[My steam total is much less than I've actually played since you can play offline without Steam connection. EDIT: Game is of quite sufficient length. Longest mazes I've ever played.]
Fun game from 2002. I started as a huge Diablo 2 fan. I'm catching up and enjoying the era of now-cheap RPG/action games before upgrading my system to run more modern games. Just so I don't spend before I really need to. (currently a Radeon X-600) This includes the Dungeon Siege series + Fallout, Torment, Torchlight 1/2, Baldur's Gate, Titan Quest, Morrowind, Oblivion ...before hitting Skyrim, D3, etc. Bottom line: In many ways, this fits in the older era. -- So, those are your ganeral Action/RPG + hack/slash comparisons.
** Graphics: It's 3-D. Steam graphics are representative. Sure, it's dated, but that doesn't ruin the game for me.
** Team: You can manage 8 characters drawn from three general classes from which you can customize: Melee, ranged, mage. Two kids of mages: Combat, Nature. Former is mostly offensive; the latter mainly includes healing spells, etc. Buffs and spell selection are typical.
** Multiplayer: No multiplayer anymore.
** Loot: Regular items for purchase and souped up loot (some has tradeoffs). One of your 8 chars can be a moving mule: non fighting with 3 times inventory. ... One /very/ cool minor feature is casting a "transmute" spell that turns items into gold on the spot at a fraction of the value. Thus, there's no need to leave loot unless you want to leave mapping markers or don't want to bother with the super-cheap stuff. Obviously, take the valuable stuff, right? :)
** Overview of Attributes with examples: 3 areas: Strength (perks: melee combat damage, eventually wear better armor), Dex (ranged damage), Intel (mana pool, spell damage, mage armor). -- Dex provides minimal advantages.
** Character development is actually more complex than usual. Use a melee weapon, you build strength. -- but you also gain a slight boost in dex and a very slight intel boost. Reverse is true. This enables your ranged character to VERY gradually build strength for slightly better armor. Although you delay advanced specializion perks, I like a little flexibility.
[EDIT: Recommendation: Specialization for fighters. Don't broaden their attributes/abilities beyond strength. ...Be very cautious about mage/fighters.]
** Replayability? The only replayability factors would be different party composition, which IMO is little to none. No randomness at all. I think it's a great one and done.
** Monsters: Once you clear an area, the monsters don't respawn. I expect that next game, they'll be in the same place.
** Other: You can remap keys like a bandit. Haven't even explored all the options. Raise/lower difficulty. Standard quests. Quick save along the way. Secret areas that aren't easy to find without advice? You can get an overview map, but it does NOT show caves since they're underground. Sometimes unlit areas aren't obvious, both of which are authentic and nice touches. I'll investigate mods later, if they exist.
EDIT: Just completed the game (12/12/14). This game has a let-down for an ending. Still worth the purchase, but oh my goodness, Steam version has removed all sense of closure! Does this matter? Think of it as a 98% great game, and subsequently see a therapist for any emotional damage.
** Advice: If you like the standard old ARPG like the above, get this game. Cheap Steam bundles are occasionally available at humblebundle, gamersgate, bundlestar, etc. Probably will hit gog soon if you want no DRM. Thanks for reading.