When you start the game, once you've chosen the race, gender, and facial customisations, you'll begin your journey in one of the cities governed by the magicians. This brings home immediately the central theme of the game: the conflict of nature versus technology. Throughout the game you'll face a number of decisions, each of them falling on either side of the divide--and depending on your choices you'll edge further towards, or further away from, each one.

But these choices don't just impact on the storyline; they affect the various skills that you'll be able to accumulate throughout the game. There are five skill sets in all, and each can be developed in a number of different ways. The racial skills focus on those abilities innate to each race, including mercantile for goblins and magic for humans.