Good Steampunk

[Hugh Wright]

Many, many moons ago I picked up and played a game called Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura. It was buggier than a Windows ME, as balanced as a fat man on a unicycle, but it was interesting and engaging, and made me like Steampunk. But as this was back in 2001, and never really saw much for a while afterwards. In the last few years I have seen, read and watched a few things that claim to be steam punk. However While things like Steamboy and several other shows and movies had the look, it was just the look painted over a standard Sci-fi or Fantasy story.
What makes a good Steam punk work, and can you recommend one to me.

 

[Gecko clown]

Having a very Victorian era feel helps.

 

[Kahunaburger]

China Mieville's Bas-Lag books. I'd recommend starting with Perdido Street Station.

 

[wetfart]

The Thief series, especially Thief 2: The Metal Age, has a great steam punk feel to it. Though I would recommend that you play all three games. They are just that awesome.

 

[Annoying Turd]

I've never experienced the Steampunk genre so much, but I recall Thief II's environments were Steampunkish. What I liked about the game was that Garrett (the Player Character) was essentially a vehicle for the player to explore the medieval-esque/steampunk City. Although you're just a catburglar whose only true objective is to steal, you can't help but get absorbed by the Steampunk environment as you progress through the game.

 

[Ieyke]

Arcnum is still one of the best games of all time.

BioShock is sort of Dieselpunk...

 

[thylasos]

I'll just say that Arcanum was an incredibly good game, for all its flaws.

I'm afraid it's an under-exploited setting/ethos in the world of video games, but in terms of table-top RPGs, Victoriana is pretty amazing.

 

[SquidVicious]

The William Gibson/Bruce Sterling novel The Difference Engine is probably one of the more noteworthy steampunk novels, and definitely the one that brought my attention to the subgenre.

 

[dyre]

Arcanum is probably going to be the best Steampunk game you'll ever play. You could try Thief 2 and maybe Machinarium though

China Mieville's Bas-Lag books. I'd recommend starting with Perdido Street Station.

I want to agree with you, but imo steampunk is an art style, and as overly descriptive as Mieville's books are, it's not quite the same as seeing it :\

Still, they're good books

 

[Mordekaien]

Project Nomads.... pretty interesting game with some decent mechanics
Guns of Icarus is a game where you defend your airborne zeppelin against enemies

both games are very "steampunkish"

 

[seraphy]

Best steampunk I have seen lately is comic called Girl Genius.

Really awesome webcomics. One of my all time favorites in fact.

 

[Just_A_Glitch]

A few others have taken what I would say. Victorian feel, lots of copper coloring, etc.

Games-wise, the Thief series has some good steampunk. Arcanum, Bioshock...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steampunk

Try the wiki link?