Its the Dark Age. Cast away from the surface of the Earth by the disappearance of the sun, Mankind lived hidden underground in the Fortress of Arx. Humans only have magic left to survive against Ratmen, Dragons and starvation... But a much greater danger is hovering above the world of Arx Fatalis. Lurking in the eternal darkness of the mines, it feeds off the innocent souls of the city. It is not a monster. It is not human. It is pure evil. The adventure has just started, and soon, the fate of Arx, will be in your hands.
Verily one of the best role playing games around. It's a first person RPG set in a dark underground world consisting of caverns, underground lakes, cities, ice caves, forts, troll infested lairs and more. The story is heavy and most of the quests in the game are the story quests. This says something about the story considering the game takes 100 + hours to complete. Unlike some RPGs nowadays, this game doesn't hold your hand either. Want to cast a spell? You have to do so on screen with the mouse (Xbox version is slightly different). Want to forge a sword? There's no cut scenes here, you've got to do it yourself by finding the right equipment and using it on the weapon you want to forge. Want to use a potion during melee? There's no pausing while going into inventory, so assigning items to keys is a must here. Puzzles are also present and there's no journal entries to help you here, maybe you'll find a few cryptic messages to help you but from then on, you've got to use your brain. There are however, NUMEROUS ways to progress through the game. You can go charging in with your sword, breaking through doors and killing all in your way, or you can simply sneak past enemies or assassinate them from the darkness. Quests can also be solved in multiple ways which makes replaying the game worth it.
The only game that beats this in my opinion is Dragon Age: Origins but this game certainly has the better combat, story and crafting system. If you haven't got it, GET IT NOW.