One of the defining CRPGs of the early 2000s was Arcanum: Of Steamworks And Magick Obscura, an early offering from Troika Games which mashed up steampunk and high fantasy to create an incredibly rich setting. Other games have tried to match that mix of magic and science over the years and never quite come close to the mark. I’ve played some of them, such as Sovereign Syndicate and EMPYRE: Dukes of the Far Frontier. So when Dreamate’s New Arc Line came up on my radar, I was understandably intrigued and skeptical. And my experiences so far have managed to deepen the intrigue while also strengthening my skepticism.
New Arc Line takes place in a fantasy setting untethered to Earth in any way. In ages past, magic was all-powerful, and the sorcerers who wielded it were kings. But every kingdom ultimately falls, and one otherwise ordinary schlub managed to shank the sorcerers with their own weapons, using magic to diminish the power of magic and introduce an era of technology and “progress.” Unfortunately, the current age of steampunk science has its own ills, both figuratively and literally. And you’re right in the middle of a mess which might save the world or destroy it.
The visual elements of New Arc Line are at once its biggest draw and its biggest drawback. Ever single superlative I could possibly lay out all have a massive caveat attached, almost a corruption of the “Fortune Cookie Game.” The environments are richly detailed and absolutely evocative of a steampunk environment (when the game’s running). The character models are distinctive, sometimes subtle, sometimes extravagant, but never humdrum (when the game’s running). The user interface is smart and contextual, generally staying out of the player’s way and offering up interactivity options which are appropriate for the circumstances (when the game’s running). The problem is that there is a serious lack of optimization within Dreamate’s use of the Unreal Engine. Large environments apparently have a lot of trouble loading quickly, causing a timeout within the Unreal Engine which crashes back to the desktop. Even with the settings turned down to the lowest possible, the crashes still occur. And for some reason, Dreamate hasn’t enabled crash reporting, so nobody has any idea this is happening. It’s a kick in the teeth that is entirely avoidable.
Moving on to the audio, there’s a lot to like here. Sound effects are varied, from environmental sounds to incidentals like gunshots or “success chimes” when you pass a check. The soundtrack certainly sounds period appropriate, and shifts to equally appropriate fight themes when you go into combat. As for the voice cast, it’s been just an absolute joy. Not every interaction you have with NPCs is voiced, but certainly when you’re on a quest, you’re going to hear some fine voice work. I might quibble a little bit about some of the accents (if they were adopted for the character), but quibbles would be all they are. It doesn’t detract from the quality of the performance, but it does diminish the illusion that this isn’t Earth just a bit.
From a gameplay standpoint, New Arc Line is a good example of contemporary CRPGs. A free floating camera (defaulting to an isometric position) which allows you to pan, zoom, and rotate to your heart’s content, as well as helping you get a better notion of the battlefield when combat ensues. Quest lines can have multiple solutions, with violence always being an option (but generally not the best option). An easy-to use paper-doll setup lets you know what gear you’ve got equipped. Skill checks are handled with a simple percentile die, so when you improve a skill, you can get an easy-to-see understanding how well you’re doing. Options for skill checks in dialogues will lay out not only the skill being used, but the character using it, as well as any modifiers which make it easier or harder. There’s even a crafting system to let you build your own gear from the odds and sods you find in random trashcans or boxes.
But, being an Early Access title, there’s some rough spots. Character creation is a little limited, since it only gives you two options, either playing as a science-based character or a magic-based one. It doesn’t give you any option for “hybrid” characters, or even somebody who eschews both steamtech and spells. There are some backgrounds which can further refine your two choices, but they don’t seem quite as fleshed out as they ought to be. And at the moment, the inventory system doesn’t seem to be really enforcing encumbrance rules, so you can haul around a truly phenomenal amount of items, and the only penalty is no good way to sort it all. Combat’s pretty straightforward, with characters having a pool of movement points to move around and two actions to bludgeon, cut, or shoot their opponents. There’s also a “Finger of Death” action, separate from the regular combat actions which instantly kills an opponent. It kind of makes the fighting feel a little low stakes, least as far as regular enemies. Lastly, there’s a mechanic in place to move the world closer to being more technological or more magical, which is supposed to improve abilities of the appropriate type. So far, the mechanic doesn’t seem to have a significant impact.
The narrative arc which New Arc Line seems to be shooting for is, in some ways, pretty standard “world on the brink” fare. There’s certainly elements of comedy, even absurdity, mixed in with the more straightforward drama and action pieces. But it’s overall an adventure tale. It drops you into the story in media res, after there’s been a sufficiently devastating apocalypse and the people you come across are all manner of freaked out and hostile. From the tone of the conversations, it sounds like this was your fault. The action cuts back to the world before you broke it, so in some respects, you know whatever you do won’t exactly matter. There’s something to be said for undertaking the journey, trying to see if there’s something beyond that moment of destruction. At the same time, however, there’s some elements which stick out a little bit. I know some might argue I’m being kind of a pendant when I point out mentions of “Voodoo Magic” not being consistent with the setting. There’s any number of descriptions they could have used which would have fulfilled the tone they were going for without actually using the word. It’s particularly obnoxious when you consider they already did that in another instance, referring to “celestial” magic which might easily stand in for anything suggestive of major religions on Earth. Beyond that, I can’t speak much to the story because I only managed to get a few hours in, finished off some early quests, and I’m estimating to be somewhere in the early parts of Act I. When your game consistently crashes when trying to load up large areas, it’s a problem which makes conveying your story difficult.
I am a sucker for steampunk in general, and moreso when it’s mashing up with high fantasy elements. When it runs, New Arc Line suggests the start of possibly the next great CRPG franchise, an original setting in a sea of also-ran knockoffs and insipid licensed IPs. But, much like Arcanum: Of Steamworks And Magick Obscura, it’s got some serious technical hurdles it needs to overcome if anybody’s going to be able to enjoy it. This is a very high-risk title from a technical perspective, but it might turn out to be a highly rewarding adventure.
Axel reviewed New Arc Line on PC in Early Access with a review code.
The developer has built an extraordinary world using only the most fundamental