Released around the same time as Escape from the Pit, this first game in a new trilogy is a strange mix of better and worse attributes.
Graphically it’s superior in both the visual effect and texture department, but switches are much harder to see and it lacks any secrets/containers highlight keys. The roleplaying options are greatly expanded, but it’s incredibly linear (somewhat similar to chapters 2 & 3 of Crystal Souls) and fond of railroading you into specific actions. It features full-fledged party members with their own stories/goals, but they’re mechanically/visually just clones of the available PC classes.
Speaking of, rather than the ‘build your own class’ sort of thing Avernum has going on, this one adopts a rigid class system with specialized skill trees (and no Talents). There aren’t really any character development options beyond choosing whether you want to max out the left or right side of the tree. The skills themselves are mostly assorted combinations of the ones found in Avernum shackled with a linked cooldown system and a ‘fatigue’ (i.e. mana) cost. Abilities can’t be spammed as they can there. Which sucks and results in tiresome, same-y, basic-attack-heavy slogs instead of engaging combat. Why can’t I cast Icy Rain after Firestorm? How could anyone think putting them both on the same cooldown was a good idea?
Which brings me to a related bad idea: The endgame encounter design. What the hell is going on there? Fire-immune ‘trained’ Hellhounds that breath ice and poison? Bosses and mini-bosses that get 3 actions per turn and can spam abilities to their hearts’ content? Perpetually-respawning reinforcements? It’s horrible on every level. But wait, there’s more! Backtracking. It features backtracking, backtracking, and even more backtracking. I thought GreedFall was bad in that department (it is) yet this is so much worse.
The first pass through each main location is good, the character development is pretty good, and the early to mid-game roleplay options are good despite them having next to no effect on event development. It gave me a vibe quite similar to Tyranny… so honestly I shouldn’t have been surprised when the enjoyment level fell though the floor ~2/3rds of the way through.