Geneforge 1 – Mutagen
Geneforge 1 – Mutagen is a unique, truly open-ended fantasy adventure in a strange, new world. You are one of the Shapers, wizards with the awesome power to create life. Want a tool, a trap, an army? You summon it into existence. You create mighty beasts, and they totally obey you. Usually.
At least, that’s how it’s supposed to be. You have been stranded on a forbidden island, full of the powerful, lost secrets of your people. Invaders are also here, trying to steal and master your knowledge. Race them for the awesome treasures hidden here. And destroy the thieves. Or join them.
Geneforge 1 – Mutagen offers unmatched freedom in how you play. Use magic or your deadly pets to crush your enemies. Or, use trickery, diplomacy, and stealth to win the game without ever attacking a foe. Choose between a host of rival factions or just destroy everything. Defeat the final boss, or switch sides and join him. Fight alone with blades, missiles, or magic, or create your own army of custom-made mutant monsters.
Geneforge is an epic fantasy adventure with over eighty zones to explore, 50+ hours of gameplay, and unmatched replayability. Choose from dozens of skills, abilities, and pets to reach a vast array of different endings. The coming rebellion will scorch your continent. Who will win? It will be up to you.
Geneforge 1 – Mutagen is a total remaster of our 2001 cult-classic Geneforge. It contains new areas, quests, characters, and dialogue, a redone interface and systems, and a complete reworking of every single thing to bring it into the modern era of gaming.
Game Discussion
Steam User 12
Geneforge was my introduction to Spiderweb Software, and the series is one of my all time favorites. I was skeptical of a remake, but so far it's 100% an improvement on the original - your creations now have abilities that add to battle strategy, the difficulty is much better balanced, and there's entirely new areas and quests! Highly recommended if old school RPGs are your thing.
Steam User 7
Just a really nice old-school CRPG. But take note, it really is quite old-school, so if that's not your thing, probably best avoid. But if it is, this ticks basically every box. Interesting and original setting, unusual magic/summoning system and (so far at least) a quite intriguing story. If you are old like me, or appreciate older games, particularly CRPGs, this is worth your time and money.
Steam User 5
Good old-school fun. I will say, if you're anything like me and can't play a game unless you crank it to the highest difficulty... The balance is waaay off. Level 9 enemies with poison spray and haste are more powerful than level 15 enemies without poison/acid by a longshot. One of those can beat my level 22 summon without even blinking. So I found that a little frustrating. But it is what it is.
Steam User 3
Build-a-bear meets Fallout 1 & 2.
This game seriously owns, but a word of advice - get mechanics 3 at a minimum within your first 2 level ups. It helps A LOT.
Steam User 7
Ultimately it is a good game but there are some caveats. The world, however, is interesting and while both series from Spiderweb I've played (This and Exile/Avernum) are unique, this one obviously takes the cake. Interplay with you being practically a (very feeble) god for the serviles is interesting!
The Good:
- Compared to spiderweb games the graphics are good, compared to other indie games, completely passable
- Story is good (with caveats) and interesting and there are a lot of choices to be made
- Moment to moment gameplay is very good at least with a shaper build
- Naming your swarm of angry creatures in funny ways.
- The atmosphere is good
- Exploration is often rewarding and the world building makes you very immersed
The Bad:
- The game does not have ANY sort of way of telling you if you left something important somewhere (or for you to make notes on the map)
- No music, sure, it's not a big deal breaker but at this point of remasters, it would've been welcome.
- Some quests are confusing/obtuse/do not resolve from the quest log (a bug? Or am I missing something)
- hub based gameplay, while clearly a design choice, loses in exploration excitement to the Avernum series
- Last (for linux players not the least) there are some weird performance problems in this that are not present in Avernum, mainly with spellcasting / spell effects slowing the game to a crawl for the duration of the effect. AFAIK a linux problem.
As a Spiderweb game? 9/10
For someone hopping in from more modern rpg's? 7/10 (still worth it, just shows it's age)
Steam User 6
I purchased this game and the second because I like the Bottom Feeder newsletter. It was the best purchase of the year. I both regret and stand by every decision I made throughout the game. Moral ambiguity abounds.
Steam User 3
You wont like this game if you dislike difficulty even on Casual (old games were made different?), reading (and a lot of it), potentially having to take notes & figuring things out for yourself (cause the wiki cant save you)
But its good and it fixes so much of the original's issues - mainly being out of date and QoL updates, some nice new visuals but still good!
And theres a brand new area & group just for the remake!