Arcanum Updated Preview

Magick meets technology in Arcanum.

Several months ago, we brought you an in-depth preview of Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura, the forthcoming role-playing game from Troika Games. Troika was founded by Tim Cain, the designer of the highly acclaimed 1997 postapocalyptic RPG, Fallout. Since our last preview, we've had time to play a more finished version of the game, and we can now flesh out some of the details from our previous story. Here's a little background and updated information.

Arcanum is set in a fantasy universe unlike any other. It's a far cry from the high fantasy of a Dungeons & Dragons game, and yet many conventional fantasy elements remain intact; but moreover, Arcanum is a world where technology and magic - or magick, as it is called in the game - clash in the infancy of a new era. The world of Arcanum is at a crossroads. Magick, so long the guiding force of the universe, has to contend with an upstart discipline called technology, which threatens to make magick obsolete and change the very way the world lives. What makes the gameworld so interesting is that it is, in many ways, like the Victorian era of the 19th century. The technology here is steam technology - Arcanum is filled with lots of gears, clockworks, and huge steam-driven engines - not the futuristic gadgetry and electronics of those in a game like Final Fantasy VII. The steam technology is in its infancy, so there is a lot of new territory to be discovered. It's a "steampunk" industrial revolution that is meant to clash violently with the world's ordinary fantasy conventions. In fact, the dichotomy between magick and technology is the heart of the game, and you'll eventually have to choose to cling to the old magick or embrace this newfangled science.

The game features real-time and turn-based combat options.

In Arcanum, you play as an individual who is the reincarnated form of a great elven hero - or so he's told by the followers of the Panarii religion. In the very beginning of the game, you are lounging in a luxurious dirigible - a sort of Victorian pleasure ship in the skies - when suddenly it is ambushed by orcs in biplanes. You are the sole survivor of the resulting crash and are found by a monk named Virgil, who not only tells you about your former life, but also implies that you have a great destiny before you. You then set out on your journey to find out who you are. It's not unlike the way Planescape: Torment and Baldur's Gate start out. In Arcanum, you also don't know who you really are (as in Torment), yet apparently you're important (as in Baldur's Gate), so throughout the game, you'll be harassed by evil cults who would rather not see this great elven hero (you) resurrected. However, you'll find that Arcanum does not play like these recent D&D RPGs and is actually more similar to Fallout.