Despite being Troika's biggest commercial success, Arcanum is the sort of game you have to want to get into: a bundle of contradictions that rewards perseverance with rich RPG gameplay the likes of which few studios could replicate today — and none actually have.

Played from isometric perspective shod in drab graphics that'll resonate with (or at least be familiar to) players of the original Fallout, Arcanum tells the story of the only (or, dare I say, sole) survivor of an airship crash who finds out they are the reincarnation of a powerful elf destined to confront a great evil threatening the world... Not very original as premises go, I'll grant you, but that simple plot is the gateway to about 50-80 hours of gaming that can be role-played Any. Way. You. Want.

Right from character creation, Arcanum gives you the freedom to combine its eight races (human, half-elf, elf, dwarf, halfling, gnome, half-orc or half-ogre); and 64 (!) backgrounds in some truly inventive ways... Want to play an idiot savant? The reanimated bride of a Frankestein-like monster? An outlaw on the run? Or simply agoraphobic? These and many more origins are on hand – and all affect gameplay in tangible ways.

Get saddled with low intelligence and your dialogue choices will be "dumb." Become a sky mage and your magick will suffer indoors or underground. Shortchange beauty and watch NPC reactions to your character plummet... It's a neat, comprehensive system that gives actual weight to player decisions and makes each playthrough feel a little different (unless, of course, you always pick "Child of a Hero" and get saddled with that +1 sword...)

At the same time, character creation hits you with the game's first contradiction as certain races (halfling, gnome, dwarf and half-ogre) – for whatever reason – can only the played as male.

The world of Arcanum is on the cusp of a transition from magick (which many see as volatile and unreliable) to technology and said transition plays an active part in character creation. Each character can pick spells or technological talents and each selection sways their allegiance accordingly. As the two are polar opposites, devotion to one means exclusion from the other: learn too many blueprints and magick (spells or potions) will no longer affect you; study spells exclusively and machines will malfunction in your hands. The gameplay mechanic extends right into the lore and the TSA-like questionnaire you have to answer prior to boarding a steam locomotive (to ensure your magick affinity doesn't break the engine) is nothing short of hilarious.

This balancing act and its inherent prejudices (as well as more garden-variety ones like racism or classism) flesh out the world of Arcanum, making it feel more grounded than, say, Neverwinter Nights and its utopian portrayal of disparate races Conveniently Getting Along. In Arcanum, magick users hate technological adepts (seeing them as the anathema to their world view); industrial magnates hate feudal lords (considering them throwbacks and obstacles to progress); dwarves hate elves (as it should be); and literally everybody comes down on orcs (poor orcs).

Your journey is accompanied by a string quartet soundtrack you may have to mute a few hours in. Not because it's bad: the compositions are nice and beautifully played... The choice of intruments, however, coupled with the short track length (three minutes at most) and limited selection (just 12 tracks in all) means you'll have most tunes memorized fairly quickly at which point the constant repetition may begin to grate.

Speaking of irritants, the game's UI is fairly clunky, obtrusive and takes some time to get used to. In true 2001 fashion, controls cannot be remapped, either, meaning players used to certain conventions (such as the "M" key for "Map") will constantly bring up their spell list instead ("M" for "Magick", I guess) until they get used to the odd keyboard layout (the map's on "W", by the by; "W" for ... "World"?).

Much has been said about Arcanum's combat system elsewhere (that it's "poorly balanced and frantic"), but – personally – I think it works fine. Leave it on "turn based" and (goes without saying) build a character that's handy in a fight and you'll be okay... While the game offers two other combat modes ("fast turn based" and "real time"), the former makes no real difference on a modern computer and the latter (oddly) doesn't come stock with the means to pause the action (making it viable only if you're certain to win).

Anyway, the real fun of the game is that you don't have to fight at all if you don't want to. From wholly pacifist playthroughs to ones where you snuff every NPC you meet, Arcanum affords genuine freedom in how you play the game. Unlike other so-called RPGs that boast player choice but then enforce a certain type of gameplay (cough, Fallout 4, cough); Arcanum is happy to let you play your character the way you want. Make the strongest half-ogre imaginable and spend your entire game running away, for all it cares: it's all fair-game.

With an uninventive plot and underwhelming ending, it's in the journey you undertake that Arcanum shines. Between the open-ended gameplay that comes with zero constraints or limitations, the nifty crafting system for technological doodads, dynamic NPC reactions that can be altered depending on the course you take and multiple solutions to most problems, the game is a veritable role-playing paradise only slightly hampered by a few rough edges.

If you love RPGs and can overlook a few odd design choices, Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magicka Obscura might just be the game for you. It's a bit hard to get into, but – once over the initial hump – rewards you with fun companions, inventive quests and an intriguing world that's easy to get lost in for up to 80 hours at a time.

Pig Troubleshoots

• -there is a potentially game-breaking bug to do with the Beauty statistic, which can turn certain NPCs hostile by adjusting their reaction to the player waaay too much (I've had it occur at Beauty of 20 — don't ask: I was playing a particularly dashing dwarf); in rooting around for a solution, I found a forum post from a proactive gent who solved said problem by using the (only) available Arcanum trainer; as the trainer is a bit ornery to get up and running, you might consider installing CheatEngine and grabbing the 2022 Arcanum.CT file; I did and, after dropping Beauty down to 10, temporarily, could get through the dialogue without issue;

• -if you ever get stuck in a doorway and the game spends all your action points but doesn't actually attack, run away in the opposite direction for two turns and RMB out of combat; your companions oughta rubber-band to where you are, leaving you free to charge into the room to avoid getting stuck again;

• -if your to-hit percentage drops very low for a particular enemy, you're probably using the wrong kind of weapon against them (technological on a magickal enemy or vice-versa); unless you specialize one way or the other, having a polar-opposite backup weapon comes in handy;

• -tempting as it may be to visit plot locations before you are meant to — don't; it has the potential to wreck your playthrough;