This Forgotten 25-Year-Old CRPG Is Perfect for Baldur’s Gate 3 Fans

There is little doubt that Baldur’s Gate 3 is one of the best CRPGs of all time and has been instrumental in reviving interest in the genre. It shows how far the genre has come since its earliest debut and what modern hardware is capable of, especially with mods. But it doesn’t take away from the genre’s history, which is full of some absolutely incredible titles. Classic CRPGs are in a league of their own and despite their dated graphics, prove the power of roleplaying as your own character in a living world. And few games represent this level of freedom like this 25-year-old game.

Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura is one of the most fascinating, impressive, and somehow forgotten CRPGs of all time. It released exclusively for PC in August of 2001 and completely subverted the genre thanks to developer Troika’s vision. Most CPRGs were traditional fantasy, but Arcanum combines traditional fantasy with an industrial revolution in a world where magic and technology are competing forces. It placed so much emphasis on player freedom and nonlinear role-playing, embracing an open-ended design. For fans of Baldur’s Gate 3, it remains one of the most fascinating forgotten CRPGs available and deserves a hard look.

Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura Offers the Kind of Freedom Baldur’s Gate 3 Fans Love

The biggest reason to play Arcanum today is its approach to character creation. Instead of forcing players into a narrow collection of traditional classes, the game allows them to build characters around different attributes, skills, backgrounds, and specializations. Magic and technology form the central divide, but there are plenty of other possibilities, including combat-focused and social characters. Contemporary reviews repeatedly highlighted the game’s huge range of possible builds and approaches.

That freedom extends beyond character statistics, as the game gives players multiple ways to approach many of its challenges, allowing situations to be handled through different combinations of combat, dialogue, skills, and exploration. Players could tackle problems through a variety of approaches, ranging from peaceful solutions to more violent ones. This should feel familiar to anyone who has spent hours in Baldur’s Gate 3 solving problems in their own way.

Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura is a CRPG where two playthroughs can feel dramatically different. A character built around magic approaches the world differently from a technological character, while thieves, fighters, and socially focused builds forge their own path as well. Every experience is different depending on whether players focus on magic, technology, or other specialties, truly putting the freedom in the hands of character creation.

Its Magic and Technology System Makes Every Run Feel Different

The setting is perhaps Arcanum’s greatest creative achievement. Instead of presenting another medieval fantasy world filled with castles, elves, and wizards, Troika imagined a society undergoing industrialization. Steam engines, firearms, trains, and machinery exist alongside traditional magic, creating a world where technological progress can clash with supernatural forces. In a genre dominated by fantasy, this distinctive identity is breath of fresh air.

The magic and technology systems are not simply cosmetic differences. Players who pursue magic gain access to numerous spells organized into different colleges, while technological characters can develop disciplines that allow them to construct weapons, tools, and other inventions. The dynamic between these two fundamentally different perspectives put the world into context and encourage players to thoroughly think about how they want to spec their character.

That is where the game’s age becomes surprisingly interesting. Modern RPGs often give players huge skill trees, but Arcanum makes specialization feel like a commitment to a particular way of existing in its world, forcing the player to think how they fit into it. A technological character may need components and schematics to create useful equipment, while a mage can focus on learning and casting spells. The systems are imperfect admittedly, but this contributes to the game’s charm and authenticity.

Arcanum Deserves More Attention From Modern CRPG Fans

It would be dishonest to pretend Arcanum is flawless. Its age is obvious, and the game’s ambitious open-ended design didn’t always land as intended. The combat is awkward, the interface takes adjustment, and its sprawling structure can sometimes work against the experience. Those issues are important to acknowledge before recommending it to somebody accustomed to the polish of Baldur’s Gate 3. But those weaknesses are easier to accept once you understand what Arcanum is attempting and when it was released.

Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura is not a perfect game where everything comes together and is completely balanced. Instead, it gives the player freedom to play how they want and let them experience that playthrough how the world would treat someone living in it. For me, this is what makes role-playing games so enjoyable. I’d rather a game humble me than let me breeze through just because it wants me to succeed. Different builds can produce dramatically different runs, with varying degrees of success, which gives the 25-year-old CRPG a level of replayability that remains impressive.

That is ultimately why Baldur’s Gate 3 fans are missing out if they never give Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura a chance. It is one of the greatest CRPGs ever made, even if hardly anyone talks about it today. It gives player agency, experimentation, role-playing freedom, and radically different character builds, while offering a setting that still feels unlike almost anything else. Twenty-five years later, Arcanum is rough around the edges, but its ideas remain remarkably fresh. If what you loved about Baldur’s Gate 3 was feeling like the game actually let you play your character rather than simply follow its script, this forgotten classic deserves a place on your list, and my god does it need a proper modern remake or sequel.

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