GB Feature: Swords and Sorcery: Underworld Gold Review

OlderBytes' Swords and Sorcery: Underworld has technically been available since 2010, but development has continued on the game ever since to expand the classic RPG-inspired title and overhaul its graphics. That's earned it a well-deserved "Gold" stamp in its title, and that's the version that we recently took for a spin in order to put together a full review:
Underworld Gold is played on a series of 15x15 maps. Three of the maps are towns, where you can go shopping and pick up quests, and the others are underground dungeons where you fight a variety of monsters, including mummies, goblins, and dragons. Everything in the game is turn-based, so when you explore you move from one grid square to another, and when you fight you have to wait until one of your characters has a turn.

Combat is fairly frequent in the game because enemies spawn regularly. When a fight breaks out, the combatants are ordered according to their Speed attribute, and then on each turn they're allowed to cast a spell (there are 40 spells in total), make an attack (including melee or ranged), or use an item (such as "magic spices" to heal a companion). Characters can also advance closer to the fight to put themselves into melee range, or drop back to move out of harm's way. The leader of your party can also move up the entire party or drop it back, and so you're given a lot of options on your turns.