Arcanum released in 2001* mixed up the years with Troika's second game which released in 2003. Apologies!

Words can’t even begin to describe how much I love this game. I was 13 when the game came out and played it to death. It helped me get through some tough times in my younger years. I kept playing it through my 20’s and I played this on both my tours to Iraq when I was in the military. I actually still play it to this day. I’ve got a factory sealed physical copy of it along with a bunch of posters and swag they had for advertising. It may not be a perfect game and it definitely has its flaws. But damn this game would have been an instant classic if they were allowed to finish it and give it the final polish it deserved. That sound track is amazing, the world feels alive, the story although slow is brilliant. The big twist near the end was excellent and caught me off guard. The history and lore that is just briefly touched upon makes you want to know more. The elder scrolls has deep and interesting lore but I think Arcanum in my opinion is way more interesting. It’s like trying to figure out what happened to the lost city of Atlantis. My advice to the newbies is, just try and keep an open mind remember this game is almost 20 years old. If you power through the janky combat and UI you will be well rewarded with story. It gets playable once you know what you’re doing. I promise.

I’m 56 years old and played this upon release. Loved it then and still today! Thanks for covering it!

This is a FANTASTIC game! A remake could be so cool.

getting to the final boss and passing a charisma check to convince him that he is wrong and he responds by agreeing and killing himself is the most memorable boss fight I've done in all these years

I will NEVER NOT click on videos talking about Arcanum. What an absolute gem.

Now what is really important to know is that you can brake most things by attacking them - including chests and doors - which supplements lockpicking. Would've appreciated that hint some 14 years ago))

16:55 well hasn't that aged well! Good news, Microsoft bought Activision Blizzard and so have a right on Arcanum, moreover Jason Anderson, Leonard Boyarsky and Timothy Cain are working for Microsoft, not to mention other people on Obsidian. While chances aren't that high, but in my opinion they rised up a ten fold! Ironic, Gilbert Bates was one of a key figure in Arcanum plot line and irl Gate's company could become one to save Arcanum once again.

What I find quite astonishing is the amount of work they put in the dialogues. The game is not only rich with dialogues, but there's also a bunch of variations of those dialogues, to reflect your character's intelligence (and charisma, iirc), as well as the NPC reactions to that, and also to the way your character is dressed, among other things. I can't imagine the total amount of text they had to write.

One of the games I played the most in my teenage years with Morowind. Hours and hours spent trying to find the engine to build the spider mech.

I was 13 years old when I first got to know this game. A friend recommended it during a LAN party and I fell immediately in love with it, even more so than I did with Diablo. One day I hope we'll see a remake of this lovely game ❤

It's insane how huge this game was for me. I've replayed it in every possible way I could find. How excited was I when I've found yet another new quest or follower after many replays! To this day I feel the pride from back when I solved the gods quest based on the info in the books!

Would LOVE to see you do a story series on this game, the ending is PHENOMENAL and would really love to hear your take on it.

Tim Cain's channel has a few videos about what a second Arcanum game would be about. Hopefully it happens sometimes, since it's all under one roof now (even Activision!)

This 38 years old is now 15 again and playing this unbelievably awesome game. Even till this day with all its many flaws it still ranks among my top ten of all time. Goddamn nostalgia is a powerful thing. Ty for the trip down memory lane.

"There's turn-based and real time with pause, and the game does both of them terribly" 🤣

Love this game! My favorite build is moderate intelligence (12), high charisma elf. Max out both White and Black Necromancy schools, and the one that let's you teleport between marked locations (I forget what it's called). Also max out melee, dodge, and persuasion. This let's you talk your way out of most situations, spam the heck out of Harm for when you can't, and then you can fight like a fiend with your mini army of loyal companions when all else fails.

I love this game! I've played it so many times and wish they would remake it. My all time favorite RPG. Has so many ideas that I've not seen done since

My playthrough of Arcanum I played an approximation of my D&D character (as I do with most fantasy RPGs). He's a pretty standard barbarian hero type character so I just built a melee build and only used barbarian armor. The game was a really tough start but once my character could beat the thugs that attack you in The Boil of Tarant the game took a pretty sharp decline in difficulty and once I reached 20 strength and dexterity it was a cake walk. One of the things you didn't mention was that some enemies damage your armor when they attack you *and* damage your weapon when you attack them. There were some enemies where I found it more efficient to just attack them barehanded and naked rather than risk them destroying my weapons and armor.

I'm so glad I didn't quit this game after the first frustrations back when I was 14. This game was an amazing experience, especially storywise. The game has many flaws but damn is it worth it to look past them. Thanks for bringing those fantastic memories back to life !

This is the game that ignited my love for RPG games. Before Arcanum I just played whatever I managed to get, then I got this game. I had absolutely no idea wtf am i doing, I remember running from the place of crash to first village.. It took like 3 hours. Good times.

So glad you enjoyed it. Maybe one day we'll get the follow up it deserves

Such a cool asf concept via the steampunk-fantasy hybrid mesh and yet I haven't seen ANYONE use this for another game.

I remember playing this game back when it came out. I found the box in my attic and had totally forgotten the name of it. Great video.

I just caught your review tonight. You made a lot of great points! I initially purchased this game on GOG and, like you said, it's UI and Combat system caused me to loose interest fairly early in the game. Just trying to get past those thugs guarding the bridge...I recall the only way I could "win" that battle was to run away while in turn based mode and lead the thugs to the guards in town. I am going to try re-playing it and get a more focused character idea. I want to experience what others have in the past. I agree with you, given the greed of Activision and Microsoft, I doubt either will work together "for the fans" and make a proper sequel that might even surpass what the original game is if they clean up the EI and Combat/Magic system. Thank you for this review. I'm going to check out some more of your videos and most likely subscribe.

I played this game multiple times throughout the years and I've always sided more towards the Steampunk side, because I really loved the aesthetic and I can play magically inclined characters in pretty much every other RPG (Steampunk CRPG's are very few and far between). I played a Dwarf gunsmith wearing a steampunk full plate (at launch) and a melee/dodge half elf character wearing also a Steam Full Plate. I went diplomacy and on the half elf (high charisma) to persuade myself through almost the whole game. Thank you again for reviewing this wonderful game and show the newer generation of gamers how good these CRPG's used to be back in the day and the unfortunate state that current gaming cannot and will not go back to these types of games (with a few exceptions), because they are niche and if they are not multi million dollar sellers.

Fantastic game truly loved this one growing up and even now it still hangs in there as despite the flaws and there are many it just brings you back into it.

Many hours of fun with this. I think it will be on my list for a nostalgia replay this Christmas. Thanks for the reminder.

Love all the completionist content you do, my guy. Can’t be easy banging out all these great videos.

I'm so glad you reviewed this. This is one of my favorite fantasy games and it's always nice to see reviews of it pop up.

One of my most favourite RPGs ever :-) With the "Arcanum Multiverse Edition" -> Fantastic

Great work! Here tx to the great Tim Caine's channel, and I get why he likes your reviews!

One of the best RPG's out there. Amazing world design; not just the immersive steampunk flair, but also the small details such as the in-game religion, the political conflicts, the societal strife depicted, the magic vs tech rivalry. It is a "live" world; NPC *literally* go to bed at a certain time, and lock their doors and windows at night... because that's what people do. The world actively responds to the player's actions, its reputation and its inclinations. For a 20+ year old game, that was impressive! The video summed it up nicely, but it would be good to mention also the beautiful original soundtrack, done by a string quartet, nicely appropriate to the Victorian setting of the game. Also, the crafting system is very extensive and advanced for a game this old; new recipes are learned not only by levelling up said skills, but also by "activating" schematics acquired around the world. This adds a new dimension of gameplay for craft/tech-oriented characters, since many craftable items cannot actually be purchased like regular items. There are also small details and symbolism that adds to the immersion... an example? The main companion, Virgil, that the player character meets right at the start amongst the wreck of the downed zeppelin, acts literally as a guide in the early part of the game, much like that Virgil in the Divine Comedy which does the same thing for the poet Dante in his journey from Hell to Paradise. Truly a game done at a time when game developing was more of an art than a cold business, and the best developers was the one who created the best quality, standalone games to hook up players, without resorting to overblown adverts, ruinous microtransactions, or superfluous DLC's like they do now.

So.. Microsoft is purchasing Activision cD

The OG box set released in 2001. I'm lucky enough to be one of those that bought the box and still have the original manual that has lore and deep dives into the history and races and how they came to be. There is a reason why the world hates half orcs and half ogres haha. Such a gem of a game. The hook back then was the exploration and figuring out things for yourself. Maybe I've lived too long, but I miss these types of open world RPGs that never had waypoints or hand holders. I came from Asheron's Call 1, an mmorpg released in 1998 with zero hand holding and 100% original content. You had to figure things out for yourself. That was the fun and the freedom. Modern games seem to be made for lazy people with short attention spans and then people complain when campaigns are short and only 30 hours. You sound like a "modern" maybe gen z gamer. Would you get into a Dungeons and Dragons group without first reading the rule book and researching the races and alignments? The UI for its time was better than most. Back then every game had a manual and reading wasn't a problem it seems to be today. Remember it's 2001. Go two years earlier in 1999 and you are borderline dealing with msdos levels of scripting or direction arrow selecting, see simcity 2000 or 3000. This was a lower budget rushed massive rpg. Arcanum was one of those older generations of games where wondering around and figuring things out on your own like morrowind is half the fun. Furthermore, your comment about nothing to find in the wilderness is completely wrong. After 1000hrs in this game on the old disc copy, I can promise you, wandering around has perks. There are monuments and shrines and even cults you can run into. Abandoned farmsteads and homes that you find can provide a nice loot buff. If you are new or at all wanting a traditional rpg experience, make your combat turn based. Real time combat will wreck you. I want to re buy it on steam, does it still run okay on modern machines?

AHHHHH I’m so stoked you’re reviewing Arcanum!!! Thanks Mortim, hope you didn’t hate the jank too much 😂

In this game, I can do what I can do in NO OTHER GAME that I know of. My build is a super charismatic beautiful smooth talker. I recruit the maximum number of companions, using my talking skills to get great equipment prices and equip them as my private army and they fight, while I heal and buff. My character has no fighting skills, I am THE LEADER, my minions do the fighting. Name another game, any other game where that is a completely viable option. I LOVE THIS GAME, even today 20+ years after it came out arcanum is still one of the best RPG's ever made and it's a shame we will probably never see a sequel.

I always loved that this game was made by Tim Cain, really has its similarities to Fallout 1&2. Great game!!!

Ever going to play the Temple Of Elemental Evil? a pretty nice one by Troika as well.

Man, I played this game for the first time when I was around 8. I was 11 by the time I finished it for the first time!!! It was one of the best gaming experiences ever. I still replay the game once every 3 years or so.

Apart from the manual, there is also something called "Prima's official strategy guide" which literally reads like the Arcanum Player's Handbook.

One of my favourite games of all time.

You made me smile as I was watching this. Welcome to the small and niche community of ppl that have enjoyed this gem of a game. You know a gamer has enjoyed a game when they want for a sequel :). Sadly there will never be a sequel to Arcanum. But honestly, and as u mention as well, if its gonna be from Activision it may as well remain this way. I keep smiling thinking of just how far ahead of the rest Troika were. Systems that we enjoy nowadays wee being employed in the infancy era of gaming ! Its mind-blowing really the level of innovation Arcanum introduced... Thank you for an honest review of what to this day is one of my favorite games. Good video indeed

I love Arcanum. Cain, Boyarsky and Anderson did an amazing job. The makers of Fallout made lightning strike twice!

I still have the retail box and jewel case it came in. Unfortunately, the disc is well worn so it has a hard time reading at times. Thankfully, I got the digital version on GOG. The game was a lot of fun. I wasn't aware an unofficial patch came out for it so maybe I'll have to delve into that world again. Thanks for pointing that out in the video.

We are now in a year where Microsoft has bought Activision so much like you had hoped this IP now does belong to a company featuring 3 of it's original developers :D Let's hope they make something of it! Especially off the backend of Baldur's Gate 3's success, it would be amazing to see a sequel or remake in a full 3D CRPG setting with significantly better combat cause the world of Arcanum would be totally worth fleshing out and exploring more.

I would love to see you streaming a run in this game. In alternative, if not both, a run of Tyranny would be cool, when you could show directly what makes it one of your all time favorite games in some respects (by what you say in the video review, if I remember right). Thanks for your videos!

Such a cool and classy game, all of it's chunkiness never bothered me, it's just so charming, original and crazy!

I Replayed this game probably 5 times, last playthrough i became a god! Awesome game!

I remember the first time I played the demo in 2001, it was an epiphany that made me love rpgs to date. I am definitely gonna play ghis again.

So... If Microsoft successfully purchases Acti/Blizz, what do you think we need to do to get a sequel?

I played this back when it was new. I remember liking the idea of it, but also that it was just really difficult to get into. I never finished it. (Same for all the Troika games, actually. Liked the idea, played a bit, never finished.)

Back in the day, two of my friends and I basically did 8 hour shifts on only computer we had playing Arcanum for a week or so, until we burnt graphics card dead... those were the days...

I had a blast playing this game as a kid. I played it way different from my usual style in CRPG. I would love to see a reboot of this one.

So for older games there are usually mods that help with stability and some balancing. Is that the case with Arcanum? That would make me so excited to pick this title up

One of the most memorable crpg's that I've played. Really enjoyed the first semi-playthrough. I couldn't finish the game due to a fatal bug that didn't let me advance in the story though. Doing another playthrough now 20 years later with the mod fixes and add-ons (hd res etc.). It's still really enjoyable to play this in terms of the general experience.

Have you ever seen or looked into the Geneforge series? I believe it might tickle your fancy.

I have never played this game, yet. But your comments near the end, funny to listen to those now 2 years later. Activision didn't sell the Arcanum IP to Microsoft -- Activision itself has been sold to Microsoft!

If there were 2 RPG settings I wish there were more video games of, it'd be Arcanum and Planescape.

I played Arcanum for hundreds of hours. I used to go to a forum where I would post about various character builds and their strengths. My most ridiculous build was a magical swordsman with temporal magic, played in turn based mode. Temporal magic gave you a ton of additional action points, so I would wreck most enemies before they could ever get a turn. The most disappointing character build I played was a tech character based on explosives and throwing weapons. Explosives didn't give you exp when you used them. I'm a bit surprised you don't talk about the peculiar EXP system in the game by the way.

i bought, played, and finished this when it came out. The multiple endings, specifically joinging the baddy, still rank as one of my favorites

17:39 are those guys shooting a bow or a machine gun LUL

music track is super awesome. it really brings me to the world of Arcanum

I remember playing this everyday after school.

Dem skeletal archers in that dungeon though...

Can you do Fallout 1 or 2 as well?

Sadly I think you are correct in that it just won't happen. While there are teams still doing CRPGs Inexile, Larian, and Owlcat mainly, Obsidian already left CRPGs for something that looks like Skyrim for more money because Pillars 2 didn't sell great. Microsoft has been buying crpg companies, but they have yet to buy a license to an actual game series. For example they bought Bethesda they didn't buy Fallout or Skyrim, they bought Inexile they didn't buy Wasteland 3, so my guess is someone in those studios would have to pitch it. But for all we know they already have and it was shot down, unless it makes money big studios don't want to hear it now and days.

I remember this game, I got it when I was like 10 or something. Didn’t understand it at all and quit very quickly because the beginning was just like you said and I’ll take your word on the combat. Super cool looking game, I just was to young to figure it out.

17:00 oh how this aged so beautifully 🤣

I have been hoping for a new game using that IP for a while. inExile, Obsidian, Harebrained Schemes... all could do it well. And, some tips from someone who has played Arcanum a lot... if you go technologist, making and selling stuff is a great way to make a ton of money (especially the basic healing and fatigue medicine, where it is easy and inexpensive to find those components). Investing heavily in stealing skills early can also make the game much easier. High charisma and intelligence players get a VERY different experience when playing the game.

Great review! Liked and subscribed. Arcanum is my all time favorite game, I've been playing it about 20 years now I guess - I still play it in phases. I agree with almost everything you said. Except for the UI and combat! I think the combat (especially in real-time) is super exciting and wild personally. A lot of games the combat becomes kind of hum-drum and you know exactly what to expect. Arcanum almost always keeps you on your toes - did you see how many times you or Virgil died in your video? lol. It's always a good time. The only thing that comes close to being predictable in my opinion is certain mage builds (pure harm for example) or pure melee-dodge. But even then, things can go mad wrong! the mage can fatigue and pass out leading to your whole party going down usually, for example. At any rate, I loved the game and truly have hope that someday there will be a remake. (I've been saying that a long time lol)

I remember buying Arcanum when it came out being impressed by the character generation, although yes, you really have to RTFM. Not noted in the review that is important as well - having high tech or magic makes items of that affinity more effective too. A great example is the charged ring. You get +1 up to +3 dex I think it was based on how biased you are toward tech.

Very interesting info at the end of the vid. Great stuff as always!

A good gnome is a dead gnome

Just watching your mod video and was about to type "do arcanum!" When I saw you like blood lines then after mentioned crpg's I thought I should check if you've already reviewed. I brought a box copy in 2003 such an amazing game.

Nice review ! and well recently Microsoft bought Activison :D so having a sequel to Arcanum might be a possibility .

The easiest to play is an elf with real time spamming the first level black necromancy spell, harm. You keep raising magick level by taking on new spells, preferably aiming toward the map teleportation spell, and this will raise the power of your main damage spell, harm. Later you will need an alternate form of damage for nonliving enemies, for example stone throw, but harm remains possibly the best overall attack spell for most of the game. Comparatively, going tech is ridiculously worse. You don't get to teleport either, which makes travelling add years to the game time overall. A less powerful character is melee with a bit of magick.

The soundtrack is so beautiful as well, don't forget.

I'm not sure if the video was released before the Microsoft Activision Blizzard deal was announced, but wouldn't it be more feasible for the IP to end up in Microsofts hands now?

I need to replay Arcanum... again! The music is also amazing

Works perfect on steam on ubuntu 22.04.Classic game.

We need more games with settings like Arcanum. I would welcome a remake hell even in the first person vein of the current Fallout games. Maybe simplify the stats but keep the tech/magic/practical skills.

And now 8 months later we are just waiting for the purchase to finalize between MS & Acti/Blizz.

I love how the game explores the conflict between magic and technology because magic is so unpredictable , but I can't help think there would be loads of synergy to, what kinds of epic machines could you make if you could temporarily break the rules of physics.

Loved the game back in the day. Got the unofficial patch to work on my old tower PC, which promptly died. And I have never been able to get it to install on a computer since.

It is a very super game. I will still play and play again given a chance.

thanks for the video I'm definitely gonna try to play (i say try because my laptop can barely handle even very low specs game)

You forgot to mention how fun it is to make molotovs out of trash and fling them at enemies!

A remaster would make this hidden gem shine.

Imagine a remake 😍😍😍😍😍

With luck maybe Arcanum can get a remake the same way Master of Orion did. Someone who played it when they are young grows up to be a CEO and buys the rights to the game. The Master of Orion remake is a story of "Fine, I'll do it myself" and it is good.

The best music for a game imho

I loved this game when it first came out. I seem to remember it being catastrophically buggy at the time, which kept me from finishing it (Same thing with the Temple of Elemental Evil, also by Troika). I may have to pick this up and see if I can finish it now.

loved this... if you where dumb your text changed to reflect that. If you where ugly or hot, NPC's changed their dialog. If you where female NPC would react to that both positive or negative. My fav was when I got into a mens only join for a quest due to being a hot elf woman ... the changed the rules for me ;).

Looking good, good to play on mobile like throne of darkness from Sierra too

If I had the money I'd pay for a remake of this game. Even if I was the only person who played it. I spent so many hours playing this thing and loved it so much. Bugs and all.

17:36 interesting

I so want to play this, I bought it but I used the High Resolution Patch and all the text was too small, I think I need to reload it without that and try again. Thanks for the review.

What patch do You mean at the start of the video? Can someone tell me what do I need to install for play unbuggy game?

I love watching this after the whole Microsoft buying Activision thing. We may get that remake or something else with the IP