Aveyond: Gates of Night

Usually, when powerful monsters start being a nuisance in some fantasy land, there’s always one or more heroes ready to rise to the occasion and put up a fight. Given the fact that evil rarely wins in such situations, it’s really a surprise that they keep coming up with plans to conquer the world and enslave the entire population. On the other hand, video games wouldn’t be the same without confident villains.

Aveyond: Gates of Night is a top-down RPG with a classic setup and everything you need to start saving the world from evil. There are no great revelations and no revolutionary combat mechanics, just good old turn-based fights and a black and white story with a clear villain. You can get quite attached to some of the characters, on the other hand, especially if you enjoy cliches.

Speaking of which, the plot revolves around a magical artifact known as the Orb of Darkness, which has the power to end the world. For some reason, a powerful vampire by the name of Gyendal decides that ending the world falls in line with his personal agenda. Naturally, there’s a hero who goes on a quest to stop him, but the journey to the orb is riddled with many other traps and enemies.

Just like every quest out there, this one takes you to exciting places as well, although most of them are crawling with dangerous creatures that want to hurt you. Thankfully, your characters can also level up and get stronger along the way, which means new skills and stronger magic spells. Better items are also part of the deal, although you have to search for them in treasure chests and on the bodies of fallen foes.

Given the fact that the game sports 2D graphics and a top-down perspective, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the visual quality is not exactly top-notch. The level design is not bad at all, but the environments can get repetitive after a while, especially since the same tiles and textures are used on a regular basis. It shouldn’t be too much of a bother if you are familiar with the genre, on the other hand.

Aveyond: Gates of Night is a worthy episode in the Aveyond saga, especially if you have had the chance to play the rest of the games in the series. Hence, this can be the perfect cure if you are aching for some adventuring.