First time adding a game that wasn't already on here.

Anyway, this is a remake of Spiderweb's 2001 cult classic Geneforge. I'd always wanted to play the game growing up, but that was a time when we were still wary of purchasing games online. I ended up playing through the free demo a few times, but never got ahold of the actual game.

The setting still feels fresh 20 years later. You're playing as an initiate "shaper" -- a magical sect with the power to create life. While travelling to your training, your ship is destroyed. You wash up on an island that has been declared barred by the shapers, on pain of death to anyone who goes there. The island, however, isn't empty. Lifeforms created by shapers prior to their barring of the island have formed their own societies on the island in the absence of their creators. Some want to be treated as equals, some want to return to being obedient, and others want revenge for being used and abandoned. Of course, the mystery of why the island was originally barred is the driving force behind the story.

You have access to the standard variety of RPG spells and weapons, but, as a shaper, you can also create lifeforms to fight for you. This is the games main mechanical differentiator. There are about 10 different types of creatures you can create and upgrade, with up to 7 joining you in combat at a time. There's a good variety of melee, ranged, magic, buffing, cursing, etc. abilities available to the creatures, so the customization is on point.

There are a couple of big issues that led to me dropping the game 30 hours in, unfortunately. The biggest being that there are simply too much meaningless combat. There is something like 80 zones to explore, and a substantial portion of those have you fighting wave after wave of enemies, for very little reward. The combat is fairly bog-standard CRPG turn based affair, so this wears thin rather quickly.

Much of the game wasn't really updated to 2021 standards. For example, the interface is still clunky with tiny little tiles in combat, leading to surprisingly easy mislicks. Battle information and ability descriptions aren't readily available. Geneforge's version of lockpicks, "Living Tools", are not widely available, leading to the old "open a chest and reload if you don't care about the contents", even if you are raising your mechanics skill to limit the amount you need to use. These issues are largely minor or even trivial issues, but they are amplified by the amount of time you have to spend dealing with them.

All in all, there's a lot of charm and a strong core of exploration and narrative. I would have absolutely loved Geneforge if I'd been able to play the full game back in 2001, when I had more time and patience for endless combat in games. As it is now, I'm going to move on to something that's a bit more of a focused experience. I'll probably read about the last 1/3 of the game, though. The lore is worth it. I'd usually give a game a max of 2/5 if I didn't finish it, but I think Geneforge deserves a 3 for the amount I enjoyed the lore and playing with different combos of creatures.