Avernum 2: Crystal Souls

Exploration starts small at first, but builds rapidly and never quite stops through the end. Just when you think you've explored everything, you find a new area, and another, and another. Each area feels and looks different - terrain, plant life, and building structures all change. Every graphic and item has been placed there by the programmer, and he's put in a world's worth of subtle touches. Stay alert for the small things. You walk into a dining hall full of angry ghosts. Kill them! But before you leave with your loot, notice that the table is still set with plates and goblets, and there are piles of bones on the floor near the chairs. People came for dinner, died here, and their spirits stayed to haunt the place. You find a body in some monster's den. The dead person has a tunic, pants, a dagger and a lantern. Whoops, someone went to check things out and never came back. There's a LOT of stuff like that if you watch for it. The stash of board games in newly-built army barracks, a pillow and blanket in a wizard's bedroom, gloves and pots in a garden shed . . . Character dialog is a real strength of Spiderweb Software. It's clear these other people have personalities and interests, even if you only see a small part of their lives. It's not "a mayor's aide in a small city", it's Bruce in Blosk who says all the right things about his boss but manages to sound unconvincing. The Avernum series is known for old-school graphics and a moderate amount of descriptive text. If you're uncertain, download the demo from the Spiderweb Software web site and try before buying. For people who enjoy this style of game, A2:CS and the whole series is highly recommended.

This game defines HUGE! It took me about two months to complete it playing on an average of about two hours a day- and I never really finished a number of optional quests. Jeff Vogel, the developer, obviously spent a lot of time making this and it shows- it is truly a labor of love! I love building up my characters' skills melee and magic (two priests, two mages, with the priests also specializing in melee and the mages, archery- works great). There are a few minor areas of imbalance, where a one way ticket to Erika a mage for a "chat" led me to the most difficult battle thus far, requiring the use of cheats to survive (I hate that!). Also, the simplistic graphics do sometimes get repetitive- it's no Baldur's Gate. But, besides what I might find to be a few annoying flaws, all in all, it is a great epic game, one of the most fun and engaging I have ever played!

Avernum: Escape From The Pit was a solid, surprisingly deep, no-frills RPG emphasising turn-based combat, questing, and satisfying exploration. Avernum 2 is more of the same, and if it's not quite as good as its predecessor, it's only because its predecessor was close to perfect. As with the whole franchise, Avernum 2 is a very focused RPG, that chooses to settle for graphics and sound that are serviceable at best in order to spend its energy on a deeply satisfying talk-explore-kill-loot gameplay loop, and a story just good enough to be interesting. For gamers who are remotely interested in a game with those trade-offs, there's a whole lot to love here. I found Avernum 2 more frustrating than its predecessor. It has an unfortunate love of rewarding your discovery of new areas by locking you into them for extended periods, and only allowing you to return to familiar lands after certain quests are completed. The stuff that is new feels frustrating, and the stuff that is old feels a little stale. It's still a great game and its only real sin is being another dose of something you may already be full of.

For those who can see past graphics, Avernum provides a great experience. The remakes of Avernum1 and 2 are a significant improvement on the original versions in both graphics, gameplay, quests, interaction, map and level design. My review will be in brief, without major or minor spoilers. Magic system - fun with roughly three spells from each type of magical damage. Combat system - interesting with few useless abilities, but mostly well done. Quests - some lame collect X# of ____. Some lame bring ___ to ___. Aside of the typical filler quests, there are many quests that have important story information that you must keep track of! The journal and notes do not do much for you! Do it yourself or you will get lost quickly. Economy - money matters so save, save, save! If you want to buy skills and spells, every penny counts. Gameplay - you can break quests if you kill people! This is a real RPG and it can be unforgiving. Everything is achievable on the hardest difficulty, but you have to plan and have a strategy. Classes - theres a variety of classes, but I found that the standard wizard and warrior trope classes are the best. The rogue variant has not show itself to be very useful overall - I found it better to have a tank plus three casters, rarely using a cleric. Rogues can do great damage, but I found the amount of micromanagement needed to capitalize on this is rarely valuable. Graphics - not great. Thats it! The time and care is spent on the game, the gameplay, bug hunting, and smart mechanics. There is always a trade-off and for a great game; graphics are sacrificed. Overall, the game is pretty fun. Check out #1 Avernum: Escape from the Pit. Consider the fact that Avernum: Crystal Skulls significantly improved over the first re-release. The gameplay mechanics are smoother and the story is just as good. If you like old style RPGs, this is a must play!