Blades of Avernum 1.0

Role-playing games were once meant to be played for days at end without fearing the credits screen, since the adventures usually lasted hundreds of hours, that is if you were skilled enough to get everything right the first time. Obviously, level design and content was much easier to add back in the isometric era, since now it would take a lot of time to design and implement the high-resolution models.

Blades of Avernum is a role-playing game in which your main concern is to stay alive and see the story unfold, while everything else passes by unnoticed. There are hundreds of dark dungeons to explore and just as many settlements to visit and admire. The main quest is long and complicated, with plenty of intrigue, a large number of characters and the obligatory great evil that threatens the entire realm with destruction.

However, the plot keeps you interested all the way through and there are many difficult battles to fight, all of which yield incredible rewards and make you feel like a true hero. The main storyline speaks about a rebellion against the Empire, which you are sent to crush on royal orders. Along the way, the truth becomes less obvious and you are faced with the option to join the rebellion instead, in order to bring the Empire down.

In the beginning of the game, you are allowed to create your own party from scratch, even if you are presented with a pre-generated one to make things easier if you do not want to complicate yourself. It is very fun to choose your companions, on the other hand, as well as name them as you wish and include anyone you would like into the adventure, along with yourself.

As previously mentioned, the graphics were not the main concern of the developer and it clearly shows, although they are not horrible either. You may have a difficult time adjusting to the interface, however, since it occupies the better part of the screen and the actual map may appear to be constricted in the top-right corner. It gets better after a few hours, though, once you get absorbed by the action and the story.

In the end, Blades of Avernum even includes a fully-featured editor as well, which can be used to make your own adventures from scratch. There are thousands of already-made ones on the Internet, a great deal of which are worth a shot. Thus, there are thousands of hours of gameplay to enjoy and many enemies to defeat along the way.