Avernum 2 - Review @ GameWatcher

GameWatcher has the first review that I can find this month for Jeff Vogel's latest remake Avernum 2: Crystal Souls, and the site gave the game a positive 8.5/10.

Although much of Crystal Souls that deserves praise is a product of the close-knit development team and cohesive vision, this inevitably gives rise to its own problems. The absence of a substantial budget to finance extensive playtesting ensures that the game doesn’t always run smoothly – on more than one occasion, Crystal Souls crashed my computer on the title screen. Additionally, there were two instances in which an irreversible bug would take me to my inventory every time I attempted to open a door, forcing me to load up a previous save and repeat the section again. Luckily, the difficulty can be dropped down on the fly to alleviate some of the frustration.

Nevertheless, these technological hiccups – try as they might – couldn’t taint an otherwise rewarding journey through the divided lands of Avernum. For those who are already fans of the series, I’d suggest Crystal Souls is an essential purchase. For those none the wiser to Spiderweb Software’s extensive back catalogue, there’s no better time to join the fight.