Apologies for that four month break in publishing. Rest assured I was gaming during that time but well…stuff gets in the way sometimes. I will make a strong effort to resume a regular weekly schedule of What I’m Playing from here on out, and will attempt to throw in some other, additional, screen shot features during the week too. It’s what Jarhead and I like to call a ‘resumption of operations.’
So, without further adieu, I am currently playing – Pike & Shot: Campaigns. Specifically, the Gustavus Adolphus campaign, which could also be labeled as a Thirty Years War campaign. Players can choose to play as either the Swedes or the Holy Roman Empire (read: Germans, of a kaleidoscope of different types).
This week my tale is a short and woeful one, with only a few piddling screenshots to show for it. You can’t win them all, right? So being done with Dishonored – Death of the Outsider, I find myself still in a steampunk mood. I have several choices on my HD to satiate such a mood, and Arcanum sounds like a great choice to me.
My history with Arcanum is much like the story that some guys have about The One Who Got Away…you know, the woman who you fell madly in love with but then ruined it some how and she left, forever. Or a giant fish of some kind that you just could not reel in, I guess. I’m babbling.
I first fired up Arcanum in 2001 when it first came out. I was so psyched. Steampunk tech and magic IN THE SAME GAME?? How did I get so lucky?
I think I ordered the boxed version of it from Amazon and immediately ripped the box apart to install it and then start playing. The intro blew me away. Orc-piloted Eindecker fighters shooting down a zeppelin! Armored knights blowing each other away with high-powered pistols! Refined orcs and elves and humans getting drunk together! This was setting up to be my greatest gaming experience ever!
And then the actual game began. After a few dialogue choices I was totally lost…even after reading through the manual. I got frustrated, not knowing what to do and eventually shelved the game…crestfallen and heartbroken. Continue reading
Continuing towards the end of Dishonored – Death of the Outsider, and total time spent in-game is approaching 20 hours. I told you I play my games slow.
Each level appears to get slightly larger than the last, culminating in the final level (#5) which is made up of several massive mining buildings interconnected by tunnels. The creepy occult factor continues to rise as well, as I get closer to the eponymous Outsider, fighting through swaths of cultists and hellhounds just to get a chance at Him.
Screenshots are uncaptioned below, they speak for themselves as far as beauty and a haunting quality. Environments covered include the final moments in the large bank level (level 3), a conservatory (level 4), and the beginning of the final level I am in now, at a remote mining complex on an island to the north of Karnaca.
Enjoy, thanks for reading and see you next week…I should be moved on to a new game by then!
