Avernum 2: Crystal Souls 12+

It was really fun. Reminded of my Ultima days.
The story line is great, and levelling up is done very well.
It is gradual and at a good pace.
My personal strategy was just to quest all around (for like 60 hours literally)
And then I spent the last 10 finishing the game and the final three quests.
But I had a great time doing it.
Great job!!

Wish the developed would take a game design course. There’s so much repetitive traveling back and forth for quests that I decided to delete the game before I died of boredom. If there’s water that I have to travel, why are theyre so few places that sell boats? The boats of course get trapped in areas because of waterfalls and then you have to find another boat seller. Shouldn’t every town have a place to sell the stuff you’ve acquired so that you can get gold for training and new gear? I’ve spent less money on other games and had a much better playing experience. Most developers evolve their games and game play over time. This is the same game that I purchased years ago when I bought my first Mac - nothing really new. I played D&D games when Commodore 64’s ruled the earth and had better gaming experiences.

I wrote a review for Avernum: Escape from the Pit which is the first installment of this game series. I will keep this review shorter and will try to not repeat things I noted in the earlier review because the game play and mechanics are so similar.

That said, this second installment in the Avernum series is just as good as the first. I don't think you'd need to play A1:EFTP in order to enjoy A2:CS but there's no reason to skip the first game – play it first if you can. A2:CS has a story which is just as rich, provides even more lands to explore, slightly improved gameplay, and very satisfying conclusions.

I liked the "final quests" of this second game more than the first; more than the first's quest to kill the emperor, anyway, as I found that rushed and pressured with no opportunity to fully explore (and loot) that area.

I think I enjoyed the start of the first game a bit more (you're a troublemaker who's been thrown into this weird underworld) than the start of the second (you're in the underworld's military and immediately have to fight a kind of long running battle) but they both work to introduce basic gameplay and learn a little about the environment you find yourself in.

I do wish that I had been warned that there'd be no turning back once I started on my way to the second major area of this game because while you do eventually go back physically there are several quest sequences that have to be abandoned the moment you make that decision but you don't find out until much later. Also, I was lower level than might be ideal for doing that when i started it, which made it much more difficult and take a lot longer than was probably intended by the developer. A "hard gate" to prevent a player from proceeding there prematurely or at least a serious in-game warning would be a good thing to add.

As before, a great old-style computer RPG that I greatly enjoyed and kept me immersed for many hours over several weeks. I balked at the $20 price tag compared to the first game's $10 but now I find myself hankering for even more Avernum and looking at Avernum 3 for another $20!