Avernum 5

One of the best games I've ever played. The story, the narration, the setting, the characters, the dialogue, it's all phenomenal. The low-res graphics don't take away from the incredible world of Avernum.

Coming back to an area you've been before. The streets were once blue with your leather jerkin and paring knife, but then you got a slide-stepper with a SPACE gun!

After several years of dragging my feet, I've finally finished the game. I played a lot of other Spiderweb titles, and most to completion, but this title was one of those lagging behind. I think I prefer the faction system of Geneforge, but it was fun.

Fantastic classic RPG with a amazing environment and interesting story.

9/10 Great storyline and sidequests from the beginning to the end. Not much free roaming like in A4 but much more to explore.

Pretty fun iteration of Avernum. Lots of playtime, replayability, and quite challenging.

A satisfying end to the Dorikas saga. Which makes me ask, why is there a sequel? Can't wait to find out!

Solid in every way, looks decent, but honestly I think the graphics have a certain charm to them. They don't distract you from the bread and butter of this game. Play it

This is a fine series and I've spent hundreds of hours with it. Flashy graphics are not essential when you have a well built world, good storytelling and sound game-play.

Isometric tactical RPG. Very deep stats, loot, lore. Unique setting. Great game.

It has the classic rpg feel to it, lots of good story telling, I like playing the game with a roleplay aspect, hard difficulty was just enough for me. The customization seems nice, I did something weird and used the editor to make one "god character" and then 3 weak ones to see how that would play out, having fun so far.

I love it! A real improvement compared to A4. The story and art is polished. The map is bigger with various points of interest.
I also like how Jeff listens to each beta-tester and implements player feedback in his future installments. (replaced the new clunky engine with the perfect olden one, brought back the puzzles and polished the game)
What really stands out for me, is the good storytelling. (fan of Geneforge, Avadon and Nethergate)
I'm enjoying every minute in this game. Well worth the price.

Getting closer to the resolution of the saga, the story continues, despite an old engine, it's still the same good bits.
I recommend, but you could also wait years for a possible remake.

I love the series, and this was a major step up from A4. Old school fun and well-written.

I previously gave a fairly harsh negative review of Avernum 4. Some - but by no means most - of the criticisms in that review have been resolved in Avernum 5.

The A5 engine is better than the A4 engine. However, it is still by far more cumbersome than the old A1/2/3 engine (no auto-combat; keyboard support is still lacking). And I'm still miffed that they took away the town/outdoors distinction.

The plot is new and reasonably interesting - certainly not a boring reskin of A1 like A4 was. However, it's also somehow more linear and railroad-y than A4, and that's a real black mark against this game. Earlier Avernum games have had their railroad-y segments, like the passage to the Vahnatai lands in A2, but these segments worked because they didn't last the whole game - they induced a sense of urgency and danger for a short time, but once the danger was past, you were free to roam the open world once again. You don't get that luxury in A5.

This game is certainly playable, unlike A4, and I do think some people would enjoy it - but I personally wouldn't recommend it. Go play Avernum 1-3 instead - they're still the gold standard.

(But given the improvement from A4 to A5, I'm still willing to give Spiderweb Software the benefit of the doubt - onwards to A6!)

In Avernum V for the first time in the series you play as the Empire soldiers, which are sent to Avernum to hunt assassin of the Empress Prazac. The gameplay feels almost exactly the same as previous parts of the game (which is awesome), the whole plot is nice, and the same old style turn based combat is entertaining. The game also offers a whole new big region to discover The Northern Frontier, which is really new thing in the series. There is also a deep stat system, alot of (hidden)skill and spells, plus some basic alchemy and crafting system. The only cons i find, is the really small max resolution and kind of linear story, which is unusual for this series. Anyway i highly recommend this game for every old-school RPG fan, you wont be dissapointed.

Pros: My first impression is that it is similar to playing a game of dungeons and dragons.

Cons: It has sound effects but doesn't seem to have background music. I still haven't made it out of the tutorial. Maybe the music comes later?

An excellent albeit barebones RPG from Spiderweb Software. While Avernum 4 was super difficult and some what hard to follow, in this iteration you play as Empire's scouts, and then the fun really begins.

These games are difficult, combat wise you'll get your teeth kicked in if you're not careful or prepared. I had a warrior, an archer, a mage and a priest. Having this setup was instrumental to my easier playthrough.

You must be aware of what you pick and their stats, as experience may be gained or lost and handicaps and advantages can make battles hard.

Exploration was just supreme. It's the best part of this game. Stumbling upon a crypt or a thief's hiding hole and the brief description was the most enjoyable aspect of this game. So many times did I just clean out the entire map to get the best items and supplies (and really, you'll need to!).

The choices in this game are supriginsly abundant and there are some nice rewards depending on your stance. You must be careful, because some choices may make settlements hate your guts.

This game does drag only because the combat is so difficult and punishing. Never did I feel like I reigned supreme until I started abusing the game specifically to give me an advantage. When I finished the game, just over forty hours came up and I felt exhausted. It will be a while until I move on to the next one.

Comparing it to 4, I'd say there's a bit more to take care of and the characters and enviroments (well everything looks pretty plain so lets call it regions instead of enviroments) were much more interesting. The challenge areas were far more challenging then 4 and there was a lot of super ancient evils to give the blade.

There were also a lot of well written quests and dialog. I remember a band of bandits that use a woman to lure you in and after you slay them all she begs for mercy. If only she was so lucky, and when I sealed her fate she burst into tears, and into gibs as she took fireballs to the face.

For the value of this game, I'd say as long as you can tolerate the archaic graphics, controls and resolution (I had to play on a smaller resolution on my 1920x1080 - you'll be in for one treat.

There is also a great walkthrough online for this game, and dont be afraid to cheat so long as it makes you progress the story.

I love the saga, the storytelling is fantastic and the atmosphere fascinating. The hints to the next chapter are nice and the characters pretty well structured as usual, However this episode loses an important ingredient, which made Avernum a game so beloved by its fans: the sensation of free roaming. Normally it's the player deciding in which direction going and how to proceed the story, which has several main plots. This time instead the player is obliged to follow a single path, made by consecutive areas until the final one. The torment difficulty is praticable until a certain point, which I don't reveal to avoid spoiling, but then you are practically forced to switch to a lower difficulty not to be trapped in the middle of the game. In any case a must of those who followed the full epopea, but in my opinion the worst chapter so far.

An incredibly mixed bag. Its very deep stat system and occasionally interesting challenge areas and boss fights are quite good, but ultimately these highlights are overcome by extreme linearity, way too many trash mobs, next to no plot, and one of the worst cases of hitpoint bloat I have ever seen in a game (late game there are some random enemies with 4,000 hitpoints. Given that the average character can do 50-100 points of damage per turn, you can work out the problem here). I really love spiderweb games, so I hate to bash this, but this is probably their worst.

Of couse I still forced myself to finish the whole thing on torment difficulty, but that's only because I'm a total OCD, power gaming, masochist (and for all the game's faults, it is refreshingly difficult). Normal people who demand things like "enjoyment" and "entertainment" from their video games (novel concepts, I know) need not apply. Or better yet just play one of the other Avernum games (most of which are way better).