There’s no school like the old school

Avadon: The Black Fortress is an old-school role-playing experience, and we mean oooooold school. It’s cut from the same cloth as Baldur’s Gate, Fallout, and Icewind Dale, and that, friends, is a very good thing. A top-down, third-person, isometric affair, the game is set in a dangerous fantasy world full of strange creatures, barbarian hordes, and jealous emperors bent on the destruction of your homeland.

After choosing from one of four character classes, you’ll be called upon to play the part of an agent of The Hand, a powerful cadre of warriors, priests, and wizards who carry out the decrees of The Black Fortress. Powerful, hidden enemies conspire against your people, and it’s your job to root them out. With your small band of followers, you’ll question and slaughter your way through over 20 levels in a quest to gain power and influence and ultimately secure the future of the land and its people.

The gameplay and story are cool, but the locales could use an interior decorator.

Developed by Spiderweb Software, Avadon: The Black Fortress is chock-full of the bits we’ve come to expect from a role-playing experience. Spells and potions? They’re in there. Armor and weapon upgrades? It’s got those too. That’s fortunate, because you’re going to need them. Unlike titles such as Dragon Age II, where you can simply pound on your opponents until they fall down, the foes in Avadon not only become tougher as you proceed deeper into the game, but also grow more complex, demanding you that think about the tactics you employ in battle. Fortunately, thanks to the game’s turn-based combat system, there’s always enough time to suss out your next move.

Effusive praise aside, there’s some stuff going on with Avadon that’s as dark as the storyline’s mood. Let’s start with the graphics. We understand that games like this sink or swim on the strength of their stories and how well they’re woven, but to call Avadon’s look and feel “dated” would be kind. Unlike the game’s generous narrative, the locales in Avadon are sparse and feel lacking. A few extra chairs, iron maidens in the dungeon -- even some additional rocks strewn about would have been nice.

The same can be said for the game’s player and nonplayer characters. While we were able to change out pieces of our character’s kit as we deemed fit, it made no difference to his overall appearance. We also weren’t too crazy about the user interface, which has white text on a dark background. This might seem like nitpicking, but considering the number of hours of reading required to play this bad boy from start to finish, we would have appreciated less of the UI’s faux-granite good looks in favor of a text interface that didn’t leave our eyes quite so strained after a session of dungeon-crawling. Then again, it’s hard to gripe about the looks of a game that has OpenGL support and 32MB of video RAM as its
base requirements.

The bottom line. Our graphical gripes aside, Avadon: The Black Fortress is a must-play for seasoned RPG veterans.