Avernum 4

https://youtu.be/cGHo8hYu4wU Twenty years later this version is technically playable but not the easiest to play out of the Avernum franchise.

Avernum 4 is an old-school role-playing game developed and published by Spiderweb Software, a studio long recognized for creating sprawling adventures that favor storytelling and player agency over technical spectacle. As the opening chapter of a new saga within the Avernum universe, the game introduces players to a troubled era beneath the surface of the world. Rather than relying on familiarity with earlier entries, it presents a fresh conflict centered on mysterious invasions, political unrest, and a growing sense that something is deeply wrong within the underground realm. Its presentation may immediately reveal its age, but beneath the modest visuals lies an experience designed for players who appreciate depth and patience. The game's setting remains one of its greatest accomplishments. Avernum is a vast underground nation carved into endless caverns and illuminated by strange fungi and magical light. Civilization has adapted to life beneath the earth, and every settlement has its own concerns, histories, and personalities. The narrative revolves around unexplained attacks carried out by bizarre creatures and shadowy forces that threaten the stability of the realm. Spiderweb Software excels at making the world feel alive through extensive dialogue and environmental storytelling. Characters rarely exist simply to hand out objectives; many contribute to a larger picture of a society struggling to survive under extraordinary circumstances. Exploration forms the backbone of the experience. The Steam description emphasizes the enormous size of the game world, and players will quickly discover just how much content is packed into its sprawling maps. Hidden caches, optional dungeons, and countless side quests reward those willing to stray from the main path. There is a constant sense of discovery as new regions open up, each introducing different enemies, communities, and secrets. The game's structure encourages curiosity, making exploration feel meaningful rather than repetitive. Even seemingly insignificant locations can contain memorable encounters or information that enhances the larger story. Combat remains faithful to traditional turn-based RPG mechanics. Battles require thoughtful positioning and a balanced party composition, with players assembling teams of warriors, archers, priests, and mages. Character development is highly flexible, allowing for specialized builds that cater to different playstyles. Magic plays a significant role throughout the adventure, offering both devastating offensive capabilities and valuable support options. Encounters become increasingly challenging as the story progresses, demanding careful use of abilities and resources instead of brute force. This strategic approach gives victories a satisfying weight, especially during larger engagements against powerful enemies and bosses. From a technical perspective, Avernum 4 is undeniably dated. Character models are simplistic, environments lack detail by modern standards, and the interface occasionally feels cumbersome. However, these shortcomings are easier to overlook once the game's strengths begin to emerge. Spiderweb Software has never attempted to compete with major studios in terms of production values; instead, the developer focuses on creating worlds rich with content. Players who can embrace the retro presentation will find an RPG that offers dozens of hours of meaningful gameplay and a surprising amount of complexity. What makes Avernum 4 endure is its commitment to classic role-playing principles. It trusts players to explore at their own pace, solve problems creatively, and immerse themselves in a carefully crafted setting. The combination of extensive quest design, strategic combat, and a compelling underground world results in an adventure that remains engaging years after its release. While it may not appeal to those seeking cinematic storytelling or cutting-edge visuals, it stands as an excellent example of independent RPG design done with passion and purpose. For fans of traditional computer role-playing games, Avernum 4 continues to be a rewarding journey into one of Spiderweb Software's most memorable settings. Rating: 7/10

This somehow looks and plays worse than the three previous games that came before it.

This 1 man studio has produced countless gems. I prefer the art and graphics style that survived till Blades of Avernum but it is nice to see the story continued.

I'd love to give it a stronger recommendation but man it is ROUGH on modern machines, for multiple reasons. Lots of lag (no that discussion post you're looking to link did not help), extremely low resolution mucking with my two-monitor setup, and mouse movement feeling super sluggish (very bad because most of this game is played with the mouse). Shame because it's a great game. I didn't have these problems when I played it many years ago on older systems. I really hope those rumors of a remake for the second trilogy are true because this one needs it bad. Still giving it a positive (just barely) because most people in my experience tend to have more tolerance for constant little hiccups than I do.

I bought the second Avernum trilogy extremely cheaply on sale and only because I wanted to play 6 which I hear is the most mechanically sophisticated of the series, so I am not upset about it but this game is extremely poorly optimized - there is no reason that a game this old should chug and load and be impossible to navigate with mouse when in certain screens (leveling, character creation, anytime you finish or receive a quest or item, anytime you are selling or buying). I think there's an updated version with skill trees and I would recommend that instead. I started playing Avernum back when 2 was released and this game has even more charm, it's even more engaging and actually quite breezy to play when the entire thing isn't dying. And no, it isn't my system, I'd literally have to travel back in time to find a computer that should have a hard time running this. I hear the updated version dumbs down the skill selection a bit but honestly, small price to pay for not chugging through this. The sad part is that the game itself is so good that I might even keep playing it. My only major design complaint so far is that the hotkeys are from a different century, and also just a pet peeve here - why have mages with lockpicks be the only ones who can open high level locks? What is the point of the rogue class in this case? I built a rogue only to get to the lockpicking part of the manual where it says basically points in lockpicking are useless unless they're on a wizard. So many old school games do this with either knock or similar spell that makes a huge part of rogue worthless and it has to stop! Rogues pick locks and disable traps, if anything they should have a slight edge on wizards not vice versa. EDIT: I finished this game, it's from a time where you could be asked to slog through an immense amount of game hours with very little in terms of gameplay. There's almost no reactivity to anything you do except in the ending slides, but at the time this was released the mechanics were good. Selecting any single use item or selling anything in a shop is insanely difficult because of the tiny piece you have to click, but oh well, small gripe. TLDR; for when it came out a classic, for games these days way too much time for too little meat on the bone.