Geneforge 3

Easily the weakest of the 3 geneforge games I have played. The setup for the story is effective the same as the previous 2 entries. You are an apprentice shaper, go meet the factions, pick a side, do quests along the way, become powerful, reach an ending. This time there are non-creation companions you can pick up. There is significantly less world building compared to the previous games, and the world itself feels smaller. The game is broken up into 5 different island, each with its own environment. As you progress through the game you will explore almost every part of each island. But in order to backtrack to previous islands, you have to go to a dock for each island. This effectively turns what would be at least 1 loading screen in geneforge 1/2 into 3 or more depending on how many islands back you want to go. There is also an artifact crafting and equipment upgrade system. The game becomes significantly easier once you figure out how that works. There is no shame in looking up a guide or walkthrough online. This game took around 25 hours to complete; I wasn't going out of my way to pick up every unique item and complete every side quest. The story itself is alright.

This is a game developed by a single indi developer who clearly loved what he was doing. Geneforge is one of my favorite game series of all time. You need to approach it as if it is a hybrid between a fantastically well written book and an RPG. Beautiful story and worldbuilding and genuinely still one of the best games for it's price decades later!

There's just something about the Geneforge series. There's something special here. Atmospheric. Unique. Memorable. Oddly nostalgic, even if you've never played it before.