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game

2001

Arcanum: of Steamworks and Magick Obscura

Tonight at a glance

Platforms
PC
Mode
Single player · Multiplayer · Co-operative
Age rating
PEGI 12
Violence
Moderate
Frights
None

Why tonight?

  • Reviewed better than most games in the catalogue.

The story

Imagine a place of wonder,where magic and technology hold equal sway, and an adventurer might just as easily wield a flintlock pistol as a flaming sword. A place where great industrial cities house castle keeps and factories, home to Dwarves, Humans, Orcs and Elves alike. A place of ancient runes and steamworks, of magic and machines, of sorcery and science. Arcanum is the first game to come from the development house Troika Games, LLC, started by former Fallout team members Tim Cain, Leonard Boyarsky, and Jason Anderson. This team takes the depth of gameplay and world-building in role-playing games to entirely new levels of realism and excitement. Arcanum creates a compelling new world where magic and technology coexist in an uneasy balance. As Arcanum opens, the mechanical age has only recently arrived in this ancient land where Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Orcs and other races have learned to survive in the new sprawling industrialized cities. But this radical shift from magic to technology has created a potentially explosive situation. As the townspeople and other thinkers begin mass production of light bulbs, batteries, eyeglasses and guns, the Mages grow leery. This tightly wound setting is the starting point from which the character must set out on his quest.

  • Fantasy
  • Science fiction
  • Open world
  • magic
  • summoning support
  • crafting
  • elves
  • steampunk
  • multiple endings
  • artificial intelligence

The look

A few frames, chosen rather than collected.

Production

Rating
89 / 100 · 136 players
Developer
Troika Games
Publisher
Sierra Entertainment, Activision