Disclaimer: Out of these games, Avernum 3: Ruined World (2018) was given as a review-copy. Everything else is either a game I bought myself or I played the demo (Nethergate.) I don't think this aspect affects my opinion, but I am making that information clear.
Prefer to watch or to listen to a long review rather than read one? You can view this review down below; I aim to please everyone when it comes to giving out reviews.
The first questions you will likely ask if you are any fan of RPGs—besides why is this intro my briefest opening ever—is, “Who is Spiderweb Software, and why haven’t I heard that name before?” Spiderweb Software, owned and operated by Jeff Vogel and his wife, Mariann Krizsan, is perhaps one of the nichest indie developers out there that continues to make games for almost three decades. It wouldn’t be entirely correct to state that this two-man team creates everything as they have to freelance any new art assets out of necessity, but it’s still impressive that one man behind the computer and his wife managing the business side has thrived for so long to create sixteen games (or twenty five games if you count their remakes.) You simply don’t get more independent than this studio, and that badge of honor has always inspired me to review their games.
So, if the studio means a whole lot to me, why then haven’t I ever bothered to write a review for any one of their titles? The short answer is myself, but the real problem is my habit to play games from the first entry and work my way up. That situation is how I started looking into Spiderweb’s lineup a year ago when, full-disclosure, I received a review copy for Avernum III: Ruined World. Although the description clearly stated any prior experience wasn’t necessary, my own habits took the better of me, so I bought the first game, and I planned to play Avernum one through three in about a month. That decision was a colossal mistake as I did not fully comprehend how much content was packed into these games, so I then thought I would play one entry from each series before Avernum 3. After ten to twenty hours per game, I realized that the way I review games wouldn’t work, especially not for one entry at the end of the first trilogy. Ever since that experience, Spiderweb Software has always loomed over my conscience like a haunting memory that won’t let me sleep at night—have I mentioned that I have a severe case of arachnophobia? The irony of the situation is not lost on me.
Tangents of ethical quandaries for reviewers and personal phobias aside, this anecdote leads into the idea for this video, which as some random saying I made up to sound clever goes, “If you can’t solve a problem, then you can change yourself to come up with a solution.” Now I wouldn’t consider these videos, “Schmal Bites,” on the same level as my other reviews, but I also wouldn’t consider these videos as throwaway as first impressions. Informed impressions might be the best term, not to make my opinions sound elitist, since they are based on an extended period of time. What these videos will mainly serve is a way to talk about games that would otherwise not suit my reviewing method for whatever reason, but it could also include reviews that are way too short to be standalone videos. With all that information being said, let’s start where this tale was spun from Spiderweb’s first series, Avernum (or also known as Exile.)
Exile/Avernum Series (1995 -2018)
If you’re already confused with the name of this series, don’t worry; it only gets worse the further you unravel this spinster’s tale. Hopefully this information will make sense as to why there are two listings of Avernum as well as why some titles have subtitles while others do not.
Way back in 1995, there was the first Spiderweb game made in the vein of the first three Ultima titles, named Exile: The Escape from the Pit. As you might expect from a game developed at this time, it didn’t take long for advances in computer technology to make the game inoperable on modern devices. What Jeff Vogel decided to do was to “rewrite” the first trilogy of Exile into the first trilogy of Avernum, which used the Nethergate (not the Nethergate: Resurrection) engine. Ten years later, and after completing the second trilogy of Avernum as well as the Geneforge series, Jeff Vogel returned again to rewrite Avernum with all the improvements brought with Avernum 6. This version was dubbed Avernum: Escape from the Pit. The other two games in this first trilogy have also been remade, and they are designated with Exile subtitles; the second trilogy, however, remains in its original form.
If that history lesson was too confusing to follow, and I wouldn’t blame you, then all you need to know is if there is a subtitle attached that means you are playing the latest version with all the modern quality of life improvements. So how exactly does Avernum hold up after sixteen years? About as well as might expect.
If I had to describe Avernum, the world and the gameplay, in one sentence, it would be an Elder Scrolls version of Fallout with the world-building that you would expect from Obsidian. Now that description may be giving the game too little or too much credit depending on what you think about the gameplay as well as the quality of its writing. It does, however, capture this series’ sense of adventure combined with the sheer scale and quality of its world, and it’s the epicness of a six-game journey from the depths of Avernum to the topside world that will enrapture those who dare to try their patience for such a lengthy quest.
One common problem with Spiderweb games, although perhaps more so in Avernum, is how stretched out these games are with respect to their mechanics. As an avid fan of turn-based tactics games from the terrors of the deep of XCOM to the pillars of excellence set by Pillars of Eternity, I would like to say there is as much depth to Avernum as the character creation system wants you to believe. While there is a decent variety of ten classes—and the following entries would let you play as humans; the feline race, Nephilim; and the lizard-men race, the Sliths—the combat mechanics aren’t as captivating when you realize all classes boil down to fighters, mages and priests with all the rest serving as hybrids. For one game, this system would be acceptable; however, when you consider these systems for six entries, you will understand the sentiment that these mechanics overstay their welcome. Avernum isn’t the only series that suffers from its own journey as Baldur’s Gate shares this same plight, even before Siege of Dragonspear added another twenty-five hours to the journey, and that game uses AD&D rules. To Avernum’s credit, this problem isn’t about quality versus quantity as these games make their quests as much as their world worth the long, long road ahead into what could easily take you hundreds of hours to see the end.
So what is about Avernum’s world that makes it so compelling? The first two entries take place within the confines of Avernum, a prison for the Empire to cast aside its outcasts, its criminals, its insurrectionists and all its unwanted folks into a realm meant to be their end. Instead of dying off, the people formerly of the Empire, as well as the other races sent into Avernum, have learned to thrive off their new environments. Sunlight is replaced with bio-luminescent mushrooms and other magical substitutes; cattle and other livestock have been conditioned to eat mushrooms, which has resulted in their milk turning green; and the exiled mages from the Tower of the Magi continue to experiment with new ways to adapt to the environment. It is all these many examples of great attention to detail as well as subversions throughout the game such as coming across a friendly neighborhood of spiders makes Avernum a believable world.
In addition, Avernum, from the very first game, manages to do what most RPGs or fantasy worlds fail to accomplish in creating an underdog narrative. (These games also do not suffer from telling incomplete stories as every game is treated as a self-contained work.) Above all the lore and the engaging quests, it’s perhaps the length of that journey—although most of these games can be completed within twenty to thirty-five hours—and the sense of scale from all the side-content that does a lot more to sell the idea of this story. In many ways, Avernum shares a lot in common with Tolkien’s novels where the first hundred pages of The Lord of the Rings was about the Shire, the main characters and building up the suspense of the outer world.
Out of these three goals, Avernum misses the mark on the latter category as most of the writing is expository with no real personality behind the player’s words. Many great RPGs, even ones with blank slates, also suffer from this problem, but your dialogue decisions in Avernum feel devoid of any flavor. This sentiment doesn’t extend to all written characters as they have enough characterization to make them serve the purpose of telling you a story. You also have to accept the many instances of the “Show, Don’t Tell” problem, especially when the narrator will emphasize things that should rather be left for the player to discover from conversations. However, you cannot blame Jeff Vogel for these moments because it would be a far worse problem if these details were not made clear to the player without having played previous titles, or if the sequels had to make their tutorials more intrusive. Like many aspects in life, concessions have to be made and this compromise, while not the best solution, is one where it makes the most sense.
So after the first two games, Avernum 3 takes places at a time when the Avernites have found a way to return to the surface, and the first trilogy can end with the Empire and the Avernites reaching a mutual agreement. Normally I would have put a spoiler warning, but simply stating that information is kind of like saying Star Wars ends with the Empire in defeat (the original trilogy, not the new schlock.) You simply don’t have the context nor the experience behind that revelation to appreciate the extend of that journey. Another reason, besides making the transition to the next trilogy easier to talk about, is that Avernum always lets you have multiple endings with only one being canonical, and the introductions for subsequent games will always spoil the previous games for you. (There is also no save-transfer feature, which gives credence to the idea that the characters you play in every game are not the same adventurers.) The point of highlighting this plot point is if you want to end the journey here, then you can certainly make that decision and you will still find closure, especially if the state of the second-half of that adventure dissuades you from continuing onwards.
Now I wouldn’t argue that Avernum’s second trilogy is unplayable as Avernum 6 served as the technical foundation for the original trilogy’s second remake. It’s more so the fact that once you are accustomed to all the modern quality of life changes from before having some of them absent, even as simple as proper wide-screen support, can be a hindrance to enjoy Avernum 4 and 5. The obvious solution to this problem is you can wait until their own remakes, but who knows how long that would take? If the Geneforge series is up next, which I certainly do hope is the next series planned for the future, then that wait might be a while, perhaps long enough for you to complete the first trilogy. Then again, you also have the Blades of Avernum module creation tool, so you can create your own adventures while you wait in that long intermission.
Again, these are all compromises you’ll have to accept one way or the other. If you do desire to go the whole six entries, then perhaps you can be among those who can truly appreciate one of the most expansive, tightly crafted RPGs ever made. Hopefully before you yourself are six feet under.
The Avadon Series (2011 -2016)
Compared to Avernum, Avadon—not to be easily confused with the text-based online role-playing, Avalon—is a more streamlined game, which can either be a good or a bad change depending on what elements you did not like. Instead of offering multiple hybrid classes from the main three archetypes and starting off with a four-man party, Avadon starts you off alone with four archetypes to choose from, and you can later take two out of four additional companions with you on your adventures. If that introduction alone didn’t seem jarring, you don’t even get the chance to customize your build before you are suddenly put into the game itself.
What Avadon may lack in terms of immediate customization, however, this series has many more favorable deviations to make it equally as impressive. Combat has a little more nuance than Avernum with various tweaks to the previous combat system such as losing AP points when you disengage from a target as well as the addition of the Vitality system, which is a gauge for your skills that will need to be replenished. The quest and encounter design are a lot more linear than Avernum’s open world, giving the game far greater pacing for its run-time to suit its more focused narrative. Various tweaks to the UI and the map layout go a long way to make the game more accessible despite its rough appearance. Finally, since this series was released around the second Avernum remakes, these games are already compatible with modern hardware, although the resolution options can sometimes make it harder to read the font if you go beyond 720P. As a result of all these changes, Avadon may be a better introduction than Avernum for newcomers who have always wanted to give Spiderweb a chance but may have found their older titles too daunting.
These gameplay changes aren’t the only new additions; Avadon also doesn’t skimp out on creating as compelling of a world as Avernum. The political and cultural landscape of the Five Pacts as well as the storyline revolving around the central power of the Black Fortress, Avadon, makes the story easier to digest rather than imagining how the Empire from Avernum operates. Side quests are still plentiful, but they are spread out more with the narrative rather than being elements to distract you from your main mission. Companions have actual personalities you expect from most modern CRPGs. Finally, important characters have a greater amount of dialogue to give their characterization more time to develop. All of these changes still come with multiple and canonical endings along with subversions for quests to keep Avadon equally as compelling.
Now are all these changes for the better? Obviously not if the question had to be asked.
While the changes to the class and the party system are understandable, the changes to the skill-tree are more egregious. Avernum also didn’t have the best upgrade-system but you actually felt some sense of progression and customization to your characters with combat and non-combat skills, even if it was to your detriment with how some skills were calculated as a group. Avadon, however, takes away the diversity from these non-combat skills as well as making your individual characters homogeneous. Certain weapons or skills are limited to only one class, which can force you to have a character you didn’t want in your party. There are also no traits, which were little milestones similar to the ones in Fallout to reward players making effective builds to reap their rewards. In short, if you want to pick locks, then you’ll either have to have a Shadowwalker or a Sorceress; if you want to use a specific weapon such as the shurikens, you have to play as the Shadowwalker; and if you want to use magic, you’ll have to decide what spells you want between the Shaman and the Sorceress.
Additionally, some players may find Avadon’s accessible options too intrusive such as the quest-markers always displayed on the map or the Geneforge-style world map where you can only warp between regions. These latter changes aren’t deal-breakers because sometimes there are games that are better off not making massive open worlds, and the markers are so small and vague enough that you’ll still get lost exploring these regions. The other improvements to the UI such as showing names with the Shift key and the later addition of showing the enemy’s AP count in Avadon 3 are much better new features. Strangely enough, the only change that I didn’t like was the omission to use the keyboard to select a target; it’s not like Avadon is designed for a controller, but it was often quicker in Avernum to attack using the keyboard rather than dragging the mouse. Overall, the accessible features do what they are designed to do with little to no intrusion on the gameplay experience.
In spite of what features have been lost from previous titles, Avadon expands on its previous games more than enough to make it a worthy successor. With how commonplace is the phrase, “asset flip,” Avadon is more than enough proof to show that just because a game can use various resources from before doesn’t mean that is a sign of lacking talent. In fact, if you were to objectively view these games side-by-side, comparing these series would make the statement quite clear that Avadon has as much, if not more, effort to distinguish itself from its many predecessors.
Nethergate: Resurrection (2007, original 1998)
Unfortunately, out of all these series, it’s somewhat ironic that the entry with only one game suffers the most to play. This problem isn’t because the game fails to innovate to make itself stand out, but the amount of engine-related problems that hampers the user’s experience. By no means is Nethergate: Resurrection a bad game, far from it, but you’ll have to tolerate its share of problems.
For starters, Nethergate: Resurrection is based on the Blades of Avernum (or the first Avernum remake engine,) so the game lacks the polish added from the second series of remakes. Clicking on the screen where you want to go is replaced by holding down the mouse-button in the general direction. If you see me careening into walls or struggling to go around corners, then this explanation will help you understand why; you can use the number-pad to walk in all nine directions, but once you get accustomed to the controls from these other entries it’s hard to break that habit. Resolution problems still plague this version, but, thankfully, the UI and the font-size are still legible. However, one problem that is exclusive to Nethergate: Resurrection is that enemies can engage you before combat. Unlike all these other entries, the game does not automatically enter you into combat, which is only a cheap way for the isometric camera to catch you off-guard when enemies are around the corner.
Now these problems are probably magnified due to how much more difficult is Nethergate, but that aspect is also tied into what makes this entry more unique. Unlike Jeff Vogel’s other games, you can play as one of two factions, the Celts and the Romans, and these two perspectives on the game play more than a narrative role. Romans start off with far better equipment whereas the Celts have more forms of magic from the start, which isn’t too punishing but this change does force you to be more strategic during the early game. In addition, while the map layouts are identical, the obstacles, from the terrain and from the combat encounters, are more strenuous for the Celts with poisonous swamps and denser groups of enemies. All of these decisions are gameplay concessions not to make the game more difficult for no reason but to work in tandem with the storytelling.
While there are mythical creatures and druid magic, Nethergate: Resurrection is mainly a historical-fiction role-playing game. You might compare the game to a more recent title like Age of Decadence, but the way I would describe the narrative is similar to Homer’s Iliad. Yeah, the narrative involves the Greek Gods giving mortals cheat-codes with quick expiration dates, but the primary purpose of the tale was to remember the Trojan Wars and the Fall of Troy. Also like the Iliad, there is cultural value to this game encoded within these tales of fantasy.
Now I am not a historian, but, growing up as a bookworm, I do enjoy reading random aspects of history. Last year I had read Rupert Mathew’s examination of the Roman Empire, The Age of the Gladiators, and while some information could be outdated from that book and this game, I was impressed how much Jeff Vogel based the game off real history. There are references to certain historical events, famous people like Emperor Nero, and prevailing discussions that would be important during that time-period. Obviously, some liberties were taken, but, overall, the story does its best to present two sides of Queen Boudica’s rebellion from 60 to 61 AD.
Due to YouTube’s policy on certain words, some ideas from this era are more difficult to discuss in their finer details. Let’s just say that the Romans’ ideas for conquest are similar to Genghis Khan and his infamous libido. Rome during this time was spreading its reach across the West, civilizing the world as far as the Roman roads would reach. In all fairness, the Romans weren’t all that bad as they included other lesser cultures into the Roman society. Their methods, especially during the Colosseum games, could be excessive. Slaves could earn property, wages and could buy their own freedom; however, these people, especially gladiators, could become political weapons (Matthews 52.) This duality and nuance are wonderfully expressed in Nethergate on both sides of the conflict.
As for the ancient Celts, I don’t know as much about their history to pass judgement on their portrayal. Admittedly, the inclusion of female player characters as druids did raise my suspicions, but after reading into the real history the idea may not be all that absurd—minus the hocus-pocus nonsense (Heizmann 105.) Interestingly, for comparison, the Romans did have female gladiators at one point, but Emperor Setimous Servous later banned women from the arena entirely (Mathews 67.) Some characters in Nethergate reflect its historical background such as the former Celtic gladiator trainer from Rome and the barbaric rituals such as human sacrifices. While I cannot vindicate these portrayals, they are given the same scrutiny much like the Romans, which is just further proof of how this game is one of Jeff Vogel’s finest portrayals of world-building. To summarize this section in short, the ancient Britons of the past are probably much like the ones we have today, the filthy posh savages.
So the narrative elements are good enough, but how about Nethergate’s gameplay? Besides the many engine-related issues, Nethergate unfortunately feels more simplistic than Avernum. Now this feedback is largely due to how ubiquitous your four characters can feel because you can only allocate their skills and their traits. There are no classes to specialize into like before, and the result is a squad that feels like four battle-mages for the Celts and four warriors for the Romans. Part of the problem is that there aren’t many opportunities for classes in this time-period even with magic. However, one idea from the past that Nethergate could incorporate would make its gameplay more distinct, formation tactics.
If there is anything all my hours of Total War has taught me, then it is the importance of maintaining formations during combat. Roman soldiers were well-known for their many lines of defense and formations of engagement, and this basis would be the perfect solution for Nethergate. However, one squad creating formations in the style of Legend of Zelda: Four Swords might make the combat tedious, so if there was ever going to be a sequel, then the next game should give the player four squads instead of four units. Even if the gameplay remained simplistic, the addition of squad-based combat would go a long way to make far more interesting rules of engagement such as in Bad North. This solution would also give the battles greater scale and more liberties for unique obstacles like sieging a city or breaking lines of defense on heavily armored units. There is more than enough potential here to make something truly outstanding from Vogel’s other games.
Outside of that one suggestion, the gameplay for Nethergate is more than adequate if you are familiar with Spiderweb’s other games, if more clunky than before. You can, however, give the game a chance for yourself. If you have wondered what that unregistered text-box at the bottom meant, then that’s because ALL of Jeff Vogel’s games—including the remakes—can be played as demos to give you a taste of each game. These aren’t meager demos like what you would expect as these demos can be almost a quarter of the entire experience, so there’s more than enough to let you decide if the rest of the journey is worth playing. For Nethergate, it’s more so the narrative and the two perspectives during a lesser known conflict that will compel you to keep playing. Afterwards, there’s not much else to keep you coming back once you have reached the end.
The Geneforge Saga (2001 - 2008)
However, rather than ending this video on a downer, I have save what is perhaps my favorite series for last. Geneforge—I’m certain the name is pronounced GENE-FORGE, but the name GEN-NUH-FORGE better rolls off the tongue—has perhaps one of the most unique settings in any RPG due to its high sci-fi/high-fantasy world. This game isn’t Warhammer or other sci-fi worlds that happen to have fantasy elements thrown into them; it’s the opposite situation, a high-fantasy world given ideas from the future.
In this series, the first three games have you play as three versions of the Shapers, a mystical order of wizards that can harness the power of creating life to their will. Shapers can create mindless monsters to fight for them, brain-like databases of information or homunculus men and women willing to serve their masters, Serviles. You play as one of three new Shaper apprentices—a Shaper, a Guardian or an Agent—who is sent out on a rite of passage test to a remote island when you are suddenly ambushed by brigands. You wash up on shore nearly dead from exhaustion on an island deemed Barred where the experiments have been left alone from the outside world. Similar to Jurassic Park, these living experiments have deviated on their own progress, or as Ian Malcom would say, “Life finds a way.”
When you move inland, you realize all the humonculous men have been left to fend for themselves for years without a Shaper. They have even formed factions in dispute with one another, and the arrival of an untrained Shaper like yourself begins to spark these Serviles’ paranoia. Unlike Jeff Vogel’s other titles, there is a surprising depth to these quests with various choices between all these factions on the island. You can meet with these leaders, assassinate them or strike a bargain between one or two leaders; you can treat these non-people however you see fit; and even your own style of gameplay is another choice that can have a drastic effect on the game. Geneforge stands out precisely because of this focused sense of freedom, although there is always a cannon ending. Another way to express how different this game feels from Avernum is if Avernum felt like an Elder Scrolls game made into a Fallout-style engine, then Geneforge feels even more like a proper Fallout title except in a world far more bizarre and compelling of player-driven choices.
Ironically, as a game about making choices, Geneforge is perhaps the most restrictive and the simplest game from Vogel’s lineup. While you can play as a Guardian or an Agent, you aren’t getting the same narrative experience as a lite-Shaper, and even when you do play as the Shaper there is a limited number of spells to use. Your creations also only seem to offer one attack, which can make Pokemon battles look complex by comparison. However, unlike Vogel’s other games, combat isn’t as prominent; the game was also the first to introduce the overworld map screen you would later see from Avadon. This change isn’t bad because the best moments of Geneforge are when dialogue or your decisions play a more important role. My only concern for this series is how long can these mechanics last since this game goes on for another four titles.
Perhaps this reason is why Geneforge 4 and 5 changed gears and offered five additional classes where you can play as the homunculus men. Geneforge 4 doesn’t even let you play as the Shapers; you choose between five Rebel classes and one class for Serviles. There are only two distinct playthroughs as the Serviles are treated differently from the Rebels and the Shapers, but the added classes do provide some welcomed variety after the first three games. However, Geneforge 5 lets you play as all eight classes, Shapers, Servile and Rebels, and as far as offering the most replay value putting that variety at the end sends the series off on a high note from where it first started. Hopefully the remaster will address some of these gameplay concerns, but if they are anything like the Avernum remakes, then maybe those modern touches are all that these games ever needed in the first place.
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As games and gamers quickly change with the times, games that are stuck in the past are the most likely to be forgotten in favor of the hottest new trend. Much like this video, if I wanted to chase the always fleeting present, then this video wouldn’t exist in the first place outside of a future release by Spiderweb. Sometimes you have to create the first wave to get the others to follow, and the more waves you can make the bigger the impact you will have on others. More importantly, like an anchor cast during a rough storm, the purpose of looking back at these older games is because they bring us back to what games used to be like and they give consumers a course correction from the turbulent waters of the present.
That extended metaphor got a little bit lost in translation, but the point still stands: Nostalgia can be one hell of a drug if you take too much at once, but sometimes a little can be a useful palate cleanser. As humble as their origins, these games give players a reason to appreciate all the advances and all the modern conveniences that games now offer, and they are unchanging to the future whereas now it almost seems like every other game is forever in a state of development. If the last twenty-six years for Spiderweb Software have proven anything, it’s that they aren’t going anywhere in the near future, and like the book you never got around to reading as it collected cobwebs, they’ll be there waiting for you to feel adventurous one day to return to a long overdue quest.
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Sources:
Art assets by Ectodrool (@EctoDrool on Tumblr/Twitter) and Metal (@MetalKitty1 on Twitter), so if you liked their art go follow them or give them kudos.
Faulkner, Dr Neil. "History - Ancient History in depth: Romanisation: The Process of Becoming Roman." BBC. 17 Feb. 2011. BBC. 26 June 2019 <http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/romans/romanisation_article_01.shtml>
"Genghis Khan's genetic legacy has competition." Nature News. Nature Publishing Group. 20 June 2019
<https://www.nature.com/news/genghis-khan-s-genetic-legacy-has-competition-1.16767>
Matthews, Rupert. The Age of the Gladiators: Savagery & Spectacle in Ancient Rome. Chartwell Books, 2005. pp 22-23 (Gauls), 51 -52 (Lanista), 67 (Female Gladiators.)
(Female Druids): Runica – Germanica – Mediaevalia. Edited by Wilhelm Heizmann and Astrid van Nahl. Ergänzungsbände zum Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde. Band 37. Berlin – New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2003. 1024 pp 105
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