The writing and atmosphere are peak, and that's what you're playing the game for - think of it as an interactive novel. Sadly it continues the trend of the best RPGs being deeply flawed masterpieces. The combat and RPG elements are sort of vestigial - you basically have to play as a high Wis/Int/Cha Mage to get the most out of the game, and the combat is completely uninteresting. Sadly, since the game is blatantly unfinished, the combat becomes a bigger and bigger part of the game the longer it goes on - turning down the difficulty all the way is recommended.

The writing is good enough that if it were in book form, it would be a great novel, but I think a lot of people overrate how well-written and how deep it is because of the low bar set by other video games.