Classic: Troika's first effort
When you see the intro movie, where a steel armor clad knight pulls a revolver and shoots a sword-totting foe running at him, you know you are in for one heck of a ride.
The game is basically set in late 1800s, in a fantasy world being invaded by the industrial revolution in all its glory: trains, steam, guns, technology and change.
The fact that it was created by (now defunct) Troika Games, consisting of Tim Cain (Fallout, Fallout 2), Jason Anderson (Fallout) and Leanoard Boyarsky (now works for Blizzard) only adds to the excitement.
Arcanum offers huge game world, where you are completely free to chose any play style you desire. In line with the Fallout games, the system is a class-less system, that lets you specialize in melee, magic, technology (guns! molotov cocktails!), or do a mismatch as you see fit. The possibilities are endless: characters react differently to you, based on your gender, skills (magic vs. tech), intelligence, race etc. Want to play as a dumb ogre? go right ahead, but expect people to take advantage of you. Want to play as a slick, diplomatic gun-slinger ?no problem, you might talk your way out of situations (instead of fighting a band of thieves you can convince them to leave - and then kill them).
For a first play through, choosing the good old strong ogre melee character might be advisable. Arcanum is an enormous game with little to no hand-holding, and you wlll die alot (this is a old-school trial-and-error game). This is in partially due to the fast-paced combat, which unfortunately is one of the game's weaker points. Its a mix between turn-based, realtime and a strange amalgam of both, neither of which seems very usable. The obvious option is using realtime for easier foes, and turn-based when things get tough. But neither seems very satisfying, and battles often ending in frantic affairs with characters both dropping their weapons and loosing consciousness within a matter of seconds.
There are other rough spots in the game, because it is just so huge. It seems that Troika had an enormous vision going into production, and some elements could have used polish. This includes a lack of balance for certain type of play-styles. Technology characters are harder to play than magic and melee, because most gear in the game is magical. It also takes substantially longer time for the former to become strong. Moreover, various bugs breaks a few quest, adding this unfinished feel to certain aspects of the game (but most of this was handled with patches).
That being said, it is difficult to hide my excitement for this game. It is probably my 2nd favorite title after Fallout 1+2. It has a unique world, countless hours of experimenting...dont be afraid to consult online guides though. Its the only possible way to discover all this game has to offer.
The Pros:
- A huge variety of characters, classes and meaningful choices. Role-play exactly the way you want: be a big ugly female orc or a charismatic gun-slinging dwarf.
- beautifully crafted victorian game world with guns, trains, wizards and magic.
- amazing story that is both exciting, surprising, funny and original at once
The cons
- Combat feels slapped together and rushed: not very satisfying
- building tech characters is WAY harder than melee or magic characters: seems like an unfinished part of the game
- Music is beautiful but not very varied
- Voice acting is SUPERB: but sparse
Bottomline
- such a great game. Should be a part of any Fallout/Tim Cain fan's collection.