Avadon the black fortress - Worth a closer look

Parallel to playing classical CRPGs I did start on Avadon - The blackfortress a few weeks ago. For you who have not played it, it is a newly developed game (2011) but that catches the old CRPG feeling of the past. It was released in 2011 by Spiderweb Software. The game tries to appeal to the same crowd as the Eschalon series by Basilisk games. Avadon allows for up to two party members to accompany you on your quest. You choose your main character amongst four classes but you still have access to the other ones as selectable party members.

I have put approximately 20 hours into the game and have advanced to well over level 12. The game is heavy on story, background and dialogues like Baldurs Gate but are not as good. The atmospheric texts are the best but dialogues are sometimes overelaborated with meaningless follow-up questions that never seem to end.

The level ups give you attribute points and skill points to distribute through a skill three which is a very satisfying moment. Your are given several missions apart from the main quest and can return to previous visited areas that are reused pretty well for new missions once they have been cleared once. There are no random encounters after you have defeated your enemies. Combat is turn-based and allows for some tactical consideration.

This post is not meant as a review of the game but as a mention of another good Indie RPG. It is available at gamersgate for around 6 EUR/8 USD and is well worth it. Why don´t you download the demo and try out for yourself ?

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