Avernum 2: Crystal Souls

A continuation to an old-school RPG Avernum: Escape from the Pit – a game developed in 2012 by Spiderweb Software – an independent American studio also popular for a similar series – Avadon. In similarity to the predecessing game, Avernum 2: Crystal Souls is a modernized remake of another game of the studio, Avernum 2, which originally came out in 2001 and gained a strong approval of the players. Similar to the refreshed version of the original game, Avernum 2: Crystal Souls was released first for the PC.

Plot

The player is once again taken to a fantasy world governed by an eternal force known as the Empire. All those who stand up to the system or dare to criticize the rulers' actions are taken to a huge, underground prison, the titular Avernum. In the previous installment, the player was leading a group of rebels who acted against the Empire and eliminated its despotic leader, Hawthorne. This time, the Empire wants to have their revenge and sends their forces to Avernum in order to take cave after cave out of the rebels' hands and eliminate all those who stand in their way. The player's goal is to find a way to stop the destructive power and save their companions from death.

Mechanics

Mechanics-wise, Avernum 2: Crystal Souls for PC and iOS draws inspiration from classic cRPGs played from an isometric view and featuring a turn-based combat system. The player leads a team of four, Gaining experience points; the team gradually develops their statistics and skills. The game world is comprised of over a hundred different dungeons, caves and underground towns – visiting all those locations will probably not take less than 40 hours. The universe is inhabited by a series of different races, having completely different customs and representing various cultures. The combat system is relatively complex; apart from conventional parts of equipment, the player can use over 60 different spells and combat tactics, as well as hundreds of magic artifacts. As in the case of the previous installment, three independent paths lead to victory here. As a result, the player can focus on following one of those paths or take care of all the three at the same time. The main storyline is obviously complemented by plenty of side quests.

Technical aspects

The creators were mainly focused on refreshing the visuals – although they are still very old-school, the PC version makes a significantly better impression than the original edition (2001). On the other hand, the developer did not experiment with the mechanics, as the list of changes is limited to small improvements in the character creation system, the interface, and the in-game AI.

Last updated on 17 March 2015