Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura
Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura | |
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Single-player, multiplayer |
Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura is a
The game proved a commercial success for Troika following its release, selling over 200,000 copies and generating revenue of over
Gameplay
Gameplay in Arcanum consists of traveling through the game world, visiting locations and interacting with the local inhabitants, typically in real-time. Occasionally, inhabitants will require the player's assistance in various tasks, which the player may choose to solve in order to acquire special items,
Combat
Three combat modes were included in the final release of the game: real-time, turn-based, and a faster version of turn-based. Arcanum's combat design has received some levels of criticism, with reviews usually stating that it is poorly balanced and frantic.[5] The player's combat capabilities are in large part governed by the character's combat skills and weapons. Attacking is performed automatically by clicking on a hostile NPC provided that they are in range of the attack.
Combat skills that the player character can choose from include
Character creation
Arcanum begins with the player creating their character, choosing from a large and unique variety of races, 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 their skills by gaining
Player characters have the choice of specializing in a technological path which emphasizes constructing weapons, ammunition, and items from various components; a magical path which emphasizes spellcasting; or a neutral path, learning both magic and technology skills, which allows the most flexibility. The game uses a meter to show how biased towards magic or technology the player is; 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. Character points spent on attributes or any other skills do not alter the aptitude meter.[9][10] A high aptitude toward technology renders the character resistant or immune to magic (both harmful and beneficial) and also greatly decreases the character's ability to use magic effectively and limits the effectiveness of magical items. A high magical aptitude increases the effects of the character's magic and the power of magical items they equip, but technological items they equip will be subject to malfunctions, reflected in an increasingly higher chance of the character critically failing in combat, which can have devastating effects.
Modules
The game, like its successors in the Neverwinter Nights series, features "modules"; the ability to create custom maps and missions using an editor included with the game. Already included with the game is Vormantown,[11] and a number of official modules are also available.
Synopsis
Setting
Arcanum is the name of the fantasy world in which the game unfolds. It consists of a continental mainland and three
An important in-game dynamic is the
Orcs and ogres are looked down upon as
Plot
Arcanum begins with a
Arcanum is an example of a
The game is also notable for being possible to complete in everything from a completely pacifist to a completely violent way. The player can, technically, kill every person they meet and still complete the game, even the very first companion they meet at the start of the game - if the person was an important NPC with plot information to divulge, they will carry that information with them in the form of a journal or the like.[20] Likewise, the player is technically able to avoid combat altogether from start to finish, and can defeat even the final boss of the game without using violence (although this requires certain conditions to be fulfilled to be possible to do). Most players will of course fall somewhere between these two extremes, but the possibility is unusual for a role-playing game and also something that remains popular with fans.[20]
Development
Arcanum's public
The latest official
Design
Arcanum's large,
The game comes packaged with an editor, called WorldEdit, that allows players to create their own maps, campaigns, and NPCs. The program allows any game-world object to be input into existing and newly created environments via GUI menus. Editing can be done in either isometric or top-down views. Players have charge over the game's variables, such as the skill level required to pick a certain lock or the precise time that an electric light will turn on. Players are also able to create brand new objects via the scenery creator.[29]
Sequel
In a 2000 interview with Nextgame.it, Tim Cain announced plans for an Arcanum sequel,[30] but these plans would not come to pass—Troika Games filed for dissolution on September 30, 2005.
In September 2006, one of Arcanum's lead programmers and co-founder of Troika, Leonard Boyarsky, divulged that the studio had originally commenced work on a sequel, going by the working title of Journey to the Centre of Arcanum, which would use Valve's
In 2023, Cain told that the game took inspiration from Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth and it would have taken place underground. In the story, the player character would be hired by the wife of Franklin Payne to find her husband. Payne had gone on an underground expedition in a search for an ancient civilization after building a drilling machine. During the game, the player would find a special ore that allows to create items where magic and technology could be combined without conflict.[32]
Soundtrack
Composed by
Reception
Sales
Writing for
Arcanum ultimately sold 234,000 copies and drew revenues of $8.8 million by February 2005. It was Troika Games' most commercially successful release by that date. The website GameDaily characterized its commercial performance as substandard, and as a contributing factor to the studio's closure in 2005.[43]
Critical reviews
Aggregator | Score |
---|---|
GameRankings | 78%[44] |
Metacritic | 81/100[45] |
Publication | Score |
---|---|
GameRevolution | B−[23] |
GameSpot | 7.3 out of 10[13] |
GameSpy | 89 out of 100[46] |
GameZone | 90 out of 100[47] |
IGN | 8.7 out of 10[48] |
Next Generation | [49] |
PC Gamer (US) | 90 out of 100[50] |
RPGFan | 86 out of 100[51] |
Publication | Award |
---|---|
IGN | Editors' Choice |
GameZone | Editors' Choice |
Carla Hacker reviewed the game for Next Generation, rating it four stars out of five, and stated that "An in-depth and engaging role-playing game that deviates from the traditional fantasy setting."[49]
Arcanum received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[45]
The game received two Editor's Choice Awards from IGN[52] and GameZone[47] with scores of 8.7 out of 10 and 90 out of 100, respectively. IGN stated that "the story is rich and complex",[48] praising the character creation, open-ended gameplay, and size of the game world.[48] They also praised the game for its responsiveness to the player: "A well-adjusted Elf may get more information out of an aristocrat than a surly Half-Ogre, and the conversations you have will be completely different."[48] IGN did, however, criticize its interface, calling it "[not] very intuitive, bordering on downright clunky"[48] and the in-game user interface "takes up over a third of the screen".[48] Gamezone called it a RPG with "some extra bite",[47] also praising the character creation and gameplay, stating, "This one will be on your PC for months".[47] Additionally, they praised the "incredible range of equipment that ranges from standard[s] such as swords and armor to rags and coal and empty cans".[47]
The game also received praise from
GameSpot gave the game a rating of 7.3 out of 10, calling it a "captivating and immersive role-playing experience"[13] and praising the setting as a "great concept".[13] Their review, however, was adverse on the claim of lackluster graphics, and unintuitive interface as the main criticisms: "There's nothing flattering about the dated, washed-out, low-resolution graphics".[13]
The editors of
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