Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura

[Magus]

eriously one of the funnest games I've ever played.

As the sole survivor of a sky pirate attack on the airship Zephyr, you're charged by a dying gnome with finding the owner of a ring, or " the evil one will destroy the shit out of the world" (ad-lib). Soon afterwards a dude named Virgil shows up and proclaims you the Chosen One, destined to defeat the Evil One (and all that jazz), since you're the sole survivor. And then somebody immediately tries to assassinate you because you're the Chosen One! Can you figure out who the hell owns this ring before all is lost? And why is Virgil such a loser? Journey into the cool-ass world of Arcanum!

Arcanum is a lot like Fallout (in fact it was made by some of the same people), but instead of a sci-fi, post-apocalyptic affair, Arcanum is set in a steampunk setting vaguely reminiscent of Victorian England a lot of the time (but with Ogres, Orcs, Dwarves, etc.). You can choose to pursue magical spells, technological skills, or walk the line between. Like Fallout, there is a heavy level of customization with your character. In fact, it's actually much higher than with Fallout at the lower levels, since there are a dozen types of magic and eight types of technology that you can upgrade yourself in (spell colleges such as Air, Earth, Fire but also Black and White Necromancy as well as Nature, Temporal, and Summoning, and technological schools such as Firearms, Explosives, Electrical, Mechanics, Blacksmithing, Herbology, Chemistry, etc.). There are more spells than technology, but technology lets you build your own cool weaponry and armor (like putting an engine muffler on a revolver to make a silence pistol or making an electrical stun stick). Of course, as a mage-like character, you can take better advantage of magical weapons and armor, so there are distinct trade-offs. You can also upgrade various skills like Bow skills, Pickpocketing, Lock picking, Prowling, Backstabbing, Dodging, Throwing weapons, etc, as well as your various stats (Strength, Charisma, Perception, etc.). Plus take advantage of various racial and gender statistical changes (there are 8 races: human, elf, dwarf, gnome, halfling, half-elf, half-orc, and half-ogre), which can also affect how the world looks and treats you (dwarves don't get along well with elves, and half-orcs are spit on by the majority of society). Combine all of this with a very non-linear quest format (very similar to Fallout but with even more options), and you have an incredibly diverse set of ways you can play through the game.

Now, I've played both Fallout 1 and 2, and I have to say I've enjoyed Arcanum a lot more, at least in these first hours of playing it. Fallout rapidly became boring to me: there were only ten regular skills to upgrade in the game, there was no magic system to play with, you can't really make your own stuff without a LOT of leveling, etc. Perks were a neat element of Fallout that are mostly missing from Arcanum (you can give your character a single perk when you start the game, such as "Raised by Snake Handlers", which makes you more resistant to poison in exchange for lowering some of your stats, or "Bandit" which starts you out with no money but a high-quality revolver, or "Beaten with an Ugly Stick" which gives you some advantages but lowers your beauty by an extreme), but overall the options and fun to be had in Arcanum seems to be way more fun than Fallout. Fallout bored me to death once I got the best weapons (combat shotgun and super sniper rifle, for instance), and became just a grind fest. There is a lot more emphasis on finding alternate ways through the quests in Arcanum (such as pickpocketing keys, agreeing to steal something very valuable for someone then inform the owner who put you up to it so they kill each other, etc.), and while these existed in Fallout, as well, they seem much more involved and non-linear in Arcanum.

Overall, I'd give Arcanum something like a 9 out of 10, and the lack of a perfect score is mainly just due to the fact that the game takes a while to master (even the basic interface is confusing at first), not to mention that most western RPGs kind of annoy me with the fact that you miss hitting stuff all the time (but this is common to basically every single one of them, and it's not a big deal after a while). Arcanum is just a sweet, sweet game.

So where did I pick this game up? I wouldn't recommend trying to find a boxed version, as it might cost you an arm and a leg (or not, I don't really know). I bought it and downloaded it off of GOG (Good Old Games) when it was on sale for 2.99. It's probably back up to its regular price of 5.99, but I can assure you that if you enjoyed Fallout or games similar to it you're going to enjoy the heck out of Arcanum.

So has anyone else played this game? How did you think it stacked up against Fallout? I will say that although I enjoy it more than Fallout 1 and 2, Fallout has a much more original setting. Arcanum reminds me of dozens of fantasy books (though with the best elements of each).