Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

100 or More Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Masterpiece"

While this opinion is often classified with the otherwise fantastic Fallout: New Vegas, I consider Arcanum: Of Steamworks & Magick Obscura to be the true successor to Fallout 1 & 2. Everything that made both games fantastic is here; the feeling of emptiness, the freedom, the interface, the combat (when it's turn based, that is), & the options that truly give a sense of role-playing. The exploration was great, the combat was rewarding, & its an overall addicting game that more RPG developers who love sprawling open worlds should be trying to replicate. The soundtrack is also truly exceptional.


Gameplay: Arcanum begins with you creating your character, choosing from a Human, a Dwarf, a Gnome, a Halfling, a Half Orc, a Half-Ogre, an Elf, or a Half-Elf. Attributes, technological skills, magical aptitudes, and background traits, or the player may choose a predefined character. Over the course of the game, the character may improve his or her skills by gaining experience through completing quests or defeating opponents in combat. Every time the player gains a level, he can spend one character point to level up an attribute, weapon skill, technological discipline, school of magic, thievery skill, or a social skill. Every fifth level, one additional character point is awarded for a total of 64 character points. You can only control one character directly when exploring but can get party members during the game depending on your faction alignment & the way you handle conversations.

You have the choice of specializing in constructing weapons, ammunition, and items from various components; magic professions which emphasizes spellcasting; or just learning both magic and technology skills, which allows the most flexibility. Arcanum uses a meter to show whether you repent magic or technological evolution; any character points spent on a technological discipline or skill move the aptitude meter towards the technology side and any points spent on spells move it towards the magical side.

Arcanum centers around exploring a fantasy steampunk environment while discovering new locations & interacting with NPCs in real time. There are various quests in which the player may choose to solve in order to acquire items, experience points, or new followers. Many quests offer multiple solutions for the player, depending on his playing style, which mostly revolves around violence, persuasion, thievery, or bribery.

The combat in Arcanum can be altered to real-time (which I don't recommend, as it was forced in), turn-based, or a "faster" form of turn-based combat. Your professions in combat depend on which stats you upgrade & which weapons you use.

Arcanum, as mentioned, is a sandbox RPG that bears a lot to Tim Cain's revolutionary spiritual predecessors. There's a lack of places of interest such as cities & towns. The map however, is bigger than Fallout's; including an Elder Scrolls style travel system.

Story: The IFS Zephyr, a luxury Zeppelin, is shot down by two Half-Ogre bandits piloting monoplanes. A senior Gnome laying under some charred debris gives you a ring and tells you to bring it to "the boy" and dies. You're the only survivor of the crash and are proclaimed as "The Living One," a holy reincarnate by the witness, Virgil; who you'll travel with later throughout the game. Through the course of the plot, you'll uncover the origins of the Ring that's under your possession, Arcanum's history, & the reasons for your assassins.

Graphics: The character portraits look solid, as does the interface. But everything else looks bland, washed out, & "flat". The graphics didn't effect the gameplay drastically, they just do their job & that's all they need to do in games like these.

Sound: The sound effects feel "sparse" & the guns don't sound "beefy" enough. However, this is completely forgiven by the phenomenal voice acting. The soundtrack, despite re-usual, never gets repetitive because of how well its done and how it amazingly fits the setting.


Platform(s): PC Exclusive

ESRB Rating: Mature (Blood, Mature Sexual Themes, Violence)

System Requirements: 200 MHz Intel Pentium CPU, 32 MB RAM, 8 MB video card VGA card (minimum 4 MB RAM), 4X CD-ROM drive, DirectX 7.0, 16-bit Directx compatible sound card, 1.2 GB available hard disk space, Windows 95