Avadon: The Black Fortress Available for Windows

By: Derek Yu

On: May 4th, 2011

Spiderweb Software’s latest RPG has just been released for Windows. Demos for both the Mac and PC versions are available for download here.

Posted in Macintosh, RPG, Updates, Windows | Tags: SpiderwebSoftware

http://profiles.google.com/al3xand3r Alexander Rednaxela

I've been playing the
demo quite a bit. I got the hang of it,
levelled up a few times and saw how the core mechanics work. The game is quickly
drawing me in and I can already see the sinister potential the story
holds under the rather straightforward introductory fluff I have to go through. Hopefully it does open up more later on. It might not
look it, but it's been a joy to play after I got over the initial
annoyances and disappointment with certain details here and there. It's basically fun
like Infinity Engine games used to be, though not as ambitious of course, the team isn't exactly the size of Black Isle. It's
trying to be more accessible I guess, so don't expect the same depth in
every way (such as combat, it's neat but it's no d&d). The areas seem pretty large though, with multiple levels each, and the writing, while simple (I'm still basically in my first main quest, though you can do various simple side quests along the way) is better than most games. Here are a few screenshots, all of them are just from areas available in the demo.
http://i.picpar.com/f83427727b…

http://i.picpar.com/8aec28a1c0…

http://i.picpar.com/b0f3fd4471…

http://i.picpar.com/6b983a47a8…

http://i.picpar.com/5bb399a9db…

http://i.picpar.com/cdc7db17c7…

http://i.picpar.com/5b2aa76f0a…

http://i.picpar.com/d55e50f799…

http://i.picpar.com/f35bf0c8ea…

http://i.picpar.com/fb35859589…

http://i.picpar.com/746694b899…

http://i.picpar.com/0a4a10c87b…

http://i.picpar.com/119984302b…

http://i.picpar.com/fa65d15496…

http://i.picpar.com/1707fc8b46…

http://i.picpar.com/484d0e1e87…

http://i.picpar.com/2151d13abc…

http://i.picpar.com/97f6e109ee…

Also, for those with a Mac, it's a little cheaper on the Mac App Store than it is through the official website. An iPad version should be coming soon for those interested.
http://profiles.google.com/al3xand3r Alexander Rednaxela

Okay, I really dunno what's up with DISQUS and that attached files thing it does from my links and in the process duplicates them at random and reverses their order. I'm sorry.
Pnx

So the games got some good points, and is not too bad overall… but it increasingly feels like he just isn't trying all that hard with his games, it's got rampant railroading, plot holes, and reuse of material. Which seriously detracts from the game play for me.

Which is a shame, because the original three avernums (also exile before them), and the geneforge series were some of my favorite games.
http://profiles.google.com/al3xand3r Alexander Rednaxela

I guess you could say this is Spiderweb's Icewind Dale. No complaints from me, I loved that game despite not being an open RPG and so far this is pretty damn good too. I bought it and just got to the second main story mission, though the situations in the first are sure to be revisited later, too many loose ends there it seems. I only didn't like having no choice to stand against an obviously malicious character, but other than that so far I like how the stories are told and the dungeon crawling is fun and decently challenging, I do die a few times here and there until I figure out how to beat a boss or other strong enemy and I'm only playing on Hard.