Over the last week I have been playing my way through a CRPG by the long winded name of Arcanum Of Steamworks & Magick Obscura, henceforth known as Arcanum, and I must say as someone who is not the biggest fan of Iso-RPGS it was one of the most fun gaming experiences I have had in quite some time. Beating the game for the first time is only half of the fun. The real fun is learning how to break the game through exploitation of the switchable real time and turn based combat systems among other mechanics that aren’t told to the player lest they read the 180+ page manual.
Only by the end of my first playthrough did I find out that by holding ALT the player can attack nearly every object in the game. Don’t have a key to that iron door? Punch it until it falls off its hinges. Don’t have a key to the chest you found inside? Kick through it in an attempt to reveal its precious contents. Avoid internal combustion induced by the magicks that were being used to trap said chest. Surely a treasure protected through such measures must be incredibly value or powerful.
Its a toy train.
You went through all that to find a child’s toybox, locked up to stop them from playing. What madman would trap his child’s toybox! You may never know. But you will take that toy train, a treasure you will keep until the end credits because it reminds you of a valuable lesson. Nothing is as it seems, stay cautious and abuse your surroundings until they bend to your will.
The game starts with the player surviving a catastrophe, the crash of the IFS Zephyr. The maiden voyage of the first airship the world has ever seen on its travels from the city of Caladon to the city of Tarant. It is attacked by terrorists on this voyage and crashes in a mountain range with you as the only survivor. A dying gnome, trapped under metallic debris, asks that you return an ornate ring to “the boy” and not one to turn down the last request of a dying man you accept. Only to be faced with many choices to sell this ring immediately arriving in the first hamlet on your journey.
I don’t know what happens if you actually return the ring to its rightful owner as I was duped into believing the lies of a gnome, assuming he was aforementioned ‘boy’ I sold the ring to him for a measly 25 gold only on leaving the area did I encounter this gnome again asking me if I had spoken to anyone about the crash, I hadn’t and I told him as such, for him only then to reveal a dagger and start slashing away at me. In response I withdrew my revolver and blasted his head clean off. I couldn’t retrieve the ring and I was left with more questions than I knew what to do with.
Knowing what I knew from my first playthrough I didn’t make that mistake and after obliterating the cranial matter of this gnome for a second time I used my knowledge to venture to an end game area, acquiring a super powerful long rifle and then playing from there. This character has lead me to focus more heavily on technology, steamworks as it were, instead of the more balanced build I had initially. The focus on technology throws a new challenge into the game, as Arcanum has an interesting take on the relationship between magick and technology. In this world they cannot coexist and in modern society I am able to do many things with my knowledgeable tinkering but out in the field I cannot rely on my party healer, his healing spells don’t work on me. Instead I must rub my augmented dwarven body in healing salve and slither through dungeons cautiously even knowing what is inside.
Arcanum is a game of action, mystery and exploitation, the exploration into excellence I would expect Troika Games. It is well worth playing and for less than £5 its a bargain to boot.
9/10
Cameron's Considerations 
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