The player then chooses an archetypal career from a long list including Anarchist, Diplomat, Dashing Hussar, Mad Scientist, and Steam Engineer.

[1] Players can also choose to play non-human characters such as dragons, faeries and dwarves, but reviewer Rick Swan noted that "they come with so much baggage, they're barely worth the effort.

[Designer Mike] Pondsmith has done a great job of setting the stage for grand dramatic battles between good and evil without once letting it descend into melodrama or parody.

Haring concluded, "Castle Falkenstein is a breath of fresh air in roleplaying, a game where real heroes matter and don’t have to apologize.

Cox complimented the presentation, commenting, "With its incredible artwork and layout the book fairly transports you into the realms of the world, while not taking away from the exchange of information."

This reflects the main thrust of the system, which is heavily geared towards roleplaying and storytelling over game mechanics and numbers, and drops dice in favour of a couple of packs of playing cards.

"[4] In his 2023 book Monsters, Aliens, and Holes in the Ground, RPG historian Stu Horvath noted, "Here be dragons, high adventure, and clear lines between good and evil.

In [the 1990s,] a grim and gritty decade of moral dilemmas ... Falkenstein is a startling (and perhaps lone) splash of bright, uncomplicated color."

Horvath concluded, "The relatively simple card-based system allows the game to focus on its world and its narrative themes, which ... wind up being some of the few bright and sunny patches in a gritty decade of overcast skies and steady drizzles.