New Arc Line is a promising new RPG about the conflict between Magic and Engineering

I have very fond memories of a seriously janky RPG called Arcanum from way back in the year 2000, and the release of New Arc Line could end up being the spiritual successor I've been wanting all these years. Note: key provided by the publisher.

Now in Early Access from Dreamate and Fulqrum Publishing it's directly inspired by the classic Arcanum through many of the features and the setting. New Arc Line is set in a world on the verge of a massive change, following sorcery being outpaced by technological progress where the two sides are set to violently collide.

The good news, is that as far as I can tell, the initial Early Access release works really quite nicely on Desktop Linux with the latest stable Proton 9.0-4 (and worked fine with Proton 9.0-3 before it).

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In terms of performance on Desktop Linux, no real problems there. Sticking with the High preset overall, the game manages to remain at least around 60FPS at 2560x1440 with my Ryzen 5800x / Radeon 6800 XT.

This definitely ticks a lot of the right boxes for me. A party-based RPG that has an interesting setting, backed up by some pretty good visuals. The graphics are a bit of a mixed bag though. Some parts are quite detailed, others quite lacking. I like it, a lot, especially with all the different interactions you can have with the world. And the way it just sort-of throws you into the thick of it is interesting, as you're then trying to piece together what the heck is going on, before it throws you back in time before the intro began so you can then see what you apparently did.

But there's also a lot of issues with it.

With it being in Early Access there's a rather large amount of really rough edges. Some quick initial issues I spotted include: the intro video text going too fast to read (and I'm a fast reader), some object interactions need tweaking for where you can actually click on them, various dodgy camera angles when chatting to other characters, some of the English text really needs serious proof-reading, various smaller bugs throughout and so on.

It's not just the quality of the English text but the writing overall, it's just odd, they're going to need a big pass over all of it.

Feature Highlight:

Become the Hero or Villain you want to be

Create your own character as a human or elf, and choose your gender, background, and appearance. Keep in mind that inhabitants of this world might have their own prejudices and will treat you differently depending on your choices.

Gather your Party

You won’t be alone on these shores. Meet & recruit a diverse cast of characters, learn their stories, face their demons together and help them grow, or use them for your own gain and discard them as fits your schemes. Who knows, maybe you will even find your true love!

Master Technology or Magic

Will you master the secrets of Magic to incinerate enemies as a Hellfire occultist, curse them with mystical Voodoo abilities, or assist your allies as a Celestial sage? Or will you rather cast aside the obsolete ways and become a Steampunk mechanic, Dieselpunk engineer or Teslapunk scientist, and turn your character into a walking steam-powered fortress?

Fight for Your Right

Command your party in turn-based tactical battles. Fight head-on and brute-force your way through encounters, or observe and analyse each situation and come up with cunning strategies to conquer even seemingly overwhelming odds. There’s a plethora of skills, spells, crafting recipes and consumables at your disposal to turn the tide of battle in your favour.

Manifest Your Destiny

Make a name for yourself, influence countless lives for better or worse, and watch the consequences of your choices unfold. You may start as only a poor immigrant, but soon your exploits will fill the front pages of newspapers, and the events you set in motion will change the fate of the New World forever.

The Early Access release currently only has about a quarter of the main story, which they say is around a third of the overall planned content. So you've got about 10-12 hours worth of exploring here.

Looking forward to seeing this one progress as they've got a great foundation here to build a wonderful RPG. They just need to sort all the quirks and bugs on it, and improve the text. Needs a fair bit more time in the oven overall, although it does already have a Very Positive rating on Steam. I can understand what people see in it but it's clearly not ready.

Once finished though, this could be a nice palate cleanser if you've completed Baldur's Gate 3, or you're just in the mood for a party-based RPG with an interesting world.