Well, so is Arcanum 4, too.
Anyway, there are lengthy demos of ALL the Spiderweb Software games available on their website:
http://www.spiderwebsoftware.com/They've never put out a bad game, and while they're not pushing any graphical envelopes, their games typically have nice writing, lots of variety, multiple playthrough "paths," a metric fuckton of content, and a lot of homemade charm. All their games are HUGE and they're made by just 3 people. Like I said, their visuals wouldn't make any splashes at SIGGRAPH, but they have the content and gameplay that makes serious RPG gamers glue their ass to the seats and order a hefty bag filled with cheetos.
And hey, in this day of gaming giants and microtransacting leeches, how many times do you see an offer like this:
After purchase, our software is covered by a one year money-back guarantee. If you are not completely satisfied, E-mail us. We will be happy to refund your money.
But after playing one of their demos, I doubt you'd even think of asking for your money back.
I myself prefer the Geneforge series, which has the player controlling a single character and some summoned monsters. There's also the Avernum series, which is a party-based gigantic dungeon crawl. Geneforge typically puts a bit more focus on the story, although the game is rather non-linear, and different character builds can find different ways to work their way through the games.
There are demos available for all their titles on their website. Some of them are sizable demos. These demos will run on just about any system out there. Check em out.
Note that Geneforge 4 is currently only Mac only. All of their titles are released as Mac titles first, then ported to PC.
