A CRPG with a unique and very well-crafted story and setting and truly truly awful gameplay.

I’m of very mixed feelings about Arcanum. My playthrough ranged from having a great time with many of the quests and getting blind-sided in the most pleasant way by some of the twists and surprisingly insightful/realistic writing to truly hating myself in dungeons and being genuinely angry at many of the mechanics, and neither side triumphed over the other in my memories months later when writing this. I appreciate a lot some of what it does and I’m glad I played it, but despite the potential for replay value, I doubt I’ll ever touch it again.

I’m generally fairly opposed to remake culture in games, but if any game ever deserved a remake, remaster, sequel or honestly anything to explore its amazing setting just a bit more, without the things that weigh it down, it’s Arcanum. I could go on and on talking about things I loved and hated but I guess that just goes to show how strong my feelings on it are. Gnome quest kinda sus tho