The combat, while simple, can play out very differently based on character build and skill choices. You can focus on combat skills, magic skills, or shaping skills. Shaping skills tend to be my favourite, as eventually your character ends up with a group of creatures that gain strength as they survive combat.

Do you sacrifice the little guy, who has travelled with you from the beginning, in order to create the newest monster you discovered? Do you even care? While battles can get repetitive, there's a nice feeling of the progression which I feel an RPG needs. As the games progresses, the battles will play out differently depending on your character build.

Shaping is what differentiates Geneforge from a typical fantasy setting; you are creating and toying with life, and, as the series progresses, the story reveals a more technological approach to creating creatures. The “art” of shaping often blurs the line between scifi and fantasy. Shaping could be easily dismissed as another word for summoning, but regardless of the terminology, Geneforge allows for more control of “shaped” creatures than other games do.

Shaped creatures consume a certain amount of energy from your character, and an experienced creature can be a valuable companion. The balance between the energy used for maintaining old creatures, creating new ones, and maintaining a reserve for spellcasting can be more strategic than the actual battles.

This all sets the stage for a beautifully open-ended style of game. Your character, arriving on an abandoned island, meets different populations of humans and Shaper creations that have radically different views on the world of the Shapers. The world is yours to explore, at times limited by game events or necessary items, but mostly defined by the prowess of your character and the allies you have made.