/pet system is simple and useful. It has item durability, which makes you always consider having a spare weapon. There's tons of loot and things to buy. There are many side activities Entire towns to explore FREELY The world is populated and feels alive, an example of this is that when you walk past a tavern you can hear the peoples ruckus, but the moment you enter they shut up and look at you (as you would expect them to do when a stranger walks in) Exploration rewards you from things like experience to powerful spells/items. There are 3 starts but at a certain point the story is the same. I find this to be a Win because I hate having to play through a game several times to get the experience of all characters. I rather just experience the start again and if I like it I can simple get to that point and drop it if I'm not feeling the new class. Overall, this game is freaking amazin and kicks ass now as it did back in the day.