Arcanum of Steamworks and Magic Obscura
Genre(s): Turn-based/Real-time Role Playing Game
Release Date: August 22, 2001
Gamespot Rankings: 568 of 13,764 (PC), 1,466 of 104,208 (All Games)
Gamespot Ratings: Critic Score - 7.9 (36 Reviews), User Score - 8.6 (1,756 Votes), Gamespot Score - 7.3
IGN Ratings: Press Score - 7.5 (6 Ratings), Reader Score - 8.5 (640 Ratings), IGN Score - 8.7
Description: You are the reincarnation of an Elven prophet in an era of industrial revolution, where magic and technology are in constant conflict with each other. You can choose to play as a Human, Elf, Dwarf, Gnome, Halfling, Half-Elf, Half-Orc or even a Half-Ogre, and depending on who you choose, other races will react accordingly. For example, Dwarves don't generally get along with Elves, as Dwarves are very heavily technology based and Elves are very heavily magick based. Technology affects Magickal powers negatively while in combat. Arcanum's combat system allows you to choose between turn-based or real-time combat, the latter of which, unless you are looking for a challenge, is quite useless depending on what class you play (any magickal character will find it exceptionally hard to deal with, seeing as spells/abilities cannot be hotkeyed). If you're looking for a graphical game, stop right now, because this game is quite old and, to be frank, unpolished.
Each conversation with most of the important NPCs (which there are quite a few of) gives you the ability to choose from overall, a vast amount of text options (far more than Oblivion or Fallout 3 have). You can be a pompous asshole, kind hearted, evil, silver-tongued or barbaric and blood-thirsty depending on what kind of character you have decided to play. Arcanum is for those people that are seriously into role-playing games and/or in the eyes of the streamer, enjoy immersing themselves in a game world that has a very heavy focus on re-playability and lore.
Darksiders
Genre(s): Action/Puzzle Solving
Release Date: January 05, 2010
Gamespot Rankings: PC Rank: 18 of 13,764 (PC), 39 of 104,208 (All Games)
Gamespot Ratings: Critic Score - 8.2 (8 Reviews), User Score - 8.6 (808 Votes), Gamespot Score - 8.0
IGN Ratings: Press Score - 8.1 (9 Ratings), Reader Score - 8.3 (66 Ratings), IGN Score - 8.0
Decription:
GameSpot wrote...
If Darksiders is to be believed, the end of the world is signaled not by a blinding and burning flash of nuclear energy, but rather by the arrival of furious winged angels and heavily armored arbiters of doom. In this unoriginal but uproarious amalgam of borrowed game mechanics, you play as War, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. War is not the most engaging hero, but that's of little consequence in a game more concerned with brutal and flashy combat than zesty storytelling. You ride an otherworldly steed while fighting off a ravenous worm, carve up colorful demons with various blades, and navigate through a number of tricky but satisfying environmental puzzles. The PC version of this entertaining romp didn't receive the star treatment you would have wanted for a port released almost nine months after its initial console release. But while it doesn't boast the expected graphical bells and whistles, it runs well, looks good, and keeps the pace moving by mixing up the action and constantly introducing new ways to triumph over your foes. If you've been hankering for blistering combat and melodramatic boss fights, Darksiders is a great way to enjoy the end times.
I would've written my own description but this review is bang-on.
I will write more if I feel like doing so, you should also check out Nexon's new F2P MMO Vindictus, which is based off of the source engine.