Arcanum Impressions

Previews usually come in the “it’s too early to tell” variety, focusing on the story, features and visual splendor… and occasionally a questionable element. Less often though, a game will have one or two apparent “flaws” and it detracts from the overall positive nature of the preview because the writers are forced to take one of two directions – the pros first, then the cons, or in reverse… cons coming before pros. Of course they can just ignore them but usually don’t, which brings me to a game typical to the second scenario described above: a deep-looking single-player RPG with one element that the press is giving a lot of feedback on, the game Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura.

Gamerush puts out a detailed account of the press release beta, that fits the pros-then-cons type of preview style. Here’s some positive flavoring:

Moving around the Arcanum world is pretty easy with the help of the map system. There is a world map which you can zoom in and out of to help find you bearings. On the map there are key locations which you can move to by clicking on the destination. This means your character will jump to that location quickly and save you having to travel the great distance in real-time. Each location on the map will tell you the amount of time it takes to travel so days can pass quickly while in transit. The Arcanum world is pretty large and there will be a lot of moving around between locations, thankfully the map system works well.

With Fallout and its sequel hitting such a bullseye with gamers, I think the relationship this game has to that… being in a wasteland type of world, deep stats, isometric, washed out colors, a lot of dialogue… the media is being a little more critical of it. However, this is not to say in the least that the game doesn’t deserve any criticizing; we all want it to be the best it can be, because it shows promise.